The GCL Blue Jays had their game suspended by rain while New Hampshire made up for a rainout by splitting a doubleheader. Auburn lost convincingly and Syracuse was dominated by Sowers. However, the bright and noteworthy occurred in full-season A-ball, where Lansing pitchers put on a dazzling display and Dunedin staged a late-inning comeback.
Syracuse 2 @ Buffalo 6 - Boxscore
An impressive Jeremy Sowers limited Syracuse to six hits, all singles. Sowers went the distance, giving up two unearned runs and three walks and striking out eight. Adam Lind and Wayne Lydon each had harmless singles, while Mike Vento and Kevin Barker each had two hits for Syracuse, but none of the six went for extra bases. Sowers won his first game since the end of May, when he pitched for the Indians. Syracuse’s runs were scored by Ryan Roberts and Vento and both were aided by Buffalo errors. Lydon was both picked off and caught stealing during the game.Jeremy Cummings made his first start for Syracuse and went five innings, allowing one run. He walked two and gave up four hits, but also struck out four. In the sixth he turned it over to Lee Gronkiewicz, who was not pitching in his customary end of the game spot for some unknown reason. Gronk gave up four hits and three earned runs in 0.2 miserable innings. Blaine Neal and Mike Venafro pitched the last 2.1 innings and they were lucky to only escape with one run on a combined five hits and two walks. The Free Lee Gronkiewicz campaign did not have a good day today, but I don’t think one poor outing is going to slow down the call. However, when you add Gronk’s miserable outing to Wolfe’s continued success at the MLB level it doesn’t seem likely that Wolfe and Gronk will swap places in the near future.
New Hampshire 2 @ Connecticut
6 (7 – Game 1) - Boxscore
In the first game New Hampshire had a 2-0 lead after 3, but gave up 6 over the next 3 and lost 6-2. Eric Fowler started strong but by the end he had allowed 3 runs over 5 innings on 7 hits and 3 walks. Connecticut scored 3 off Matt Roney in the bottom of sixth to give themselves some insurance runs and breathing room. Fowler hasn’t been impressive so far in Double-A. His last start of over 5 innings was on June 21st and only once since then has he allowed less than 3 runs.
Kyle Yates improved his record to 6-5 with
a strong outing in the second game. Yates didn’t allow an unearned run over his
six innings and he struck out seven batters. Jesse Carlson picked up the save
with two strikeouts in the seventh. At the plate New Hampshire collected ten hits in the second
game with everyone pitching in but Erik Kratz. Chip Cannon and David Smith each
had two hits while everyone else only managed one. All in all, it was a nice relatively well-pitched doubleheader where the final total score was 7-6 for Connecticut and it may have left several fans reminiscing about the days before the offensive explosion and when doubleheaders were more common.
Dunedin 9 @ Clearwater
6 - Boxscore
At the plate Dunedin displayed some power as Gonzalez, Josh Kreuzer and Carlo Cota each hit home runs. Kreuzer, Cota and Eric Nielsen each had a multi-hit game. The only hitless D-Jays were Kyle Phillips and Jacob Butler, the latter of whom struck out three times. Gonzalez hit a 3-run homer in the fifth inning to give Dunedin a 3-2 lead and Kreuzer’s solo shot in the top of the seventh made it 5-2. Carnline, who began the bottom of the seventh, gave up 4 runs over 1.2 innings and was hit with a blown save. He served up solo shots to begin both the seventh and the eighth and runs later scored in each inning on errors by Anthony Hatch and Jesus Gonzalez.
It was 6-5 Clearwater after eight and closer William Savage came in to pitch. Cota promptly homered to tie the game. Brian Jeroloman followed with his second walk of the afternoon. An Anthony Hatch single was followed by a sacrifice bunt by Gonzalez. Cory Patton was intentionally walked to set up a force at any base. However, it didn’t pay off as Nielsen singled home Jeroloman and Kreuzer singled home Nielsen. Phillips grounded out to second, but Clearwater couldn’t turn the double play and Patton scored to give Dunedin a 9-6 lead. Connor Falkenbach pitched a routine ninth for his 21st save of the year.
Burlington 1 @ Lansing 6 - Boxscore
Seventeen strikeouts. That was the total Friday night for Lansing pitchers. It was a little bit of magic on the mound in Michigan. Kyle Ginley started and went five innings. He gave up one run, which was unearned on a Matthew Lane error, and seven hits. With nine strikeouts though, Ginley looked in control on the mound and it wasn’t a case of Burlington missing their opportunities. Benjamin Harrison pitched two innings of relief; Ted Serro threw one, as did Julio Pinto. Each struck out two batters an inning and only Serro had a mini-scare when he gave up two hits. No Lansing pitcher walked a batter, giving the team a 17:0 K:BB ratio on the evening.Lane and Matt Liuzza were the offensive stars of the night for Lansing. Lane went 3-4 with a 2B, HR, RBI and 2 runs. Liuzza was 2-3, BB, 2B and 3 RBI. Jonathan Diaz and Chris Emanuele each also had two hits. Diaz knocked a double and scored a run, while Emanuele reached base three times with a walk and also scored.
Hudson Valley 9 @ Auburn 3 - Boxscore
The professional debut of 3rd-round pick Alan Farina was less than a success as Auburn fell to a 9-3 score for the second straight day. Cody Cipriano of the Renegades blasted a 3-run homer off Farina in the first to make it 3-0 and Farina exited the game afterwards. He lasted only two-thirds of an inning, but on the positive side both of his outs were recorded via the strikeout. Marc Rzepczynski replaced Farina, and went 2.1 innings. An error and three hits led to three more runs for Hudson Valley in the third. Drew Taylor came into the game in the fourth and lasted three innings, giving up only the two hits and two runs in the fourth.Two of Auburn’s runs came in the eighth on Victor Santana’s fourth homer of the year, which also scored Darin Mastroianni. Santana and Adam Calderone are now tied for the team lead in homers. The first run for the Doubledays scored in the first on Baron Frost’s sacrifice fly, which scored JP Arencibia. Kelly Sweppenhiser was the only Doubleday with a multi-hit game in a contest where the team struck out twelve times.
GCL Blue Jays 0 @ GCL Indians 5 (suspended – 4th inning.)
This game was suspended due to rain in the fourth with the GCL Indians leading the GCL Blue Jays 5-0.
3 star selection
3rd star – Carlo Cota, 2-3, 2 R, HR, RBI, HBP, 5 TB
2nd star – Kyle Ginley, 5 IP, 7 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 7 K
1st star – David Smith, 4-5, 2 R, 3 2B, 2 RBI, SF, 7 TB
(Special Team Star – Lansing’s Pitchers, 9 IP, 11 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 17 K)
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