New Hampshire, Vancouver, Dunedin and the FCL Jays won. Buffalo were well beaten. Vancouver took a 10-1 lead to the bottom of the ninth but had to rely on a hitter to get the final out. Mac Mueller got the save and went 3-4 at the plate.
The seasons for New Hampshire, Vancouver and Dunedin are split into two halves. I am not sure when New Hampshire and Vancouver hit the half way point but Dunedin announced their first half ended tonight. Sadly, Dunedin did not make the playoffs in the first half, there's always the second half.
St. Paul 7 Buffalo 1
Altoona 1 New Hampshire 3
Vancouver 10 Hillsboro 7
Bradenton 7 Dunedin 9
FCL Blue Jays 5 FCL Phillies 4
This is what I noted from yesterday's games.
The Bisons are short of starting pitchers. Recently, it was Casey Lawrence and Maximo Castillo and the bullpen. Now Castillo is in the big leagues. For some reason Nick Allgeyer, Shaun Anderson and Bowden Francis are all now bullpen pitchers. On Thursday Allgeyer was fine, three innings one run. But Francis was poor, five runs allowed. He hit two batters, walked one, gave up a single and a home run.
The Bisons had just five hits, Samad Taylor stayed hot going 2-3 and Stevie Berman also had two hits.
Adam Kloffenstein had some trouble with the strike zone, he threw more balls than strikes, 43 balls, 39 strikes. In 4.2 innings he walked seven. With three hits, he had ten baserunners but only allowed one run. Three relievers held Altoona to just one hit. Jimmy Burnette finished the last two innings striking out four.
New Hampshire had just four hits. John Aiello was 2-2 with two walks and two runs scored. Spencer Horwitz and Will Robertson had the other two hits, both doubles that scored Aiello. Orelvis Martinez walked with the bases loaded for the other run.
As mentioned above, Vancouver took a nine run lead to the bottom of the ninth. Jol Concepcion walked the first three hitters, then a sac fly and two singles made it a 10-4 game. That was it for Concepcion with Mark Simon replacing him. Simon got one out but a walk, a hit batter and a double made it 10-7 and that was enough. With the tying run at the plate, outfielder Mac Mueller was summoned to pitch. Four pitches and one strikeout later the game was over. That gave starting pitcher Vosver Zulueta his first win. Zulueta went five innings allowing one run and striking out five. That inning featured a three run home run by Davis Schneider who drove in four overall. Mac Mueller, who got the save, went 3-4 with a walk. Steward Berroa had two hits including a triple to start the game. Damiano Palmegiani had a double and three walks.
The C's used a seen run second inning to build their lead.
Nine runs on 12 hits for the D Jays. Five hitters had a two hit game. Glenn Santiago and Adriel Sotolongo each drove in three runs. Jose Rivas scored two runs. Rainer Nunez and Rikelbin De Castro were the others with two hits.
Connor Cooke started and just threw 31 pitches in 1.2 innings before being lifted. Tandem starter Jonatan Bernal gave up five runs in 2.2 innings.
The FCL Jays scored three runs in the top of the ninth to take a 5-4 win. Manuel Beltre was 2-2 with a walk. Jaden Rudd, last years 7th round pick out of a Florida high school, also had two hits.
Three Stars
Third Star - Manuel Beltre
Second Star - John Aiello
First Star - Mac Mueller
