VALLEYCATS TAKE SERIES THANKS TO MERCED'S WALK-OFF HOMER
The Tri-City ValleyCats (24-18) trailed 10-6 heading into the bottom of the eighth, but ultimately defeated the Schaumburg Boomers (25-16) 11-10 thanks to a walk-off two-run jack from Robbie Merced at Joseph L. Bruno on Thursday. Tri-City improved to 8-0 in series at home to begin the 2023 campaign. It was Merced's second homer of the year, and the second walk-off of the season. The last one happened on June 17 when Carson McCusker sent the ValleyCats' faithful in a frenzy with a walk-off long ball against Florence. Schaumburg opened the scoring for the third consecutive game. Elijah Gill issued a walk to Zach Huffins in the first. Brett Milazzo followed suit with a two-run blast. His second long ball in as many days gave the Boomers a 2-0 lead. Tri-City responded in the bottom of the first with a big inning. Seven consecutive batters reached base against Aaron Glickstein. Aaron Altherr, Zach Biermann, Cale Jones, Pavin Parks, and Robbie Merced all had five straight RBI knocks. Ian Walters followed suit with a sac fly to bring in Merced to put the ValleyCats on top, 6-2. Schaumburg chipped away in the second. Blake Berry led off with a walk. Travis Holt singled, and John Fiorenza cashed in with a three-run homer to cut the deficit to 6-5. Gill received a no-decision. He pitched 4.1 innings, yielding five runs on three hits, walking four, hitting a batter, and striking out two. Kyle Fitzgerald tied the game 6-6 in the fifth with a solo home run off Brendan Bell. The Boomers retook the lead in the sixth. Elliot Carney issued a walk to Alec Craig, who then stole second and third. Gaige Howard was issued a free pass, and swiped second. Milazzo picked up a two-run single to pull Schaumburg ahead, 8-6. The Boomers added an insurance run in the seventh. Berry and Holt singled off Coleman. Afterward, Craig reached on a fielder's choice, which moved Berry to third. Fiorenza laid down an RBI sac bunt to provide Schaumburg with a 9-6 lead. Glickstein was handed a no-decision. He pitched 6.1 innings, allowing six runs on seven hits, walking four, and striking out one. Schaumburg tacked on another run in the eighth. Dawson worked a free pass against Greg Veliz. Dawson stole second, and came around on a ground rule double from Fitzgerald to make it a 10-6 affair. Tri-City showed its resilience in the eighth. Merced and Walters worked back-to-back walks before Jakob Goldfarb came through with a three-run tater to cut the deficit to 10-9. Goldfarb drilled his sixth homer of the year, all occurring in the last nine games. He collected 14 RBI during the six-game homestand. ValleyCats' manager Pete Incaviglia made a bold decision to pinch-hit for Cale Jones. He inserted Rafi Vazquez, Saturday's starter, into the lineup. Vazquez had a pinch-hit appearance for Goldfarb on May 24 in Windy City on May 24, and went 1-2 with an RBI single and a walk. Tonight, Vazquez had a broken bat bloop singled off Dylan Stutsman. Two batters later, Merced, in just his seventh professional game, had his signature ValleyCats moment, a two-run shot to bring the crowd of 2,657 fans to their feet, and provide Tri-City with an 11-10 victory. Reymin Guduan (2-2) earned the win. He was the only pitcher for the ValleyCats to have a scoreless outing tonight. He yielded no hits, struck out two, and allowed a walk, which was quickly erased as Goldfarb nabbed Craig trying to swipe second. Stutsman (1-0) received the loss. He allowed two runs on two hits, and struck out one.
