OTTERS HIT AND HOMER PAST THUNDERBOLTS
The Evansville Otters battered the Windy City ThunderBolts for 15 hits and three home runs in a 9-5 victory Friday night at Bosse Field.Ethan Skender launched two home runs and the Otters scored six runs over the last three innings to pull away from Windy City. Evansville secured their first win of the week, snapping a three-game losing streak. The Otters' second baseman Skender became the third Otter with a multi-homer game this year. He doubled his season home run total to four with the two blasts. Skender started the Otters' scoring with a two-run homer to left in the third inning. Jeffrey Baez followed Skender with a solo blast over the left field wall on the very next pitch. The Otters have hit back-to-back home runs four times this year, all at Bosse Field with Baez involved in all four occurrences. Windy City took the lead with four runs in the sixth inning on five straight base hits. The Otters responded quickly, retaking the lead with three runs in the sixth inning. Evansville mounted four straight hits. John Dyer started the inning with a single. Noah Myers followed with a base hit. Brody Tanksley then brought in the first run with a double down the left field line. Kona Quiggle added a two-RBI double to cap the inning. The Otters would continue their late game surge with another run in the seventh as Jomar Reyes led off the inning with a double and came around to score. Skender then launched his second home run in the eighth, a massive solo shot to left field. A Reyes' RBI single followed in the eighth for a two-run inning to finish the game's scoring. Parker Brahms started on the mound for Evansville. The righty did not allow a hit until the fourth inning. Brahms did not factor into the decision with four runs allowed, all coming in the sixth inning. Hunter Kloke earned the win with an inning and two-thirds of relief. Jake Polancic worked his sixth save of the season, pitching the final four outs without allowing a baserunner. Evansville received hits from eight different players. The Otters' 15 hits is tied for the second-most in a game all season. Dyer had three hits in his Bosse Field debut after his first five appearances of the season on the road. Tanksley hit two doubles in his first 2023 game with the Otters.
The New York Boulders got out early Friday night and never looked back, earning a 7-4 win over the Florence Y'alls in the first game of a three-game road series. David Vinsky drove in Tucker Nathans in the first inning to give the Boulders a lead out of the gate, but Florence quickly retaliated in the bottom of the second inning with two runs of its own. The Boulders used back-to-back three-run innings in the third and fourth to build a comfortable lead they would not relinquish. Thomas Walraven blasted a three-run home run in the third inning for New York. Giovanni Garbella's two-run homer and Patrick Kivlehan's solo blast in the fourth inning anchored the Boulders offensive eruption. Walraven and Garbella have now each homered four times in their last 11 games. Kivlehan, Nathans, and Vinsky each recorded two hits in the win. Ray Zuberer drove in two runs for Florence, both of which came off a two-run double in the third inning. Craig Massey and Lane Hoover also drove in one run in the loss. Boulders starting pitcher July Sosa earned the win, allowing four earned runs over six innings of work. Dylan Smith picked up his seventh save of the season after tossing a scoreless ninth inning. Rodney Hutchinson, Jr. took the loss for Florence after allowing three earned runs in two innings of relief.
The Washington Wild Things defeated the Sussex County Miners in the first game of their weekend by a score of 12-5. Wagner Lagrange's three-hit and four-RBI night was the difference in Friday's matchup. Hayden Shenefield looked terrific tonight pitching six complete innings while striking out six along the way and only allowing two runs on seven hits and two walks. Anthony Brocato led off the game with a blast over the opposite-field fence. Scotty Dubrule followed it up with a walk to get on base and then Wagner Lagrange sent him around the bases with a two-run home run. The Wild Things led the Miners 3-1 after the first frame. The offense wasn't done as they ran back the same script in the third inning with Scotty Dubrule singling to lead things off and Wagner Lagrange sending Dubrule once again all the way home on a two-run shot. The offense wasn't done producing yet as Tristan Peterson reached base on a Sussex County error and then scored on an RBI triple by Tommy Caufield. Then JC Santini stepped up to the plate and blasted a two-run homer to bring Caulfield around. The bats stayed hot as Abraham Sequera singled and then once again another home run off the bat of Anthony Brocato brought Sequera across the plate. The Wild Things led 10-2 going into the fourth. When it rains, it pours, and the offense continued to pour into their lead in the bottom of the sixth. Wagner Lagrange found his third hit of the night for a single to get on base and this time LaGrange would be brought around the bases by yet again another long ball as Melvin Novoa hit a two-run homer to extend the Wild Things lead 12-2. The Miners tried to make a comeback in the seventh scoring three runs on three hits off Ray Pacella out of the Wild Things bullpen. Although Pacella struggled, newcomer Jan Figueroa and veteran Steven Knapp stepped in to pitch three scoreless innings while striking out three along the way. Figueroa worked two scoreless in his pro debut.
