Y'ALLS RISE TO VICTORY THROUGH SOLID PITCHING & STRONG AT BATS!
Rookie righthander Nathan Florence's dominant start and several scoring bursts allowed the Florence Y'alls (2-2) to take a 6-4 series opening win over the Joliet Slammers (1-3) on Tuesday night. Florence pitched five no-hit innings, walked only one, and struck out nine Joliet hitters. The Y'alls scored three more runs in the fifth off of Joliet starter Tyler Jay and reliever Chandler Brierley, who combined to allow the Y'alls to bat around and grow their lead to 5-0. The Y'alls added one more run on a Marcos Castillo bases-loaded walk that scored Brennan Price in the bottom of the eighth. In the ninth, righthander Cam Pferrer earned his first save of the year and induced a game-ending lineout double play at first base.
Washington Wild Things pitcher Greg Loukinen took the win over the New York Boulders. He earned the win for Washington (3-1) after allowing two hits over five scoreless innings. Andrew Mitchell also provided solid relief for the Wild Things, striking out three of the four batters he faced. On the offensive end, Melvin Novoa went 2 for 4 with three RBI and Anthony Brocato homered and drove in two runs. The Boulders fought hard with a late 2 run home run from verteran Tucker Nathans.
The Empire State Greys took a win against the Lake Erie Crushers. Empire State put a six run frame together in the top of the sixth inning, where they sent 10 batters to the plate and did all of their damage on just four hits. JR DiSarcina was hit by a pitch with one out, Michael Gulino moved him to second on a single and Callahan drove him home on a RBI single to left. Callahan's single knocked Gabriel Tapia out of the game for the Crushers, and he was replaced by Brayden Bonner (0-1). Bonner walked Jenkins to load the bases, before hitting Holmes with a 1-0 pitch to bring in another run. Cespedes then delivered a bases clearing double into the left field corner and he scored the final run of the inning on Steven Barmakian's RBI single. A big two out hit in the ninth inning provided the Greys with a pair of insurance runs. Barmakian walked to start the inning before John Mead was hit by a pitch. After Darrien Ragins retired the next two batters, Callahan struck again for the Greys, delivering a huge two out, two run single to left to give the Greys an 11-6 lead.
For the Thunderbolts, Henry Omaña tossed the Frontier League's first complete game of the season and his first career shutout as the ThunderBolts defeated the Trois-Riviéres Aigles 4-0 in the opener of a three-game series at Ozinga Field Tuesday night. The 1-0 lead held steady for the next four innings. After allowing a leadoff single in the first, Omaña didn't give up another base runner until the sixth inning. The Bolts grew their lead with a Yonamine RBI triple in the bottom of the fifth and a Junior Martina groundout scored Yonamine to make it 3-0. An RBI walk for Martina in the seventh wrapped up the scoring. Omaña (2-0) becomes the league's first two-game winner with his five hit, nine strikeout performance. Ray Weber (0-1) took the loss in his professional debut despite pitching well for the first four innings. In all, he allowed three runs in 4.2 innings.
The Sussex County Miners took the win against the Tri-City ValleyCats. 2022 Pioneer League Pitcher of the Year Elijah Gill (0-1) got the ball for the 'Cats in his Frontier League and ValleyCats debut. The southpaw got off to a slow start, allowing two runs in the bottom of the first before settling in. Gill would take the loss, but turned in a solid outing. Although Gill would only toss 4 innings, he would strike out 8, the most by any 2023 ValleyCats pitcher to date. Relievers Aaron Ernst and Andrew Edwards would both allow one earned run each in Tuesday's contest.
