OTTERS MOUNT 8TH INNING COMEBACK OVER CRUSHERS
Bryan Rosario hit a go-ahead two-RBI triple to lead the Evansville Otters past the Lake Erie Crushers 6-4 Tuesday night at Bosse Field. The Otters trailed by a run entering the eighth. Jomar Reyes led off with a base hit and after two straight outs, George Callil worked a walk. Rosario then blasted a ball off the glove of the Crushers' left fielder to plate both runs and give Evansville the lead. A Kona Quiggle single scored Rosario to bring the Otters' lead to two runs. Jake Polancic worked around a leadoff single and a walk to secure the Evansville victory. The closer earned his ninth save of the season, tied for the most in the Frontier League. Jeffrey Baez opened the Evansville scoring, hitting a two-run homer over the left field wall in the third inning. The slugger leads the team with 13 homers. Quiggle joined the power party with a solo home run in the fourth inning to extend the lead to 3-0. Lake Erie responded with a solo home run in the fifth inning. They took the lead with four hits in the sixth inning, good for three runs and a 4-3 lead. Starting pitcher Tim Holdgrafer did not factor into the decision. He retired the first eight batters of the game. Holdgrafer finished with 5.1 innings pitched, allowing four runs on six hits with six strikeouts. Evansville's bullpen allowed just three baserunners over 2.2 innings. Jon Beymer pitched four outs. Kevin Davis worked an in-order eighth inning. Quiggle finished with three hits, two runs and two RBIs. Reyes added three hits including a double. The win is Evansville's first victory when trailing after the seventh inning or later this season.
Taylor Sugg pitched seven shutout innings and led the ThunderBolts to a 1-0 win over the Empire State Greys at Ozinga Field on Tuesday night. Sugg and Empire State's Joe LaFiora were locked up in a back-and –forth pitchers' duel for the first six innings. Both teams threatened with base runners over the first few innings but double plays thwarted rallies for both sides. The best scoring opportunity for Empire State (10-44) wasn't the result of a slew of base runners but one deep fly to left field hit by Zak Whalin in the fifth inning. Dan Robinson reached over the wall to take away a potential home run and keep the game scoreless. Robinson was also the game's leading batter with three hits. The lone run came with two outs in the bottom of the seventh inning. Troy Viola had hit a one-out double and stood at third base when Junior Martina came through with an RBI base hit to break the stalemate. The ThunderBolts (24-30) were able to hold on for their third straight win with two shutout innings from the bullpen. Sugg (4-2) allowed only three hits as he picked up the win. LaFiora (0-2) was the tough-luck loser. He gave up a run on six hits over 6.2 innings and took the loss. Daiveyon Whittle pitched a scoreless ninth for his sixth save.
The Schaumburg Boomers and Joliet Slammers opened a three-game mid-week series with an incredibly well-pitched contest that ended in a 1-0 victory for the Joliet Slammers in sudden death, the second sudden death game of the season for the Boomers and the first defeat. Joliet opted to put the Boomers back on defense in sudden death after Jake Joyce had just worked around the international tie-breaker runner to keep the game scoreless. All-Star Phil Steering was the hero, recording his first hit of the game to score the winning run as the second batter of sudden death. The Boomers failed to score in the top of the 10th, leaving the bases loaded, and Joliet had the lead runner thrown out at third before Joyce posted a strikeout to send the game to sudden death. Schaumburg managed just three hits in the game against the combination of Joliet All-Star Cole Cook and lefty reliever Tyler Jay. The pair combined for 10 shutout innings with 13 strikeouts. Cook worked seven and fanned nine. Aaron Glickstein was just as strong for the Boomers, tossing seven blank frames and allowing seven hits while punching out five. Joliet had just one runner reach third before sudden death. Dylan Stutsman and Kristian Scott tossed scoreless innings in front of Joyce, who suffered the loss. Scott struck out the side in the ninth. The pitching staff recorded 10 strikeouts.
The New York Boulders did not disappoint in their return to Clover Stadium on Tuesday. The Boulders topped the visiting Gateway Grizzlies, 5-1, after a five-run explosion in the third inning that coincided with manager TJ Stanton's ejection. One pitch after quickly being thrown out of the game for disputing a potential pitch clock violation, Joe DeLuca launched a towering solo home run into the right-center field bleachers to break a scoreless stalemate. Stanton, who was walking back to the clubhouse, stopped upon hearing the crack of the bat and watched DeLuca's homer sail into the stands. Those dramatics sparked an eruption from the crowd and momentum that New York continued to build upon the rest of the inning. Patrick Kivlehan tacked on an insurance run with an RBI sacrifice fly to score Giovanni Garbella, then Thomas Walraven then took centerstage with a three-run home run to the deepest part of the ballpark in center field. The Grizzlies did not collect their first hit until the fourth inning, when Boulders starter Garrett Cooper could not field a soft grounder back towards third base. Cooper was terrific in the outing, allowing just two hits while striking out six over six innings of work to earn the win. Gateway managed to avoid the shutout in top of the eighth inning on an RBI single by Clint Freeman to score Andrew Penner. Starting pitcher Carson LaRue took the loss for Gateway on the mound after allowing five earned runs in six innings.
Tuesday's game between the Ottawa Titans and Tri-City ValleyCats has been postponed due to inclement weather. The game has been rescheduled as part of a doubleheader tomorrow, July 19, with a time of 5:00 pm. Both games are scheduled for seven innings. Game two will commence 30 minutes after the completion of the series opener.
