...but there was no confusion about it, as the farm affiliates went 5-1 behind some superb pitching and a couple of late rallies. Turnabout is fair play.
Pawtucket 2 @ Syracuse 4
Good news all 'round for the Sky Chiefs. Ismael Ramirez made his triple A debut and went six strong innings, giving up 2 solo homers while walking nobody and striking out 6. Dustin McGowan followed that with 2 innings of no-hit, 5 strikeout ball. Francisco Rosario pitched a scoreless, hitless ninth for the save. The Chiefs scored all 4 of their runs in the first inning on 3 walks and 3 singles. Adam Lind went 1-2 with 2 walks on the evening. Curtis Thigpen caught the game and went 2-4.
New Hampshire 11 @ Bowie 5, 11 innings
Ryan Klosterman's 3 run double with 2 outs in the top of the ninth inning tied the game, and the Fisher Cats strung together 3 walks, 3 singles and 2 doubles in a 5-run eleventh inning for the victory. Manny Mayorson's bases-loaded walk drove in the go-ahead run and David Smith followed with a 2 run single to put it away. Chip Cannon led the offence going 3-5 with a walk. Dustin Majewski went 1-3 with 3 walks at the top of the order. Justin James, Rodney Ormond and Tracy Thorpe threw a total of 5.1 fine innings of relief for a struggling David Purcey who walked 6.
Tampa 4 @ Dunedin 3
The Young Yankees scored 4 off Russ Savickas, 3 on a solo homer and a 2 run shot, and held on for the victory. Savickas went 6 innings, allowing 9 hits and no walks while striking out 2. Daryl Harang and Conor Falkenbach finished up with aplomb. The D'Jays rallied for a run in the seventh and two runs in the eighth, but a line out with runners on first and third left them high and dry. Scott Dragicevich doubled and singled in 3 trips. Cory Patton doubled in a run in 4 appearances.
Lansing 6 @ South Bend 1
The Lugnuts scored 5 runs in the bottom of the seventh to break a 1-1 tie and make a deserving winner of Sean Stidfole. Jesus Gonzalez' 2 run single was the game-winner. Joey Metropoulos chipped in with 2 doubles and 2 runs scored. Stidfole went 7 innings and allowed an unearned run on 2 hits and 2 walks with 9 strikeouts. Ted Serro pitched a perfect eighth inning, striking out 2, and Paul Phillips followed that up with a perfect ninth, striking out 1.
Batavia 2 @ Auburn 7
The Doubledays tamed the Muck Dogs late in the game, with Ben Ziskind wielding the big stick. Ziskind homered, singled and drove in 2, and added a stolen base for good measure. Canuck outfielder Jonathan Baksh went 3-5 with a baserunner kill, while Adam Calderone led off in style by reaching base three times in four tries. Matt Liuzza and Luke Hopkins each pitched in with a couple of hits. Brian Bull started and went 5.1 innings. Bull allowed 2 earned runs and 9 baserunners, while striking out 2. John Tritz followed with 2.2 shutout innings to earn the win, and Dennis Bigley mopped up in the ninth without incident. The Doubledays scored single runs in the 5th, 6th and 8th innings and 3 runs in the 7th inning to come back from a 2-1 deficit after 4 innings.
Greeneville 4 @ Pulaski 5
Fine pitching by Alex McRobbie and 5 relievers allowed the P-Jays to overcome 5 errors. McRobbie went 5 shutout innings (the number of the day is 5) and allowed 3 hits and 2 walks, while striking out 4. Chris Emanuele and Jonathan Jaspe led the attack with 3 hits each. Baron Frost had an RBI double and a run-scoring groundout. Wes Stone had a rough time at third base.
3 stars
Some days it's hard to find 3; other days you could pick 10. Thursday fell into the latter camp.
3rd star- Ryan Klosterman, Alex McRobbie
2nd star- Dustin McGowan
1st star- Sean Stidfole
https://www.battersbox.ca/article.php?story=2006082422184525