Richard Urena, Harold Ramirez and Reese McGuire joined New Hampshire on Wednesday and it was as glorious as you would want it to be. Dunedin had no problem replacing Urena, Gunnar Heidt took over with three hits. The GCL Jays were pounding it out too, thanks to some rehabbing minor leaguers and the hot Ryan Gold. Buffalo and Lansing were soundly beaten and, to make it worse, Lansing lost Max Pentecost to injury.
Vancouver and Bluefield had the day off
Buffalo 1 Syracuse 6
Scott Copeland started, pitched well, and the problems started when the bullpen came into the game. First up, Chad Girodo. First hitter, home run. That was followed by walk and a double. Girodo was lucky, Erik Kratz threw out a base stealer at third. Next up was Matt Dermody. Two walks came in to score on a double. Bobby Korecky finished up and allowed a solo home run. The bullpen spoiled Copeland's start. Copeland gave up one run in 5.1 innings.
Matt Dominguez had three of the Bisons eight hits. He scored the only run, Junior Lake singled to get the only RBI. Jesus Montero had two hits, Dalton Pompey was 1-5.
Akron 6 New Hampshire 9
It was a new look New Hampshire lineup with Richard Urena, Harold Ramirez and Reese McGuire on the card. And they got down to business right away. Urena reached on an error and scored when Ramirez singled. A double by Rowdy Tellez moved Ramirez to third and when Dwight Smith walked the bases were loaded for McGuire. The new player made a good first impression by doubling in his first at-bat to clear the bases. Another error allowed McGuire to score and it was 5-0 after one. Shane Dawson was the beneficiary of the offense but he didn't hold up his end of the bargain. Akron scored four off him in the third inning mainly due to three line drive doubles. The top of the order restored order in the fifth. Urena tripled, Tellez singled and Ryan Lavarnway homered. Dawson was taken deep for two runs and taken out of the game in the sixth. It was not a good start by Dawson who conceded six runs in five innings.
The top of the order did most of the damage for the Fisher Cats. Urena, Tellez and Ramirez each had three hits and scored twice. McGuire just had the one hit. Jason Berken, John Stilson and Wil Browning held Akron off the board over the last four innings.
Clearwater 2 Dunedin 7
Gunnar Heidt slipped into Urena's position at shortstop and he went 3-4 with a double, a home run and 3 RBI. Ryan McBroom also homered, a two run shot in the seventh. LB Dantzler also had two hits.
Luis Santos went 6.2 and was charged with both runs on six hits. Three relievers gave up one hit each but kept them from scoring.
Bowling Green 7 Lansing 2
Lansing scored two runs in the first inning but the story was Max Pentecost. Pentecost tripled in Andrew Guillotte and later scored on a botched pick-off play. But he seemed to hurt his shoulder and left the game after that. That was it for the scoring, the Lugnuts were held to seven hits. Guillotte and JC Cardenas each had two.
Jordan Romano took the loss with four runs allowed in six innings. Dan Lietz gave up the other three runs before being ejected along with manager John Schneider.
Vancouver - scheduled day off
Bluefield - Scheduled day off
GCL Blue Jays 10 GCL Pirates 6
The Jays jumped out to a 9-1 lead in the middle of the third. They were helped by three rehabbing hitters, Jon Berti, Lane Thomas and Matt Dean. Berti had a two run home run in the first inning and a two run single in the second. Thomas had an RBI single in the first, an RBI double in the second and an RBI ground out in the third. He added another double later in the game. Dean had just three at-bats, made two outs and was hit by a pitch. Ryan Gold stayed hot with a 3-4 day. Kevin Vicuna was 2-4 with two walks and Francisco Rodriguez also was 2-4.
A couple of young Florida high schoolers covered the first five innings. 17 year old Travis Hosterman went two, one run allowed. 18 year old Josh Winckowski went three, two runs allowed. Another 18 year old, Juan Meza also pitched two innings and conceded two runs. 20 year old Orlando Pascual, the "elder statesman" closed it out with two innings.
3 Stars
3rd star: Ryan Gold
2nd star: Gunnar Heidt
1st star: Richard Urena, Harold Ramirez and Rowdy Tellez
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