TITANS DEFEAT BOOMERS BEHIND THREE LONG BALLS
Ottawa, ON - The Ottawa Titans (6-11) homered three times, taking down the Schaumburg Boomers (9-7) by a score of 9-4 on Wednesday.
After the Boomers opened up the scoring in the top of the first, Jason Dicochea tied the game with his first of two homers on the night, leaving the yard in the second inning.
Both teams would go back and forth with the lead through the middle innings, eventually seeing the Boomers in front entering the bottom of the fifth.
Ben Strahm (loss, 0-1) would surrender a pair of runs as the right-hander walked a trio and plunked one. Manny Garcia would get credited with an RBI after a bases-loaded walk, then a wild pitch would force home a run to put the Titans ahead.
The Titans' bats erupted in the sixth inning, with AJ Wright cashing in a Jake Gitter double with an extra-base hit of his own. Next, Jason Dicochea would send a Matt Craven offering over the wall in left for his second long ball of the night, extending the lead to 7-3.
The run support would be plenty for Grant Larson (win, 1-2), who would toss his third-straight quality start, working seven innings, allowing three runs, on seven hits, walking one, and striking out five.
With the Boomers adding a run against Gleyvin Pineda in the top of the eighth, Jake Gitter added some extra insurance with a two-run homer in the bottom half.
Chris Burica (save, 1) would get credited with the save, tossing an inning and two-thirds, allowing no runs, on two hits, and striking out a pair.
In the win, Jake Gitter went 3-for-5 with two doubles, a homer, and four RBI. Jason Dicohea went 2-for-4 with a multi-homer night and a walk, while Jamey Smart added a two-hit game.
TROY, NY - The Tri-City ValleyCats had their first Education Day driven by TransFinder and Regeneron at Joseph L. Bruno Stadium on Wednesday, and thumped the Trois-Rivières Aigles with a 9-2 win in front of a season-high 3,757 fans.
The ValleyCats struck first. Zach Biermann worked a two-out walk against Gage Feeney in the second. Juan Montes followed up with a two-run blast, his first of the season, to give Tri-City a 2-0 lead.
The Aigles retaliated in the third. Rodrigo Orozco went to first on a walk from Rafi Vazquez. Orozco stole second, and was replaced by pinch-runner Sadler Goodwin. Steve Brown knocked in Goodwin with an RBI double to cut the deficit to 2-1.
Cito Culver launched a solo homer in the third to extend the 'Cats lead to 3-1.
Trey Hair began the home half of the fourth with a double, and was driven in on an RBI single from Pavin Parks to pull Tri-City ahead, 4-1.
Jaxon Hallmark manufactured a run in the fifth. He ripped a leadoff single, stole second and third before he was driven in on an infield single from Carson McCusker to put Tri-City on top, 5-1.
Montes opened the bottom of the sixth with a single off Luke Fitton. Parks walked before Ciaran Devenney plated his first run of the 2023 campaign. Two batters later, Culver homered again to provide the 'Cats with a 9-1 lead. It was his third long ball of the season. Culver joined Hair and Biermann as the only players with a multi-homer game with Tri-City this year. Culver's second four-RBI day of the 2023 campaign earned him NY Army National Guard Player of the Game honors.
Trois-Rivières scored in the ninth. Victor Cerny reached on an error and Ricardo Sanchez went to first on an infield single off of Greg Veliz. The ValleyCats turned their third double play of the game, which moved Sanchez to third. Parker DePasquale brought in a run with a single to make it a 9-2 ballgame. Veliz then induced a groundout from Goodwin to end the game.
Vazquez (3-0) went seven innings for the third time this season, all of which have come at "The Joe". He gave up one run on five hits, walking two, and striking out four.
Feeney (0-1) received the loss. He threw 4.1 innings, allowing four runs on four hits, walking one, and striking out three.
Tri-City continues its first six-game homestand of the season tomorrow, Thursday, June 1 with the conclusion of a three-game set against Trois-Rivières. First pitch is scheduled for 6:30 PM EDT.
Pomona, NY—The Empire State Greys (5-11) have defeated the New York Boulders (9-8) 6-3 behind a phenomenal start by Michael Barker and JR DiSarcina's offensive explosion.
Empire State continued doing what it has done best this season, early offense. In the top of the 2nd, JR DiSarcina started his offensive explosion. The shortstop opened the scoring with a 2 RBI double to left field off Boulders starter Ryan Munoz (L, 2-3). Two batters later, he came around to score on an Eric Jenkins single giving the Greys a 3-0 lead.
Michael Barker (W, 1-2) set the tone for Greys on the bump. The righty went five innings, striking out four, allowed just one run, and earned his first win of the season. What made his outing even more impressive was that eleven Boulders reached base throughout his five innings of work, yet just one came across to score. The lone run-on Barker's ledger came across on a Thomas Walraven double in the bottom of the 3rd, cutting the Greys lead to 3-1.
