Slugfests in Minor League
- Published: June 8, 2017
Opening day for the 2017 Minor League season saw a pair of exciting well-played games played in perfect weather on Saturday morning, June 3. The Peach’s Dodgers smashed out 21 hits in their way to a 12–7 win over the Tom’s Market Pirates in the season opener. The Dodgers jumped out to an early 3–2 lead in the first on a two RBI single by Braylon Williamson to score Mateo Basora and Xavier Pauling followed by rookie Olivia Labrador’s RBI ground-out to score Quinn Creighton. The Pirates responded with a pair in the first, thanks to Derek Reed’s center-field triple to score Hazen VanMeter, followed by Teddy Horvath’s RBI double to score Reed. The Dodgers added three more runs in the second to take a 6–2 lead and then held the Pirates scoreless in the bottom of the second. Williamson’s third-inning RBI single again sent Pauling across the plate to put the Dodgers up 7–2.
But the Pirates didn’t give up, with Derek Reed’s two-run home run scoring Adeline Zinger in the bottom of the third. Both teams allowed a pair of runs in the fourth, but the Dodgers scored three in the fifth to go ahead 12–6. The Pirates loaded the bases in their final at bat, but were not able to score any more than once when David Torres hit into a fielder’s choice scoring Derek Reed. Xavier Pauling led the Peach’s Dodgers by going five for five at the plate and scoring three runs. Derek Reed went three for three at the plate for the Tom’s Market Pirates and scored three runs while Teddy Horvath and rookie Tiger Collins also had a perfect day at the plate with three hits each in as many at-bats.
Saturday’s second game was a slugfest, with the Nipper’s Corner Red Sox topping the Sam and Eddie’s Open Books Orioles 20–17 in a contest where the teams combined for 56 hits off the bats of all but two players. The Red Sox opened with a strong six-run first inning thanks to Violette Babb’s RBI double, a pair of two-RBI base hits from Aiden Scavone and rookie Henry Geis, and an RBI single from rookie Oskar Dennis. The Orioles responded with three runs of their own in the first on RBI singles from Lucas Price, Hope Danis and Javin Obringer. The Red Sox added just one second-inning run, while the Orioles added three more from Kellen Scott’s RBI single and a two-RBI ground out by Hope Danis to trail by just one, 7–6 after two. The Red Sox then roared back with four runs in both the third and fourth innings while holding the Orioles to just one run in the third and none in the fourth to take a 15–7 lead going into the final inning.
The Red Sox bats remained hot, adding five more runs in the fifth to take a 20–7 lead, thanks to an RBI single from Avry Bell-Arment, Violette Babb’s two-RBI base hit and Aiden Scavone’s two-RBI double to center field. But then the short-handed Orioles mounted an incredible final inning rally, scoring 10 runs but falling just short of a victory. Orion Sage-Frabotta, Sameer Sajabi, Lucas Price, Kellen Scott, Jackson Knopp and Noelle Fisher all contributed with RBIs, including two each from Price and Sajabi. Price led the Sam and Eddie’s Open Books Orioles by going five for six at the plate and scoring four runs. Meanwhile Aiden Scavone and Violette Babb led the Nipper’s Corner Red Sox effort, each going four for four at the plate and scoring three runs each.
Minor League games are played on Saturday mornings starting at 10 a.m. and Monday and Wednesday evenings at 7 p.m. in Gaunt Park. See the league website at http://www.ysbaseball.org for the latest results, schedules and other information.
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