VALLEYCATS OFFENSIVE EXPOLOSION PROPLES THEM TO SERIES WIN
SAUGET, IL - The Tri-City ValleyCats (14-13) belted a season-high eight homers to take a dramatic 24-12 win against the first-place Gateway Grizzlies (19-7) on Sunday at Grizzlies Ballpark. The nine runs in the eighth was the most the ValleyCats scored in an inning this year. Tri-City was previously 0-for-9 when trailing after seven innings this season. Overall, the ValleyCats went 3-3 on their six-game road trip against the Grizzlies, and the Evansville Otters.
Gateway opened the scoring for the second consecutive day. Rafi Vazquez issued a walk to Eric Rivera. Clint Freeman went to second on an error from Aaron Altherr, and Rivera moved to third. Peter Zimmerman and Andrew Penner hit back-to-back RBI singles to give the Grizzlies a 2-0 lead.
Carson McCusker ripped a solo homer off Carson LaRue in the second. Pavin Parks and Juan Montes each worked a two-out walk. Pat Adams tied up the game, 2-2, with an RBI single.
Gateway broke the deadlock in the third. Gabe Holt singled, and advanced to second on an error from Jaxon Hallmark. Rivera singled, and Holt went to third. Rivera stole second before Freeman drove in both baserunners with a single. Zimmerman and Penner then singled to load the bases. D.J. Stewart cashed in with a two-run single to pull the Grizzlies ahead, 6-2.
Gateway padded its lead in the fourth. Holt led off the frame with a triple, and crossed the plate after an RBI groundout from Rivera. Zimmerman blasted a solo homer to put the Grizzlies on top, 8-2.
Vazquez received a no-decision. He tossed four innings, yielding eight runs, seven earned on 10 hits, walking one, and striking out one.
Tri-City rallied in the fifth. Goldfarb walked, and McCusker followed suit with his second long ball of the afternoon. Trey Hair singled to knock LaRue out of the game. Altherr mashed a two-run blast off Nate Garkow, his third of the season, to cut the deficit to 8-6.
LaRue was also handed a no-decision. He threw four frames, giving up five runs on six hits, walking four, and striking out five.
The ValleyCats had a chance to jump ahead in the seventh. McCusker greeted Cameron Johnson with a single in the seventh. Hair walked, and Altherr notched his second RBI of the day to make it an 8-7 ballgame. Parks walked to load the bases. Johnson stranded all three baserunners after striking out Montes, and inducing Adams into a 4-6-3 double play.
The Grizzlies provided some insurance in the bottom of the seventh. Penner collected his third hit of the game with a double off Matt Dunaway. Penner came around to score on a double from Jairus Richards, who then stole third. Afterward, Stewart hit a sac fly. Alex Hernandez was hit by a pitch, and Abdiel Diaz walked. Holt singled in Hernandez, and Diaz moved to third. Freeman picked up the second sac fly of the inning to give Gateway a 12-7 advantage.
Tri-City stormed back with a nine-run eighth. Ben Krizen issued a walk to Hallmark. Culver doubled, which sent Hallmark to third. The latter crossed the plate on a wild pitch. McCusker reached on an error from Stewart, and Culver scored. Hair doubled in a run against Alec Whaley. Altherr then had a two-run two-bagger to tie the game. Parks cranked the go-ahead, two-run blast for his third homer of the 2023 campaign. Hallmark and Culver launched back-to-back homers off Zac Treece to take a 16-12 lead. Hallmark and Culver each clubbed their fourth homers of the season. It was the first time this year two ValleyCats players have gone back-to-back with the long ball.
The party was not over yet as the ValleyCats blew the game wide open with an eight-run ninth. Hair singled and Altherr doubled. Parks was intentionally walked, and Montes ripped an RBI single. Afterward, Adams clobbered his first homer with Tri-City, and the ValleyCats' first grand slam of the 2023 campaign. Culver and Goldfarb singled before McCusker went deep for the third time to extend the 'Cats lead to 24-12. McCusker became the first player in the Frontier League to have a three-homer game since his current teammate Zach Biermann had the trifecta with the Evansville Otters against the Schaumburg Boomers at Wintrust Field on June 15, 2022. It was McCusker's 11th homer of the season.
Dunaway (1-0) earned the win. He went an inning, allowing four runs on three hits, walking two, and striking out none.
Whaley (0-1) received the loss. He did not record an out, and allowed four runs on three hits.
Before today's game, no ValleyCat had a 5-RBI game. This afternoon, McCusker had 7 RBI, while Altherr and Adams drove in five apiece. McCusker became the first player with Tri-City this year to score five times, and Parks became the first player with the ValleyCats this season to walk five times. Additionally, every starter reached base safely at least two times. Overall, both teams combined for 36 hits.
Evansville, Ind. – The Evansville Otters closed the week out with a rain-delayed 8-1 win behind Justin Watland's solid start and five doubles Sunday night at Bosse Field.
Watland was at his best Sunday night in a game delayed by two hours due to rain. The second year Otter twirled six excellent innings, allowing just one run. He struck out seven batters and limited the Boomers to just three hits for his best start of the season.
Leoni de La Cruz provided the fireworks for Evansville with a blazing seventh and eighth innings striking out all six batters he faced with five of the Boomers left looking. The six strikeouts were the most by an Otters' reliever this season.
Offensively, Evansville generated a balanced attack with 12 hits by eight batters. Noah Myers led the charge with two extra-base hits.
He led off the 1st inning with a double and scored. Myers used a leadoff triple in the third inning, scoring on an Ethan Skender RBI knock.
