BOULDERS WIN, STANTON GETS 300TH WIN
POMONA, NY - The New York Boulders had a little extra to celebrate after Sunday's 12-4 win over the Lake Erie Crushers, as manager T.J. Stanton earned his 300th career win with the victory.
Before his coaching days, Stanton won six championships in his 10-year professional playing career. He started his coaching career with the Quebec Capitales, and then went on to manage the Garden State Grays. He ended up returning to Quebec in 2016, then managed the Trois-Rivieres Aigles before starting with the Boulders in 2021.
The Boulders (25-18) exploded for six runs in the fifth inning to take the lead and build a sizable cushion of insurance runs. Patrick Kivlehan scored on a wild pitch to tie the game, then Jimmy Costin put the Boulders on top with a two-run double. Joe DeLuca put an exclamation point on the inning with a three-run home run.
The Boulders tallied 13 hits in their dominating win. Gabriel Garcia led the hit parade with a 3 for 4 performance at the plate. Thomas Walraven, Chris Kwitzer, and Kivlehan each had multiple hits in the win. David Vinsky, Walraven, Kwitzer, and Garcia each drove in one run for New York.
Dawson Lane earned the win after going five innings with three earned runs and four strikeouts. Andy Hammond provided three solid innings of relief, allowing one earned run, and Alex Mack tossed a scoreless inning of relief in his return from the disabled list. Sunday marked just the second appearance of the season for Mack, who last pitched on May 13.
Sean Cheely drove in two runs for Lake Erie, which fell to 18-27 with the loss. Jackson Pritchard added a solo home run for the Crushers.
The Boulders return home to Clover Stadium on Monday against the Ottawa Titans at 6:00 p.m
CRESTWOOD, IL – The ThunderBolts broke a tie with two runs in the bottom of the sixth inning and notched their first series sweep of the season with a 3-2 win over the Florence Y'alls at Ozinga Field Sunday afternoon.
The ThunderBolts (20-25) took a one-run lead in the bottom of the second inning as Troy Viola reached on a fielder's choice, stole a base and later scored on a wild pitch.
The Y'alls (21-24) tied it up in short order, getting their first run in the third. Taylor Olmstead walked and Ray Zuberer doubled him in. Zuberer made it to third base but was stranded there as the score remained tied.
Both Windy City starter Garrett Christman and Florence's Edgar Martinez were sharp, keeping things knotted up until the sixth. That's when the Bolts took advantage of a break. When Jeremiah Burks dropped an infield popup, Dan Robinson reached first base. He scored on a Viola double. Viola provided a big insurance run by scoring on a wild pitch for the second time.
Christman pitched into the ninth but fell just shy of a complete game as he issued a two-out walk before a Burks RBI double made it a one-run game. Austin Marozas came out of the bullpen to record the final out and his second save.
Christman improved to 4-2 with the win and Martinez (5-3) pitched six innings and allowed one earned run for the loss.
PATERSON, NJ - The Tri-City ValleyCats (27-18) swept the New Jersey Jackals (27-16) on Sunday with a 9-5 victory in the series finale of a three-game set at Hinchliffe Stadium thanks to clutch hitting, and another good outing from the bullpen. It was the second sweep of the 2023 campaign for Tri-City, and its first since taking all three games against the Florence Y'alls from June 17-18. The ValleyCats are now just one game behind first place New Jersey and the Sussex County Miners in the Frontier League East Division.
Tri-City opened the scoring for the third consecutive game. Aaron Altherr led off the second with a double off Anthony Rodriguez. Robbie Merced singled, and Altherr came around on an error from Jordan Howard to put the ValleyCats on top, 1-0.
New Jersey took the lead in the bottom of the second. Keon Barnum singled off Dwayne Marshall before Josh Rehwaldt hit a two-run homer to give the Jackals a 2-1 lead.
