BOULDERS WIN UNDER HAZY SKIES
POMONA, NY – The New York Boulders defeated the Windy City ThunderBolts, 6-3, at a smog-covered Clover Stadium on Wednesday.
The Boulders (13-9) followed up last night's 13-hit performance with another 12 in this morning's game. Boulders first baseman Chris Kwitzer went 4 for 5 with two RBIs.
Windy City (9-14) jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the top of the second inning after Micah Yonamine led off with a two-run home run. New York wasted no time making up the two-run deficit in the bottom of the second inning as a result of back-to-back errors by the left side of the ThunderBolts infield.
The Boulders' bats stayed awake into the fifth inning, when Patrick Kivlehan hit a monster solo home run over the right center field wall to lead off the inning. Thomas Walraven followed it up with a double and eventually scored.
On the defensive end, Jimmy Costin had a stellar day behind the plate. The North Rockland High School and Rockland Community College product picked off a runner in the second inning and threw out a runner stealing in the fourth.
Rony Baez, in his first ever start with the boulders, threw four innings and allowed two runs on three hits. St. Thomas Aquinas product Aaron Dona continued to shine in his first professional season, allowing one run in four innings of relief to earn his second win of the year. Dylan Smith earned the save in the ninth inning for the Boulders.
ThunderBolts starter Taylor Sung took the loss after allowing three earned runs over six innings.
EVANSVILLE, IN - Elijah Gill worked in and out of trouble in the Tri-City ValleyCats (12-11) big offensive outburst, and 8-0 victory over the Evansville Otters (14-9) on Wednesday at Bosse Field. The shutout was the third of the season for the ValleyCats.
Tri-City scored in the first inning for the second day in a row. Jaxon Hallmark greeted Zach Smith with a double. Hallmark went to third on a groundout from Cito Culver. Trey Hair brought in Hallmark with a groundout to third to give the ValleyCats a 1-0 lead.
Aaron Altherr began the fourth inning with a single. Jakob Goldfarb and Pavin Parks walked to load the bases. Hallmark drove in Altherr with a single. Hair had an RBI walk to plate Goldfarb, and pull the 'Cats ahead, 3-0.
Tri-City placed baserunners on each square base in the fifth after a single from Altherr, a walk to Goldfarb, and a free pass to Pat Adams. Parks lifted a sac fly to knock in Altherr, and moved Goldfarb to third. Hallmark collected his third hit of the day with an RBI single as Adams advanced to third. Hallmark stole second before Culver had a swinging bunt single against Jason Krick to put the ValleyCats on top, 7-0.
Carson McCusker, who extended his hit streak to a team-best 11 games this season with a single in the first, added to the lead in the eighth. He belted a solo homer off Tyler Vail to make it an 8-0 ballgame. The long ball was McCusker's seventh of the year. He has had a multi-hit performance in each of his last six games and in 10 of his last 11 games.
Gill (2-1) earned the win. He worked out of a bases-loaded two-out jam in the third, and a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the sixth in an 111-pitch effort. Gill turned in his second consecutive quality start by throwing six shutout innings, giving up six hits and five walks, while striking out four.
Smith (3-1) received the loss. He tossed 4.2 innings, yielding seven runs on nine hits, walking five, and striking out four.
AVON, Ohio — The Lake Erie Crushers scored their first home victory since May 20 on Wednesday evening at Mercy Health Stadium, with a 4-1 victory over the Sussex County Miners.
The victory for the Crushers (10-13) snapped a five game home losing streak, while the loss for the Miners (14-7) was just their third in their last 11 games.
Starting pitching was strong once again, as it was in the first game of the series on Tuesday night. Lake Erie's Yasel Santana (1-1) worked himself out of trouble a few times on the night, and kept the Miners off the board through five innings. Sussex County's Alex Hart (2-2) pitched well through five innings before running out of gas in the sixth where he surrendered three runs.