The Otters tacked on another run in the first on a Kona Quiggle double.
The barrage of doubles continued with a Jacob Olson RBI two-bagger in the fourth and doubles by Dakota Phillips and Jeffrey Baez adding another run in the fifth.
Evansville blew the game open with three in the eighth. Three batters were hit and Quiggle delivered an RBI hit.
Schaumburg's lone run came in the fifth.
Myers led the way with three total runs while Baez and Quiggle both totaled two-RBI days. Myers totaled four extra base-hits in his stellar weekend.
The Otters finish the week 3-3 for the third consecutive week.
Evansville hits the road on Tuesday for a quick three game trip to Chicagoland to take on the Windy City ThunderBolts. First pitch for all three games are slated for 6:35 PM CT.
Florence, KY—The Empire State Greys (7-19) have defeated the Florence Y'alls (16-11) 10-8 behind six home runs, two of which by John Mead.
In the top of the second inning, John Mead continued his recent power stretch hitting a solo home run off of Tommy Siemer (L, 0-1) for the first run of the ball game. Siemer entered the ballgame with no preparation other than some warmup pitches on the field. He replaced starter Jake McMahill halfway through the first at-bat of the inning due to injury.
Florence was the next to strike. With the bases loaded, Sam Plash hit a grand slam off of Greys starter Ryan Sandberg (W, 1-3) giving the Y'alls a 4-1 lead after the 3rd. Plash's home run was the only blemish on an otherwise fantastic outing by Ryan Sandberg. Sandberg did not allow another run throughout the rest of his outing.
Empire State's bats were electric in the 5th inning. Quentin Holmes got the rally going with a 1-out double and was immediately driven in by a Jordan Scott single. Back-to-back home runs by Josue Herrera and Josh Sears immediately followed Scott. Two batters later, John Mead went deep once again, giving the Greys a 6-4 lead.
Following his double in the 5th, Quentin Holmes was responsible for the Greys' offense in the 6th. With Mike Gulino standing on third, Holmes delivered with a 2-run home run increasing the Greys lead to 8-4. The Y'alls did get one back in the bottom of the inning on an Andres Rios sac fly cutting the deficit to 8-5.
For the 3rd straight inning, the Greys hit a home run. Steve Barkmakian joined the power surge with a 2-run home run of his own and extended the Greys' lead to 10-5. Florence responded with a home run of their own in the bottom of the inning. With two outs, and two on, Marcos Castillo hit a 3-run home run making it a 10-8 ballgame.
That score held up the rest of the game due to the valiant effort of Tanner Propst (SV, 2). Tanner recorded the last 7 outs of the game for the Greys. Throughout his 2.1 innings of work, Propst did not allow a hit and struck out three.
Ottawa, ON - The Ottawa Titans (11-16) capped off the series sweep with a lopsided 10-1 victory on Cappy's birthday over the Joliet Slammers (11-16) on Sunday.
Taylor Wright got the Titans on the board with a two-out solo home run off Cameron Aufderheide (loss, 1-3) in the bottom of the second. Wright's third homer of the season put an end to five in a row retired by the Slammers' starter to begin the afternoon.
With the bases loaded in the third, Sicnarf Loopstok extended his hit streak to 11 in a row with a two-run single to make it 3-0.
After the Slammers got on the board in the top of the third, the Titans responded with four runs in the bottom half. Brandon Bannon brought home one on a fielder's choice and then two batters later, Jamey Smart blasted a three-run shot to right to make it 7-1.
The run support would be plenty for Grant Larson (win, 2-3), who tossed his fourth quality start of the season in the victory. The San Diego product went seven and allowed one run on five hits, walking two, and striking out six.
After four straight walks brought in another run in the sixth, Jason Dicochea and Manny Garcia each left the yard with solo homers in the seventh.
Erasmo Pinales and Nick MacDonald each tossed shutout frames out of the bullpen to wrap up the afternoon.
In the win, the Titans picked up their first series sweep of the season. All nine reached base in the victory, seeing the Titans emerge victorious for the fourth time in their last five.
AVON, OH- The Windy City ThunderBolts ended a five-game slide Sunday afternoon topping the Lake Erie Crushers 3-0 at Mercy Health Stadium Sunday afternoon.
ThunderBolts starting pitcher Garrett Christman (2-1) threw a complete game shutout, allowing four hits while striking out six in the victory. Christman did not walk a single batter in the contest, and retired 18 straight Crushers until the bottom of the ninth when Lake Erie cracked a base hit with one out.
Windy City (10-17) got the game off to a hot start offensively, gaining a 2-0 lead from RBI singles by catcher Matt Morgan and third baseman Junior Martina in the top of the second inning.
The score remained 2-0 until the top of the fifth inning.
Martina led off, reaching on a fielding error by Crushers' shortstop Jarrod Watkins. Not even a pitch following the throwing error by Watkins, a pick off attempt by Lake Erie (13-14) pitcher Angelo Baez overflew first base giving Martina a free pass to second. After a Jake Boone fly out, Bolts centerfielder Bren Spillane moved Martina over on a soft ground out to Baez. With two outs, designated hitter Micah Yonamine singled to right scoring Martina tallying a 3-0 Windy City advantage.
In the bottom of the ninth inning, Christman surrendered a one out single by Watkins breaking the streak of 18 straight retired Crushers. Following the single, Lake Erie second-baseman Santiago Chorino hit a well struck ball to short that resulted in an infield single. Christman finished the job retiring Gabe Snyder on a fly out to right field and a groundout to Christman himself.
