Y'ALLS ERUPT FOR 17 RUNS, END CAPITALES STREAK
FLORENCE, KY – The Florence Y'alls (26-36), presented by Towne Properties, used an early offensive barrage to leap ahead of the Québec Capitales (38-23) and snap Québec's 14-game winning streak with a 17-4 victory.
Québec grabbed a first-inning lead when right fielder Justin Gideon hit a solo home run against Y'alls starter Edgar Martinez (5.0 IP, 4 H, 4 ER, 4 BB, 4 K), but the Y'alls immediately answered with three runs. Against Québec starter Carlos Sano (2.1 IP, 12 H, 8 ER, 2 BB, 0 K), Florence brought nine hitters to the plate in the first. Left fielder Ray Zuberer's two-RBI single and right fielder Harrison DiNicola's two-out RBI single began the scoring for the Y'alls, who put up an offensive barrage on the evening.
Florence scored three more runs in the second. First baseman Brennan Price led off the inning with a double, then scored two batters later when third baseman Brian Fuentes singled him home. With Fuentes aboard, catcher Zade Richardon's two-run home run made it 6-1 Y'alls through two innings. Florence plated two more in the third on a two-run Brennan Price home run before scoring three more in the fourth. The Y'alls again brought nine hitters to the plate, scoring two runs on a bases-loaded Québec error and another when Brian Fuentes singled home another run. Through four innings, Florence led 11-1.
The Capitales scored three runs in the fifth against Martinez. A wild pitch brought left fielder Tommy Seidl home from third before Martinez placed two aboard for second baseman David Glaude, who doubled both runners home to cut the Y'alls lead to 11-4.
Florence continued scoring with two runs in the sixth, one in the seventh, and two in the eighth. DiNicola hit a two-run double in the sixth, Price drove in a run with a sacrifice fly in the seventh, and Zuberer drove in a run with an eighth inning double to cap the scoring.
The Y'alls 17 runs mark their highest total in a game since they scored 17 on June 3rd against New Jersey. The win snaps Florence's four-game losing streak and ends Québec's 14-game winning streak. With the series tied, Florence can try to take the home series versus the divison-leading Capitales with a win on Thursday. First pitch for Game 3 is set for 6:34 p.m. ET.
TROY, NY - The Tri-City ValleyCats (38-24) defeated the Joliet Slammers (27-35) in a Wednesday matinee at Joseph L. Bruno Stadium by a score of 6-3. The win ensured a series victory over the Slammers as the ValleyCats improved to 12-0 in series at home this season.
Joliet struck first for the second time in as many days. Elijah Gill issued a walk to Matt McGarry in the second. Christian Fedko had an infield single. Lane Baremore hit an RBI single as he went to second, and Fedko went to third after a throwing error from Jaxon Hallmark. J.P. Fullerton lifted a sac fly to provide the Slammers with a 2-0 lead.
Similar to yesterday, Tri-City responded and took the lead in the bottom of the second. Juan Kelly singled off Turner Larkins, and went to second on an errant pickoff throw from the right-handed starter. Oscar Campos had a single, and Kelly advanced to third. Ian Walters lifted a sac fly, and Lamar Briggs followed suit with a two-run jack. His third long ball of the year pulled the ValleyCats ahead, 3-2.
Tri-City tacked on a pair of insurance runs in the fifth. Kelly and Campos each collected a single. Kelly was then picked off, and Campos went to second. Walters singled Campos to third, the latter of whom came around on a single from Briggs. Tanner Smith added an RBI single of his own to put the ValleyCats on top, 5-2.
Cito Culver led off the fifth with a single. Campos delivered his third hit of the game, and Walters brought in another run with a single to make it a 6-2 game. Campos would later add his fourth hit of the day in the seventh, and became the seventh ValleyCat this year to have a four-hit effort.