A safety squeeze in the bottom of the eighth inning lifted the Schaumburg Boomers to a fourth consecutive win, taking down the Lake Erie Crushers 4-3 at Wintrust Field to reach the 30-win mark for the season. The Boomers led 3-0, scoring three runs on three consecutive two-out singles in the bottom of the third. Kyle Fitzgerald, Brett Milazzo and Chase Dawson all delivered run-scoring singles. Lake Erie came back to tie the game, plating a pair of two-out runs in the sixth and evening the game in the eighth with a bases loaded walk. Milazzo singled with one out in the bottom of the eighth, moved to second on a wild pitch and advanced to third on a Dawson single before Blake Berry put down the safety squeeze for the win. Luis Perez allowed two runs in six innings with two walks and eight strikeouts. Cristian Lopez earned the win in relief with Jake Joyce logging his fifth save. Milazzo and Dawson both tallied two hits as each team finished with six.
The Tri-City ValleyCats (30-19) scored 11 unanswered runs to take the series opener 11-6 over the Ottawa Titans (23-26) on Friday at Ottawa Stadium. Ottawa put together a seemingly comfortable lead in the second. Dan Beebe issued a one-out walk to Jake Gitter. Jacob Talamante hit a double, which moved Gitter to third. Jackie Urbaez was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Gitter scored on a wild pitch as Talamante and Urbaez advanced 90 feet. A walk to Jason Dicochea put runners at every square base again. Sicnarf Loopstok had an RBI infield single. Afterward, Jamey Smart had a two-run knock to give the Titans a 4-0 lead. Tri-City clawed back in the fourth. Cito Culver and Jakob Goldfarb each had a single off Grant Larson. The two baserunners went to second and third, respectively, on a passed ball from Loopstok. Robbie Merced drove in two with a double. Zach Biermann grounded out to second, which moved Merced to third. Lamar Briggs had an RBI infield single to cut the deficit to 4-3. The ValleyCats picked up where they left off in the fifth. Jaxon Hallmark and Culver each singled, and then both stole a base. Aaron Altherr walked to load the bases. Goldfarb laced a two-run single. Merced reached on an error from Dicochea, and the former was credited with an RBI. Biermann followed suit with a single, plating Goldfarb. On the same play, Merced advanced to third, and Biermann was thrown out second, trying to stretch his hit into a double. Andrew Roach entered, and hit Briggs with a pitch. Ian Walters followed suit with a three-run jack to pull Tri-City ahead, 10-4. It was the second homer for Walters in his last three games, and his fourth for the ValleyCats this season. Beebe received a no-decision. He threw 4.1 innings, allowing four runs on six hits, walking four, and striking out six. Tri-City tacked on another run in the sixth. Culver singled off Brooks Walton, who hit the next batter, Goldfarb, with a pitch. Merced brought in his fourth RBI of the game with a double to put the ValleyCats on top, 11-4. It was his second four-RBI effort in his last three games. Ottawa showed some life with a run in the seventh and the eighth innings. Brendan Bell walked AJ Wright to begin the seventh. Two batters later, Gitter had an RBI double. Blake Workman issued two consecutive doubles in the eighth to Smart and Taylor Wright as the Titans trimmed the deficit to 11-6. Workman retired the side in order in the ninth, striking out two to record the second straight win for Tri-City. Greg Veliz (3-1) earned the win for the ValleyCats. He relieved Beebe to get out of a second and third one-out jam in the fifth, and came out unscathed. Overall, Veliz was the only pitcher from either team to not allow a run as he tossed 1.2 innings, yielding one hit, a hit by pitch, and struck out two. Larson (4-6) was handed the loss. He pitched 4.1 innings, giving up eight runs, seven earned on 11 hits, walking one, and striking out three.
The Gateway Grizzlies used some more late magic to win their fifth straight game overall and 11th in their last 13, with Andrew Penner striking a two-run, go-ahead double in the eighth inning to put them ahead to stay in a 4-1 win over the Joliet Slammers at Duly Health and Care Field on Friday night. Both starting pitchers were outstanding in the contest, and Joliet's Cam Aufderheide blinked first, with Jairus Richards driving a solo home run out to right field for a 1-0 Gateway lead. That would be the only run Aufderheide allowed in seven strong innings for the Slammers, keeping the Grizzlies' league-leading offense down. Collin Sullivan took that early lead and ran with it, as the all-star right-hander allowed just one baserunner in his first four innings of work, then worked around a leadoff triple for a scoreless fifth. In the sixth inning, the Slammers broke through, as a two-out walk and stolen base set up Matthew Warkentin for a game-tying RBI single, knotting the score at 1-1. Neither side scored in the seventh, and in the eighth, the Grizzlies got their leadoff man on for the fourth straight inning when Tyler Jay (3-3) hit Alex Hernandez with a pitch. Gabe Holt followed with a single to center field, and Richards sacrificed the lead runs to second and third base. That brought the all-star Penner to the dish, and on the first pitch he saw, he drove the ball to right field, getting it just over the head of Scott Holzwasser to score both runners and give Gateway the lead at 3-1. Clint Freeman would add a solo home run in the ninth to complete the scoring, but it was not needed, as Alec Whaley (1-1), Brian Eichhorn, and Colton Easterwood combined to retire the last nine batters of the game for Joliet in order, with Easterwood recording his third-straight save and his ninth on the season to lead the Frontier League. With the win, the Grizzlies are now 4-0 this year against the Slammers.
