The Syracuse win streak continues and now stands at nine games. When things are going well you find ways to win. On Saturday the Chiefs scored in the bottom of the ninth when John-Ford Griffin beat out an infield single. Sunday the Chiefs tied the game in the bottom of the ninth and won it in the tenth on a triple by Griffin. Dunedin scored twenty runs and led 15-0 in the fourth inning, Lansing also won but the Fisher Cats lost ugly, twice, as Jesse Litsch returned to AA.
Columbus 5 Syracuse 6 - 10 innings
Victor Zambrano started for Syracuse and he gave up nine hits and two walks in 5.1 innings leading to four runs. Zambrano threw 94 pitches, 59 for strikes. When Zambrano left the game the scores were tied 4-4. The Chiefs got a two run home run in the first inning from Kevin Barker, scoring Russ Adams who had singled. Adams hit a sac fly in the third to score Rey Olmedo who had reached on an error and moved to third on a Wayne Lydon single. The Chiefs tied the game in the fourth thanks to singles by John Hattig, Mike Vento and Ryan Roberts.
Ty Taubenheim replaced Zambrano and in the seventh Michael Restovich took him deep to make it 5-4. The Chiefs had a lead-off walk in the eighth but the runner never moved off first. Again in the ninth the Chiefs lead-off hitter, Ryan Roberts, walked and this time Olmedo sacrificed him to second. Lydon singled to right moving Roberts to third with one out. Curtis Thigpen then hit a sac fly to tie the game. In the tenth Columbus got the lead-off runner on board but failed to cash him in. In the bottom of the tenth Barker led off with a walk and Griffin hit a game winning triple. Jordan DeJong pitched three innings to get the win.
Lydon, Barker and Vento had two hits each.
New Hampshire 1 New Britain 9 - game 1
Kurt Isenberg gave up four runs and five hits in the first inning. After a routine second and third inning, Isenberg gave up five more runs in the fourth inning. New Hampshire had only four hits. Brandon League pitched the sixth and seventh innings giving up a ground ball single and a walk.
New Hampshire 1 New Britain 4 - game 2
Jesse Litsch made his first start after his major league stay. As those who saw him pitch in the major leagues know Litsch needed to get his command back and be able to throw his pitches for strikes. Litsch started out a bit rusty, he gave up a run in the first on a double, a wild pitch and a single. New Britain added two in the second with a double, a walk, an error and a ground out. Litsch allowed three hits in his next four innings, one of them a lead-off triple that led to a run. Lisch's line was 6 IP, 6 hits, one walk, four K's, four runs, two earned.
New Hampshire's only run came in the fifth thanks to two errors.
Two runs in the first, three in the second, two in the third, eight in the fourth and Dunedin led 15-0. From there it was a cake-walk as the Jays racked up 26 hits. Carlo Cota and Eric Nielsen each went 5-5. Al Quintana hit his first home run, David Corrente hit two, Eric Nielsen and Cory Patton also homered. AJ Wideman was the beneficiary, he pitched six innings of five hit ball, allowing three runs.
Lansing got on the board with two runs in the second, Chris Emanuele and Sean Shoffit doubled back to back, and Raul Barron singled in Shoffit. Graham Godfrey started for Lansing and gave up a two run home run in the third that tied the game. Shoffit walked in the fourth and scored on a double by Jonathan Jaspe to give the Lugnuts a 3-2 lead. Godfrey left after five innings, with two runs allowed on 4 hits and 2 walks with 5 K's. Edward Rodriguez came on in relief and after a 1-2-3 sixth gave up two runs in the seventh, Dayton now led 4-3. In the eighth Yuber Rodriguez led off with a single, Travis Snider struck out but Matt Lane doubled to tie the game. Emanuele struck out but Shoffit doubled to give Lansing a lead. After Jaspe walked, Barron singled to make it 6-4.
Shoffit was the offensive star for the Lugnuts, he was 2-3 with a walk, 3 runs scored, an RBI and 2 doubles. Yuber, Emanuele, and Barron also had two hits each.
3 star selection
3rd star - Carlo Cota and Eric Nielsen
2nd star - John-Ford Griffin
1st star - Sean Shoffit
Team Records
Syarcuse went 7-0 for the week and reduced their deficit from 9 to 4 games.
Syracuse 27-28, 4th place, 4 games behind
New Hampshire 28-25, tied in 3rd place, 5.5 games behind
Dunedin 23-31, 5th place, 11.5 games behind
Lansing 30-24, tied in 2nd place, 4 games behind
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