The ThunderBolts came up just short in their quest for a series sweep of the Joliet Slammers as they fell 2-1 at Ozinga Field Thursday night. Logan Schmitt, making his third start of the year for the ThunderBolts (17-25) and facing his former team for the first time, pitched in and out of trouble all night. He walked the bases loaded in the first but held the Slammers (20-22) off the scoreboard. He pitched out of another bases loaded jam in the third. In all, Schmitt walked seven batters but allowed only two runs over seven innings. The ThunderBolts got on the board first when Troy Viola singled in the bottom of the third. Junior Martina brought him home on a base hit for his team-leading 24th RBI. The lead held until the fifth inning, when Joliet tied the score then took the lead. Lane Baremore walked and scored on a Phillip Steering double. Steering came in on a Tyler Depreta-Johnson single, making it 2-1. The Bolts threatened only one more time, in the seventh, when Paul Coumoulos and Dan Robinson both singled to put runners at the corners. Ricky Castro got out of that jam with a strikeout to secure his second professional win. Castro improved to 2-0, striking out eight over seven innings. Schmitt (1-1) took the loss. David Harrison closed the game with two perfect innings for his first save.
The Florence Y'alls (21-21), presented by Towne Properties, fell 14-3 in their series finale versus the Trois-Rivières Aigles (15-26). The loss hands the Aigles the series victory and drops the Y'alls to 4-5 on their latest homestand. Florence got off to a fast start against Aigles righthander Gage Feeney. In the bottom of the first inning, Florence scored a trio of runs and brought nine hitters to the plate. After a leadoff walk to first baseman Craig Massey and a single from right fielder Ray Zuberer, designated hitter Brennan Price doubled both home to give the Y'alls a 2-0 lead. Four batters later, catcher Zade Richardson grounded a single into left to drive in another run. With the bases loaded and two outs, center fielder Cole Brannen drove a deep fly ball to left that Trois-Rivières left fielder L.P. Pelletier caught as he crashed into the wall. Pelletier would later leave the game, but his run-saving catch changed the momentum of the game for good. The Y'alls and starter Jake McMahill (4.0 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 2 BB, 4 K) carried their 3-0 lead into the third inning, but Trois-Rivières rallied to tie the game. Two hits and a walk loaded the bases for third baseman Juan Kelly, who cleared the bases with a three-RBI triple. Neither team would score until the fifth inning. The Aigles began adding to their lead against a pair of Florence relievers. Righthanders Andrew Kramer and Donovan Armas struggled through three straight innings of offensive pressure. In the fifth, the Aigles scored two runs on a Juan Kelly RBI single and an RBI groundout from designated hitter Brendan Dadson. Up 5-3, Trois-Rivières then broke the game open with a seven-run sixth. 11 hitters came to the plate on four hits and four walks. The Aigles led 12-3 after six, tacked on two more in the seventh, and never looked back.
The Lake Erie Crushers fell to the New Jersey Jackals via a walk-off home run for the second time in the series, with a final score of 7-6. The Crushers (17-25) led in all three games heading into the last inning versus the Jackals (27-13), but only came away with one win as they blew the lead twice. The scoring began in the bottom of the first inning when the Jackals notched one off an RBI double from James Nelson. New Jersey added on another pair of runs in the bottom of the fourth inning on a two-run blast from Alfredo Marte. It was an early 3-0 lead that favored the opposition. It took Lake Erie six innings to get the bats going, but when it happened they struck for gold. Jack Harris led off the frame with a double to right, and Jarrod Watkins then reached on an error. Kemuel Thomas-Rivera stepped to the dish next and got the Crushers on the board with an RBI single which scored Harris. The inning was far from over. A Sean Cheely walk loaded the bases for Tyree Bradley who hit a sacrifice fly to the outfield to plate another run. Gabe Snyder flew out in the next at-bat but it was productive as he moved Thomas-Rivera 90 feet away from scoring. John Tuccillo kept the inning alive with an infield single down the third base line which came with an RBI and evened the game at three. The cherry on top was thrown on just one batter later. Drue Galassi dug into the box and launched a three-run missile over the right field wall, giving the club a 6-3 lead. The Lake Erie armor was cracked in the bottom of the seventh inning. After a one-out walk Thomas Bruss got a swinging strikeout but then issued a two-run shot out to dead center, trimming the Crushers' lead to one. In the ninth inning, Trevor Kuncl was called upon. With two outs he gave up a walk. Then one batter later Keon Barnum hit a two-run homer over the right-field wall to give the Jackals the series. Kuncl (0-3) takes the loss as that was the second time in two days he allowed a walk-off home run. Lance Lusk (6-0) earned the win after shutting the Crushers' offense down in the ninth inning.