Tri-City set the stage for Jaxon Hallmark in the third after a pair of singles from Cale Jones and Jakob Goldfarb along with a walk issued to Altherr. Hallmark clobbered the ValleyCats second grand slam of the season, and the first since Pat Adams in Gateway on June 11. Hallmark's sixth homer of 2023 campaign provided Tri-City with a 5-2 advantage.
New Jersey responded in the bottom of the third. Austin White singled, and was driven in on a double from Ti'Quan Forbes. Phillip Ervin knocked in Forbes with a two-bagger. Ervin went to third on a flyout from James Nelson. Rehwaldt made it a 5-5 affair after reaching on an RBI fielder's choice.
The ValleyCats struck again in the fifth. Goldfarb and Cito Culver hit back-to-back singles. Altherr brought in Goldfarb with a base hit, and Culver moved to third. Hallmark collected his fifth RBI of the game with a fielder's choice to provide Tri-City with a 7-5 lead. Hallmark joins Altherr, Adams, Goldfarb, and Carson McCusker as the only players with Tri-City to have a five-plus RBI effort this season.
The ValleyCats blew the game open in the ninth.. Pavin Parks hit an infield single off Dazon Cole, and Altherr mashed a two-run jack. His eighth home run of the year pulled the 'Cats ahead, 9-5.
Coleman Huntley, Greg Veliz, and Reymin Guduan recorded the final 10 outs for Tri-City. The ValleyCats' bullpen extended their scoreless streak to 13.2 innings.
Marshall (5-1) earned the win. He tossed 5.2 innings, yielding five runs on seven hits, and walking two.
Rodriguez (2-5) received the loss. He threw five frames, giving up seven runs, six earned on eight hits, walking two, and striking out four.
Tri-City has a day off on Monday, and will begin a three game series at "The Joe" against the Empire State Greys on Tuesday, July 4.
WASHINGTON, Pa. (July 2) – With Tommy Caufield's two-run walk-off double in the ninth, Washington swiped the rubber game from the Schaumburg Boomers to win the series, 5-4.
The Wild Things got on the scoreboard first in the bottom half of the first inning with a leadoff home run from Anthony Brocato. Scotty Dubrule followed with a single and Tristan Peterson brought him home with an RBI two-bagger to make it 2-0 Washington.
The top of the second began with Schaumburg loading the bases by way of a walk, single and hit-by-pitch. Kobe Foster escaped with three consecutive strikeouts leaving three Greater Prairie Chickens in the brush. The Boomers came back to the dish in the top of the third and led off with a home run from Kyle Fitzgerald to make the score 2-1 Washington.
In the bottom of the fifth the Wild Things had the bases loaded courtesy of Schaumburg's starting pitcher Jackson Hickert and a Peterson walk brought Abraham Sequera around to score. Washington would have a 3-1 lead but left the bags full in the inning.
Schaumburg replied quickly as John Fiorenza made it a one-run game with a solo home run in the away side of the sixth. After six innings of work Foster ended his night with seven hits allowed, two earned runs, three walks and six strikeouts in a no decision.
The Boomers took the lead in the top of the seventh with Alec Craig connecting on a two-RBI double to bring Brett Milazzo and Chase Dawson across home plate. This made the score 4-3 in favor of Schaumburg.
In the bottom of the ninth with bases loaded and two outs Tommy Caufield hit a two-RBI walk-off double to win the game, making it the third walk-off victory for Washington this season.
The Windy City ThunderBolts will come to Washington for the fourth game of the nine-game homestand. A Fourth of July game with fireworks to follow presented by the Pennsylvania Lottery is scheduled for 7:05 p.m. Tuesday evening.
