BOULDERS COMPLETE SWEEP OVER THUNDERBOLTS, 7-2
The New York Boulders used an all-hands-on-deck effort to complete a sweep of the Windy City ThunderBolts on Thursday, winning 7-2 in the series finale at Clover Stadium. The Boulders, who were short on starting pitching due a combination of rest and players on the injured list, used six different pitchers in the game. Aljo Sujak ultimately earned the win for New York, allowing just two hits in 1 2/3 innings. Andy Hammond, Brandon Backman, Ryder Yakel, Dawson Lane, and Mitchell Senger also contributed to the win on the mound. New York (14-9) also had a solid showing on offense Thursday. Four Boulders batters — David Vinsky, Tucker Nathans, Chris Kwitzer, and Matt McDermott — recorded multiple hits in the win. Vinsky finished the day with two walks and a hard two-run double down the third-base line. Nathans, Kwitzer, McDermott, Gabriel Garcia, and Giovanni Garbella each drove in a run for New York. Jake Boone drove in the first run for Windy City (9-15) after being hit by a pitch with the bases loaded in the first inning. Bren Spillane hit an opposite-field solo home run with two outs in the ninth inning for the team's final run of the game. All but one ThunderBolts starter hit safely in the loss. Kenny Matthews took the loss on the mound after allowing five earned runs in six innings of relief. The southpaw allowed eight hits and four walks — three of which were hit batters in the bottom of the seventh.
After jumping ahead 6-0 and leading by three two more times in game one, a walk-off single by Rusber Estrada in the bottom of the eighth sunk the Wild Things to defeat to start Thursday's doubleheader at Hinchliffe Stadium. Washington started the scoring with the first six of the game, scoring twice in the first on a two-run homer by Wagner Lagrange, once in the second on an RBI single by Scotty Dubrule and three times in the third on two homers: a solo shot by catcher Melvin Novoa and a two-run homer from Anthony Brocato. In that spurt, Andrew Czech extended his on-base streak with a single to 21 games and his hit streak to nine games while Brocato's walk prior to his homer extended his on-base streak to 20 games. The Jackals clawed back in it using two homers to plate four of their first five runs. In the third, shortstop Ti'Quan Forbes homered to center off starter Stephen Knapp to make it 6-1 Washington. In the fourth, New Jersey used an RBI double by Josh Rehwaldt and a three-run homer by Alfredo Marte to make it 6-5. Christian James came in and pitched a scoreless fifth inning before walking the first two he faced in the sixth and throwing ball one to Alex Toral. He left the game with trainer Austin Pascarella giving way to Lukas Young, who got a double play before an infield single plated a run for New Jersey. That made it 8-6 because Washington had extended its lead in the top of the sixth on a two-run two bagger by Nick Gotta. Lagrange homered for the second time in the game to start the seventh for the Wild Things. New Jersey got a run back in the seventh on a homer by Rusber Estrada before James Nelson doubled to bring the tying run to the dish with one out. Keon Barnum flied to center and Josh Rehwaldt singled home Nelson to make it 9-8. Marte doubled off the right-field wall to tie the game and send it to extras. Washington failed to score in the eighth with the international tiebreaker rule in effect. With two outs in the bottom half, Estrada singled home the international tiebreaker rule runner for the Jackals to win, 10-9.
The Lake Erie Crushers used a handful of bullpen arms to keep Sussex County off the board over the final five innings of Thursday night's contest at Mercy Health Stadium, as they took the rubber match from the Miners, 4-3. The victory for the Crushers (11-13) marked their first series victory since May 20, snapping a streak of four consecutive series lost, while the loss for the Miners (14-8) was their third in their last five games. Most of the scoring was done early on. The Miners struck first with a pair of runs in the top of the first. Edwin Mateo stroked a double to right to start the game. Gavin Stupienski brought him home on a RBI single to right. Two batters later, Jawaun Harris belted a two out RBI single to center to score Stupienski. Lake Erie responded with a trio of runs in the bottom of the first. Todd Isaacs Jr. reached on Abraham Mow's throwing error at third to start the inning. Santiago Chirino followed with a single and Gabe Snyder brought Isaacs home with a RBI single to right. Jarrod Watkins plated Lake Erie's next run on a sacrifice fly to right to score Chirino. Lake Erie then executed a double steal, with Jiandido Tromp stealing second and Snyder scored from third on the play to give Lake Erie a 3-2 lead. Sussex County came right back with a run in the top of the second to tie the game at 3-3. On the second pitch of the inning, Juan Santana belted a solo homer to left, his third of the season. Both teams had chances to take the lead the rest of the way, and for Sussex County, their best chance came in the top of the seventh. They had the bases loaded with one out, when Darrien Ragins (1-0) struck out Harris and Oraj Anu to negate the threat and keep the game tied. The Crushers capitalized on that momentum very quickly, as Gabe Snyder led off the bottom of the seventh inning with a colossal 402-foot solo homer to right, his third of the season to give the Crushers a 4-3 lead. Lake Erie's bullpen combination of Perry Bewley, Thomas Bruss, Ragins, Trevor Kuncl and Alexis Rivero (3) combined to toss five scoreless innings of relief and allowed just four hits along the way. Ragins picked up the victory in his lone inning of work, while Rivero scored his second save in as many nights. Isaacs led the way for Lake Erie offensively, going 2-for-4 on the night and finished the series with six hits. Tromp reached safely two times on the night and extended his on base streak to 15 games in the process.