Joliet threatened in the seventh. Fedko and Baremore each had a single, and Fullerton knocked in his second run of the game to cut the deficit to 6-3. Blake Workman entered, and hurled 2.1 scoreless frames to finish the game. He earned his first save of the season, yielding a hit and a walk, while striking out four.
Gill (7-2) earned the win. He hurled 6.2 innings, allowing three runs, two earned on six hits, walking two, and striking out six. It was his first quality start since June 23 against Ottawa.
Larkins (6-4) received the loss. He pitched six frames, giving up six runs on 11 hits, walking one, and striking out two.
Tri City goes for the sweep over Joliet at Joe Bruno tomorrow, Thursday, July 27. First pitch is scheduled for 6:30 PM.
AVON, Ohio — The Lake Erie Crushers turned in their second best offensive performance of the season on Wednesday afternoon at Mercy Health Stadium, as they plated 13 runs on 14 hits and beat the Evansville Otters, 13-8.
The Crushers (27-35) have now won five straight games at home against the Otters (34-27), who have an 11-10 record on the road outside of Avon.
Evansville fired the first shot in the top of the first inning, when Kona Quiggle smashed a solo homer to right, his eighth of the season.
Lake Erie scored four times on just a pair of hits in the second inning to take the lead. Kemuel Thomas-Rivera walked to start the inning before Scout Knotts was hit by an 0-2 pitch to move him to second. Josh Rego singled to right field to load the bases for John Tuccillo who was then hit by the first pitch of the at bat to bring Rivera home. Jiandido Tromp reached on an infield single to score Knotts and give Lake Erie a 2-1 lead. Zach Racusin then hit a ground ball to short which was handled by Ethan Skender to threw out Tromp at second, but Josh Broughton's errant relay throw to first ended up in the Evansville dugout and plated two more runs.
The Crushers pushed two more across in the in the bottom of the third. Thomas-Rivera started the rally with a one out double to right and Jarrod Watkins followed with a single to left. Knotts reached on a walk to load the bases, and Rego worked a bases loaded walk to score Rivera. Tuccillo followed with a run scoring groundout to plate Watkins, giving Lake Erie a 6-1 advantage.
The two teams exchanged runs in the fourth. Evansville used the long ball to score their second run of the game as Skender hit a solo homer over the wall in left, his fifth of the season. Lake Erie responded with a run in the home half of the inning as Thomas-Rivera stroked his second double of the day, a two out RBI double down the line in left to score Jack Harris.
Evansville battled back with a trio of runs in the top of the fifth. Three straight walks were issued to start the inning, and Dakota Phillips drove in the first run of the inning on a sacrifice fly to center to score Bryan Rosario. Jomar Reyes followed with a two run double to left center to score Noah Meyers and Quiggle to bring the Otters within two (7-5).
Lake Erie pulled away with a trio of runs in the sixth, and they repeated that feat in the seventh. Sean Cheely stroked a run scoring single in the sixth inning to plate Thomas-Rivera and Rego capped the frame with a two run homer to left, his first with the Crushers.
The seventh inning was highlighted by Thomas-Rivera's fourth hit of the game, and perhaps his biggest as well. He smashed a majestic three-run blast that landed onto of the Nordson lawn area beyond the wall in left, his fourth homer of the year to give Lake Erie a 13-5 lead.
The Otters plated a single run in the eighth and two more in the ninth but it was too little, too late.
Thomas-Rivera paced the Lake Erie offense with an incredible 4-for-4 performance, reaching all five times he came to the plate. KTR had a pair of doubles, a base hit, and a walk to go along with the three run homer in the seventh. He's recorded six hits in the first two games of the series. Tromp went 3-for-5 in the lead off spot for the Crushers with a trio of singles, while Cheely and Rego both hit safely twice on the afternoon as well.
JD Hammer (3-3) secured the victory for the Crushers after allowing five runs on six hits with a trio of walks and five strikeouts over five innings of work. Evansville's Zach Smith (5-4) took the loss after allowing seven runs on six hits with four walks and he hit three batters as well over 3.2 innings of work. Evansville Manager Andy McCauley was ejected in the third inning, and pitching coach Max Peterson was ejected in the eighth.