The Ottawa Titans (19-23) earned a 12-4 victory over the Sussex County Miners (25-16) on Thursday to take the rubber match of the series. With a pair of one-out walks aboard against Mark Moclair (loss, 2-2) in the bottom of the first, Sicnarf Loopstok got the scoring started with a single off the right-field wall. Two batters later, AJ Wright went the opposite way to right for a two-run double, extending the Titans' lead to 3-0. In the second against Alec Thomas (win, 2-2), the Miners pulled within one with a two-run single from Edwin Mateo. As the lead was cut down to one, Jamey Smart blasted his career-high tying fifth homer of the year to make it 6-2 with a three-run homer. Throwing up zeros through the middle innings, Thomas left the game with one out in the sixth as the Miners threatened to make it a 6-4 game. Nick MacDonald entered the contest, walking and hitting the first two he faced to load the bases. Facing the heart of the order, MacDonald got Gavin Stupienski to strike out and Oraj Anu to ground out to end the inning. Thomas went five and a third on Thursday, allowing four runs on nine hits, walking three, and striking out three in the win. In the bottom of the seventh, the Titans were able to breathe a sigh of relief by scoring five runs on six hits against Freisis Adames. Taylor Wright, Kanta Kobayashi, and Jackie Urbaez each knocked in one while AJ Wright's second double of the game scored two, seeing the Titans blow it open to 11-4. Evan Berkey joined in on the fun with an RBI single in the eighth, extending the lead to 12-4. Following an inning and two-thirds from MacDonald on the hill, Chris Burica and Erasmo Pinales tossed shutout frames to secure the series win. In the victory, each member of the Titans order reached base. Jamey Smart went 2-for-4 with a three-run homer and walk, while AJ Wright went 2-for-4 with two doubles and four RBI.
Washington scored 10 times in the finale of the series at Clover Stadium but a three-run eighth and two-run ninth proved to be meaningless in an 11-10, 10-inning loss of the rubber game to the New York Boulders Thursday night. It finalized a 2-7 road trip for Washington. The Wild Things did what they had done in the first two games of the series and jumped on the Boulders' starter early. Tristan Peterson singled home a pair and Robert Chayka was plunked with the bases full in the first as Washington opened a 3-0 lead. In the second, Wagner Lagrange hit his 11th homer of the campaign to make it 4-0. New York got the next two with a sac fly and a solo homer by Matt McDermott to bring the Boulders closer. JC Santini then hit his second homer of the year in the sixth inning to extend Washington's lead to 5-2, but it didn't last as New York would score three times in the home half of the frame on an RBI double by David Vinsky and two sacrifice flies. The game stayed tied at 5-5 until the top of the eighth when Washington pulled ahead again with a three-run inning that included a Robert Chayka RBI knock, a double steal on which Chayka took home and an RBI double by Lagrange. The Boulders got one back in the bottom half on an RBI single by Giovanni Garbella. Tommy Caufield hit his first pro homer to pad Washington's late lead to four at 10-6 in the ninth: a two-run shot to right center. But McDermott got to Washington's Lukas Young with a game-tying grand slam in the bottom half. The Wild Things then failed to score in the 10th with the international tiebreaker rule in effect and then Gabriel Garcia walked the Wild Things off with a single in the bottom half to win it. Will Solomon suffered the loss as the winner was an unearned run.