Three pitchers combined to throw the first no-hitter in franchise history as the Schaumburg Boomers blanked the Florence Y'Alls 2-0 in the finale of a three-game series at Wintrust Field on Thursday night.Jackson Hickert threw seven no-hit innings, finishing just shy of 100 pitches. Hickert issued six walks, but struck out three and worked perfect frames in the second, fourth and seventh to win his second start of the year. Hickert has gone 13.2 innings without allowing a run and has surrendered just one hit in that span. Antonio Frias, activated from the inactive list before the game, issued a walk in the eighth but no hits and Dylan Stutsman preserved the historic moment, ending the no-hitter with a strikeout to strand the tying runs in scoring position and earn the save, his second. The Boomers scored their only two runs in the first two innings. Chase Dawson doubled in the first with two outs and scored on a Blake Berry RBI single. Alec Craig and Miles Simington walked with one away in the second and Craig came in to score unearned on a throwing error. The team finished with six hits, two each from Dawson and Will Prater. Schaumburg stole six bases in the game with three coming from Craig.The Boomers had come close previously but had never thrown a no-hitter in the first 10+ seasons in Schaumburg. The no-hitter marked the first in the league this year and the first since Jorge Tavarez of New Jersey threw one on September 2, 2022.
Jeffrey Baez launched two home runs to catapult the Evansville Otters over the Tri-City ValleyCats 6-1 Thursday night at Bosse Field. A season high crowd of 4,540 cheered the Otters to the series victory and Baez to the top of the Frontier League home run charts with his eighth and ninth homers of the season. The third year Otter electrified the crowd early with a two run homer in the first inning. Noah Myers would extend the lead with a third inning solo home run that stayed just fair down the right field line. It was good for Myers' fourth home run of the season. The fifth inning was Evansville's knockout punch. Ethan Skender led off with a base hit and Dakota Phillips doubled. Baez then hit his third home run of the series and second on the day in the fifth, launching a moonshot off the second row of billboards in left field. Baez finished with 5 RBIs in the game and ten in the series. His nine home runs are more than any other player in the Frontier League. He now has three multi-home run games. The Otters single-season record is 23 home runs. A native of Venezuela, now living in Arizona, Baez has nine home runs already in 21 games played this year after hitting eight in 81 games last season. The slugger has hit 109 homers in his 12 year professional baseball career with 24 coming in three years in the River City. Austin Gossmann controlled the game from the mound. He threw five and a third innings allowing just one run on five hits. The Southern Indiana grad's six strikeouts are a season high as he earned his third win of the year. Evansville's bullpen closed out the win without allowing a hit. Leoni de La Cruz worked an inning and a third. Jon Beymer struck out two in a flawless inning of work and Jake Polancic struck out the side in the ninth.
The Gateway Grizzlies blanked the Empire State Greys 7-0 at Grizzlies Ballpark on Thursday night, with four pitchers combining to toss the club's first shutout win of 2023 and complete a series sweep. Former Grizzlie Andres Rodriguez (1-2) ran into trouble immediately in the first inning, as Gateway loaded the bases with two hits and a walk for Peter Zimmermann, who also drew a base-on-balls to make it 1-0. Andrew Penner then brought the second run of the game in on a double-play ground ball, making the score 2-0. Zac Ryan (1-0) took it from there, as the right-hander retired the first eight batters he faced in the contest, and eventually pitched five one-hit, shutout innings with five strikeouts. Gateway's offense would then plate three more runs in the bottom of the fifth inning against Rodriguez to increase their lead to 5-0 thanks to a balk, a passed ball, and a sacrifice fly by Jairus Richards. Later, in the eighth, D.J. Stewartmashed a two-run home run down the right field line for the final 7-0 score. Once Ryan departed, Nate Garkow, Zac Treece, and Trevor Tietz combined to hold the Greys scoreless the rest of the way, as Gateway's staff allowed just four hits in the contest and none for extra bases. The victory for the Grizzlies is their 12th in their last 13 games overall, improving their record to 18-5 on the year.
The Ottawa Titans (8-16) left a season-high 17 runners on base in a 6-3 loss to the Trois-Rivières Aigles (9-15) on Thursday. After the Titans left the bases loaded in the first, Rodrigo Orozco started the bottom half of the first with an opposite-field solo shot off Alec Thomas (loss, 1-1) to open the scoring. Jason Dicochea tied the game with a solo blast off Kaleb Schmidt (ND, 0-0) in the top of the fourth. Dicochea's fifth homer of the year extended his hit streak to eight-straight games. The game would remain tied until the Aigles blew it open in the late innings. A wild pitch forced home a run in the fifth before the Aigles added three in the sixth. A bases-loaded walk to Rodrigo Orozco brought home some insurance, then Juan Kelly scored a pair with a single. Victor Cerny's RBI double off Kenny Williams made it a 6-1 game in the seventh to put the Aigles in the driver's seat. In the ninth, the Titans would make things interesting and load the bases against former big leaguer Jesen Therrien. Manny Garcia would bring a run home with an infield single, and Brandon Bannon would walk to make it a three-run game. With the tying run on base, Therrien got AJ Wright to ground out to end the contest. With the loss, the Titans drop their seventh-straight series and left the bases loaded three times in the series finale. Taylor Wright and Manny Garcia posted multi-hit performances. Jacob Talamante and Jason Dicochea each drew two walks and AJ Wright walked three times. Also, Jamey Smart extended his hitting streak to five games and on-base streak to 13 in a row.
