Cats win in Cooperstown
July 24, 2004 - New York-Penn League (NYPL)
Tri-City ValleyCats News Release
COOPERSTOWN-The Tri-City ValleyCats put on a show with six home runs in a 10-2 victory over the Oneonta Tigers in the annual New York-Penn. League game on Hall of Fame weekend. 3,258 fans packed Doubleday Field to watch Tri-City take a 2 and ½ game lead over the Tigers in the Stedler Division.
Oneonta and Tri-City hit eight home runs over a field with very short dimensions for New York-Penn. League standards. The left-field fence stands 296 feet from home plate. Right Field proved to be a little farther at 312 feet. Center field is 390 feet from home plate.
In the second inning, Hunter Pence led off the inning with a home run off of Tigers starter Andrew Kown. He lined a shot over the left centerfield wall that got out of Doubleday Field in a hurry. Then Kevin Vital and Brandon Averill responded with back-to-back singles off of Kown. Lou Santangelo smacked a home run over the right-field wall for a three-run job that gave the ValleyCats a 4-0 lead. Kown faced nine ValleyCats hitters in the second inning.
In the Tigers half of the second, Dusty Ryan hit a solo home run off of ValleyCats starter Ryan McKeller. Hunter Pence then hit another home run in the third inning off of Kown. The ValleyCats had a 5-1 lead after three innings.
Tri-City augmented their lead in the last six innings. Chris Clark smacked a home run down the left-field line in the fifth and Lou Santangelo led off the sixth with his second home run of the game. When Chris Clark hit a sacrifice fly to bring home Edgar Babilonia later that inning, it was the first run of the game not driven in by a home run.
It would stay that way. McKeller was solid the rest of the game with the exception of a home run given up to Juan Ilamas in the sixth inning. He struck out six in seven innings, his longest outing of the season. McKeller kept his walk total down. The New York-Penn League leader in walks allowed just two while striking out five Tigers. Kevin Vital padded the lead with a two-run homer in the eighth.
Hunter Pence and Lou Santangelo finished the game with multiple home runs. The ValleyCats finish their series with Oneonta Sunday night. The two teams meet in a 6:00 Doubleheader at Damaschke Field. Andrew Alvarado starts in the first game. Ronnie Martinez gets the nod in the nightcap. The game can be heard in the Capital Region on AM 1160 WABY Mechanicville and AM 900 WUAM Saratoga Springs and on the internet at sportsjuice.com.
New York-Penn League Stories from July 24, 2004
- Lowell crushes Vermont - Vermont Lake Monsters
- Gades rally in 9th for win - Hudson Valley Renegades
- Cards fall to Crosscutters - New Jersey Cardinals
- Cats win in Cooperstown - Tri-City ValleyCats
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