Lake Erie fired the first shot in the bottom of the second. On a night with a steady breeze blowing in, Jack Harris belted a solo shot over the wall in left, his second homer of the season to give Lake Erie a 1-0 lead.
The Crushers sent all nine batters to the plate in the bottom of the sixth inning where they scored three times on four hits to pull away. The inning started with back-to-back singles from Todd Isaacs Jr. and Santiago Chirino. After Hart struck out the next two batters, Jiandido Tromp reached on a single to score Isaacs. Hart walked Jarrod Watkins to load the bases before issuing a bases loaded walk to Mike Blanke which scored Chirino. Sean Cheely capped the really with a RBI single to left to score Tromp.
Sussex County scored their lone run in the top of the seventh. Edwin Mateo led the inning off with a double and advanced to third on a groundout. Gavin Stupienski brought him home with a RBI groundout.
Santana scored his first victory of the season for the Crushers. He tossed five scoreless innings on a night where he allowed only two hits, while walking six and fanning five batters. Brayden Bonner tossed a scoreless sixth inning in relief for the Crushers, while Trevor Kuncl allowed just a run on a hit in his lone inning of work. Sam Curtis pitched a scoreless eighth inning in relief before Alexis Rivero (2) picked up the save after tossing a scoreless ninth inning.
Isaacs Jr. led the way for Lake Erie offensively, going 3-for-4 on the night with a trio of singles. Harris's homer in the second inning extended his hitting streak to six games, and Tromp's base hit in the sixth inning extended his on base streak to 14 games.
The Crushers will finish their series with the Sussex County Miners at Mercy Health Stadium on Thursday night. Right-hander Matt Mulhearn (2-1, 2.25) will start for the Crushers and the Miners will counter with lefty Tyler Thornton (0-0, 2.75). The first pitch is scheduled for 7:05 PM.
SCHAUMBURG, IL – Florence and Schaumburg traded the lead three times including twice in the final two innings, but the Y'alls, presented by Towne Properties, earned a hard-fought 7-6 victory over the Boomers Wednesday night at Wintrust Field.
Trailing 6-5 in the ninth inning, Florence (14-9) scored twice on a wild pitch and a Craig Massey RBI chop single over the drawn-in infield to pull ahead. The Boomers loaded the bases on three walks in bottom of the ninth inning, but Sean Hughes struck out pinch hitter Blake Berry and Brian Fuentes made a barehanded play at third base on a safety squeeze bid by Alec Craig to end the threat. The win marks the ninth come-from-behind victory for the Y'alls this season, which is the most in the Frontier League.
Schaumburg (13-9) fought hard to come back in the game and nearly had their own come from behind win. Trailing 5-1, the Boomers scored three runs in the seventh on consecutive doubles by Travis Holt and Brett Milazzo to get within a run. One inning later, Gaige Howard drove in two runs on a single up the middle with two outs to give the Boomers a lead going to the ninth before the lead slipped back in the Y'alls' favor.
The Y'alls trailed from the jump but held a lead for the majority of the game. Down 1-0 after the first, Brennan Price hit his second home run of the series to pull even. Cole Brannen gave the Y'alls a 2-1 advantage with a RBI single in the third, Price drove in another run in the fifth, and two more runs scored in the seventh for the 5-1 lead before Schaumburg started to mount its comeback.
Price finished the game 4-5 with two RBI. Massey had three hits and two RBI, including the game-winning knock in the ninth. Zade Richardson and Marcos Castillo also had a multi-hit game. Howard, Milazzo, and Chase Dawson had two hits apiece for the Boomers, and that trio accounted for five of the six Boomers' runs batted in.
Neither starter factored into the decision, but both turned in good starts. Miguel Reyes went six innings and allowed three runs for his fourth quality start of the year. Bobby Brabrand went six 2/3 innings and allowed four runs (three earned). Kristian Scott takes the blown save and the loss for Schaumburg, while Hughes gets the save.