The Greys brought the lead back to three in the 5th due to a throwing error by the Boulders shortstop. Chris Kwitzer swiftly brought the Greys lead back down to two with a single to left field in the 7th, making it a 4-2 ball game.
JR DiSarcina immediately answered back in the top of the 8th. He led off the inning with a home run over the short porch in right field for his first home run of the season. DH Josh Sears extended the lead to 6-2, with a ground-rule double to right-center field.
After Nick Trabacci allowed a run and got the second out in the bottom of the 8th, the Greys turned to Tanner Propst in an attempt for a four-out save. Propst was up for the occasion not allowing a hit over the 1 1/3 innings, striking out two and earned his first save of the season.
The Greys will face off against the Boulders tomorrow night in the rubber match at 7 pm EST as they look to take the series.
Avon, OH (May 31, 2023) – The Gateway Grizzlies had a 2-1 lead against the Lake Erie Crushers on Wednesday afternoon, but busted out their bats late, scoring seven runs in their final two turns at bat, five of which coming off the bat of D.J. Stewart, and rolling to a 9-2 win at Mercy Health Stadium.
Peter Zimmermann got the scoring started against the Crushers' starter Angelo Baez (3-1), hitting a solo home run out to left field for a 1-0 lead in the second inning, but Sicnarf Loopstok tied it in the same frame in the same way, taking Collin Sullivan (3-0) out to left field for his first long ball of the season. After a triple, Kenen Irizarry tried to score on a fly ball to right field, but Jairus Richards nabbed him at home plate, keeping the score tied at 1-1.
A pitcher's duel ensued between Baez and Sullivan, with the former cracking first when the former Crusher Stewart led off the top of the fifth with a solo home run to make the score 2-1. Sullivan then got into a groove, retiring 13 straight batters while pitching into the eighth inning for Gateway, and ended up striking out eight in the contest to keep the Crushers' bats down.
In the top of the eighth, Gateway got a pair of men on base for Stewart, and he responded with a two-out, no-doubt, three-run blast over the left field fence for his second home run of the game and a 5-2 Grizzlies lead. Then, after Lake Erie got a run back in the bottom half to make the score 5-2, Gateway kept on scoring in the top of the ninth, plating four insurance runs on RBI singles by Zimmermann and Andrew Penner, followed by a two-run double by Stewart, giving him six RBIs on the day, and completing the scoring.
Stewart finished 3-for-5 in the contest while setting a new career-best in RBIs, while Zimmermann finished a triple away from the cycle and was on base five times, driving in three runs to help lead the charge for the Grizzlies, who remain atop the Frontier League West Division at 13-4.
The victory also gives the Grizzlies their seventh in a row, their longest such streak since winning nine games in a row from June 22- July 2, 2014. Gateway will now look to sweep the Crushers in Avon on Thursday, June 1, at 5:35 p.m. CT. The Grizzlies starter will be named before first pitch, and will go up against right-hander Yasel Santana of Lake Erie in the contest.
FLORENCE, KY – The Florence Y'alls (9-8) presented by Towne Properties evened their series versus the Washington Wild Things (8-9) with a frantic 6-4 come-from-behind victory at Thomas More Stadium on Wednesday.
For the second straight game, Florence's offense started quietly. The Y'alls allowed a first inning run when Washington left fielder Wagner LaGrange grounded to short and scored shortstop Nick Gotta from third base. The Y'alls did not answer through five innings against righthander Arrison Perez, who allowed just three hits over five scoreless innings and struck out two.
The Y'alls finally cracked the scoreboard in the sixth inning when shortstop Jeremiah Burks singled to drive in first baseman Brennan Price from second base. After six, the game was tied 1-1.
Washington responded with offense in each of its next two turns at-bat. The Wild Things scored a run in the seventh when first baseman Andrew Czech singled in second baseman Scotty Dubrule from third base. In the eighth, the Wild Things padded their lead when Gotta doubled to right to drive in third baseman Ian Walters and center fielder Harrison Ray to give Washington a 4-1 lead.
The Y'alls mounted a furious comeback in the bottom of the eighth against two Washington pitchers. Lefthander Andrew Mitchell began the inning by walking designated hitter Craig Massey and allowing a single to Price before he was lifted for righthander Christian James. Left fielder Ray Zuberer drove in a run with an infield single before a two-out walk to catcher Zade Richardson extended the inning. Right fielder Sam Plash promptly doubled to right to tie the game 4-4. Another walk set up third baseman Brian Fuentes, who smacked a ground-rule go-ahead two-RBI double to give the Y'alls a 6-4 lead.
The Wild Things couldn't rally in the ninth, and Florence held on for a 6-4 victory. The series is now tied at one game apiece with the deciding Game 3 set for Thursday, June 1st at Thomas More Stadium. First pitch is scheduled for 6:34 PM ET.