Joliet, Ill. – The Evansville Otters used hits from six different players and a quality start from Austin Gossmann to defeat the Joliet Slammers 6-3 in the series rubber match Sunday evening. With the win, Evansville has now won three straight road series. Gossmann worked seven terrific innings, allowing just five hits and two runs, striking out four batters. The third-year Otter worked three in-order innings and allowed just two baserunners over his final five innings of work. The Southern Indiana grad earned his fourth win of the season. The Otters provided early run support with three runs in the first inning. In just his second professional game, John Dyer hit the key two-out two-RBI double. Joliet committed two errors in the inning. The Slammers scratched across two runs in the second inning to cut the deficit to one but the Otters responded with another run in the third on a Jake Green RBI single. Evansville continued to grow the lead with another run in the fifth. Jomar Reyes led off with a double and came around to score on a sacrifice fly. The Otters added one more run in the eighth as Green led off with a walk, Bryan Rosario bunted for a base hit and Green eventually scored on another sacrifice fly. Joliet scored one in the ninth but closer Jake Polancic came in from the bullpen to slam the door shut on a Slammers comeback with a game-ending strikeout. Reyes worked his on-base streak to a team-leading 23 games and led the squad with two hits. With the win, the Otters move into a tie for second place in the Frontier League West. They are 10-8 on the road with wins in four of six road series. Evansville continues the road trip with a rare Monday evening ballgame against the Lake Erie Crushers in Avon, OH. First pitch is slated for 6:05 PM CT. The Otters broadcast will be carried on the Otters Digital Network and simulcast on FloSports.
Sauget, IL (July 2, 2023) – The Gateway Grizzlies split a doubleheader with the Trois-Rivieres Aigles on Sunday at Grizzlies Ballpark, falling just short by a score of 2-1 in seven innings in the first contest before rebounding with an 8-6 victory over seven innings in the second game.
In the first game, Carson LaRue (4-1) and Osman Gutierrez (4-4) each held the opposing team scoreless for the first three innings before the Aigles broke through with two outs in the fourth, scoring two runs on a walk, two consecutive singles, and an error to go ahead 2-0.
Thanks to Gutierrez, who pitched into the seventh and struck out eight, the Grizzlies trailed from there. They attempted a comeback in the bottom of the seventh, with Peter Zimmermann leading off with a single and Clint Freeman doubling to left-center field before D.J. Stewart brought in Gateway's first run on a groundout. But Tyler Cornett recorded the final out for the save, stranding the tying run at third base to draw Trois-Rivieres even in the series.
In the second game, a rubber game to decide the series, the Aigles got a three-run, first-inning home run from Dalton Combs to take a 3-0 lead on Zac Ryan (2-1) and the Grizzlies, but Gateway responded with a bang in the bottom half, netting five runs on six consecutive hits to leap ahead 5-3. Zimmermann's two-run double got the scoring started, followed by Abdiel Diaz's game-tying RBI single, a go-ahead double by Stewart, and an RBI groundout by Eric Rivera.
Two innings later, the Grizzlies added to their lead with two runs on zero hits, drawing two walks, three hit batters, and two wild pitches in the frame to take a 7-3 lead, which they expanded to 8-3 in the fifth on an RBI single with two outs by Andrew Penner.
Trois-Rivieres nearly came all the way back in the late innings against the Gateway bullpen after Ryan tossed five innings and struck out four to put himself in line for the win. Steve Brown's RBI double in the sixth made the score 8-4, and the Aigles also scored a pair of runs in the seventh to slice the lead to 8-6 on RBI hits by L.P. Pelletier and Juan Kelly. Trois-Rivieres then loaded the bases with two outs, putting the tying and leading runs on for Rodrigo Orozco, but his fly ball to deep right was caught at the warning track for the final out, securing the win and the series victory for Gateway.
Winners of seven of their last nine games overall and in first place in the Frontier League West Division standings, the Grizzlies will look to keep their momentum at home when they host the Florence Y'alls in a three-game series beginning on Monday, July 3, at Grizzlies Ballpark. Joey Gonzalez will start the series opener against Florence's Jestin Jones, with first pitch at 7:05 p.m. CT, and fireworks to follow the final out.