The Y'alls, winners of six of the past seven games, have already secured the series win but try for the sweep tomorrow. Nate Florence, the Frontier League's leader in ERA, gets the ball for the Y'alls opposed by Jackson Hickert for the Boomers. First pitch is scheduled for 6:30 PM CDT/7:30 PM EDT.
Trois-Rivières, QC - Trailing 5-3 after five, the Ottawa Titans (8-15) used a two-run sixth and five-run ninth to defeat the Trois-Rivières Aigles (8-15) by a score of 10-6 on Wednesday.
The Titans got off to a hot start getting the first two aboard in the first inning against Ray Weber (ND, 0-3), as Jamey Smart launched a three-run blast to right. Smart's second homer of the year gave the Titans an early 3-0 lead.
Nate Scantlin began the bottom half of the first against Damon Casetta-Stubbs (ND, 0-2) with a double as former Titan Rodrigo Orozco stepped up and blasted a two-run shot to cut the deficit to one.
Following an error to begin the third, the Aigles pulled in front following a pair of sacrifice flies from LP Pelletier and Steve Brown.
With the bases loaded in the fifth, Victor Cerny's grounder back to the mound went off the mitt of Casetta-Stubbs and rolled away, allowing a run to score. The right-hander bounced back to limit the damage, getting the Titans out of the inning only trailing by a pair.
The comeback began with two runs in the top of the sixth as the Titans chased Weber from the game. Jason Dicochea made it a one-run game with an RBI single before Manny Garcia tied the game with a sacrifice fly.
Chris Burica (win, 1-1) kept the game tied with three shutout innings out of the bullpen. The southpaw only needed 22 pitches to face the minimum in the late innings.
In a 5-5 tie entering the ninth, the Titans sent ten to the dish and scored five times on four hits against Frankie Giuliano (loss, 0-1) and Jordan Shulefand to re-take the lead. Sicnarf Loopstok, Jamey Smart, Taylor Wright, and Manny Garcia all contributed with RBI hits to help guide the Titans to victory.
In the win, Taylor Wright and Jamey Smart each went 3-for-4, while Sicnarf Loopstok and Jake Gitter posted multi-hit performances.
Sauget, IL (June 6, 2023) – The Gateway Grizzlies got another outstanding start from Collin Sullivan on the mound, and took the lead early on Wednesday night at Grizzlies Ballpark, holding the advantage for a 5-3 win over the Empire State Greys to clinch the three-game midweek series.
Back-to-back solo home runs by Andrew Penner and Jairus Richards staked Sullivan (4-0) and the Grizzlies to a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning. Gateway increased the lead to 3-0 when Abdiel Diaz and Willie Estrada executed a double-steal in the fifth inning, with the latter taking home for the game's third run.
Sullivan, meanwhile, surrendered only three hits in six shutout innings, walking one and striking out seven to improve to 4-0 in four starts this season.
After the Greys got on the board in the top of the seventh on a sacrifice fly by J.R. DiSarcina to make the score 4-1, Gateway also plated two late runs in the bottom of the eighth against Greys reliever Tanner Propst, as Clint Freeman led off with a solo home run to right-center field for a 4-1 lead. Later that same inning, Penner reached on an error and scored with two outs on an RBI single by D.J. Stewart.
In the ninth, the Greys got both runs back, with John Mead's solo homer making it 5-2, and a wild pitch with two outs scoring Christopher Cespedes from third base after he had reached on a double. But Colton Easterwood finished the game for his second save in as many nights for the Grizzlies, who also got manager Steve Brook his 606th career win as a Frontier League manager, breaking a tie with former Gateway manager Phil Warren and moving Brook into fourth place among skippers in league history.
With a record of 17-5 overall, Gateway will look for the three-game sweep on Thursday, June 8, at 6:45 p.m. CT, sending Zac Ryan to the hill against former Grizzlie Andres Rodriguez, who will start for the Greys.