The Crushers will finish their three game series with the Otters at Mercy Health Stadium on Thursday night. Right-hander Angelo Baez (4-5, 2.60) will get the start for the Crushers and the Otters will counter with lefty Braden Scott (0-0, 3.18). The first pitch is scheduled for 7:05 PM.
SCHAUMBURG, Ill. — The Schaumburg Boomers scored six runs in the bottom of the third to dispatch the Ottawa Titans 6-2 on Wednesday at Wintrust Field.
Alec Craig led off the third with a single and Travis Holt followed by being hit by a pitch. Gaige Howard put the Boomers ahead with an RBI single and Chase Dawson made it 2-0 with an RBI single of his own. Kokko Figueiredo drove home two with a single while Brett Milazzo and Jonathan Soto tacked on RBI singles to account for the offense.
The run support was more than enough for Luis Perez who allowed just two runs in the seventh while scattering two hits with a pair of walks and five strikeouts to earn his fourth win of the season. Cristian Lopez and Jake Joyce tossed scoreless innings to finish out the win. The Boomers finished with 10 hits in the contest, six of which came from the top three in the lineup as Craig, Holt and Howard all posted two. Holt reached base five times in the victory.
The Boomers (36-24) conclude the homestand on Thursday night with a Beach Towel giveaway for the first 1,000 fans thanks to Star 105, Star 96.7 and Star 102.3. Schaumburg will send RHP Hunter Hoopes (0-0, 6.75) to the mound against All-Star LHP Grant Larson (5-6, 4.41).
Sauget, IL - (July 26, 2023) – The Gateway Grizzlies came back from an early 4-0 deficit to take a 5-4 lead into the ninth, watched the Windy City ThunderBolts take the lead back on a two-out, two-run home run in the top half, but then walked it off in the bottom half on a home run by Peter Zimmermann in a 7-6 victory at Grizzlies Ballpark on Wednesday night.
Windy City got on the board first thanks to back-to-back solo home runs off Lukas Veinbergs in the top of the third inning by Paul Coumoulos and Junior Martina, then doubled the lad to 4-0 on two-out RBI hits by Matt Morgan and Coumoulos again. The Grizzlies were able to get on the board in the bottom of that same inning when a pickoff throw by Windy City starter Logan Schmitt got away for an error at first base, scoring Zimmermann from third and making the score 4-1.
Gateway then tied the score in the bottom of the fifth, as after Jairus Richards walked, then Eric Rivera was hit by a pitch, they both stole a base before Clint Freeman cut the deficit to 4-2 on an RBI single. Zimmermann followed with an RBI single of his own to make it a 4-3 game, and two batters later, Kyle Gaedele tied the game at 4-4 on another RBI hit, his first of the series.
In the seventh inning, the Grizzlies then scratched across the go-ahead run with two outs, with Andrew Penner singling, stealing second, going to third on an error by Morgan, then scoring on yet another RBI single by Gaedele to make it 5-4. That lead held until the ninth, when with two outs and a man at second base, Carson Matthews hit a go-ahead, two-run home run off the glove of Richards at the right-center field fence against Josh Lucas (2-2), giving the ThunderBolts a 6-5 lead.
But in the bottom half, Freeman singled against Daiveyon Whittle (2-4), and Zimmermann followed with his 18th home run of the season, a walk-off, two-run blast to left field that gave the Grizzlies the incredible victory. The Gateway all-star finished a triple away from the cycle, going 4-for-5 in the contest with three RBIs to lead the club to the series-clinching win.
Gateway will now go for the three-game sweep against the ThunderBolts in the series finale on Thursday, July 27, at 6:45 p.m. CT in what will be a battle of all-star right-handers on the mound between Windy City's Garrett Christman and the Grizzlies' Collin Sullivan at Grizzlies Ballpark.
