CBL Sunday Wrapup
Published on July 14, 2003 under Canadian Baseball League (CanBL) News Release
Stars spank Monarchs 13-5
A seven-run fifth inning was more than enough for the Niagara Stars as they defeated the London Monarchs 13-5 Sunday afternoon at Labatt Park.
Niagara, after dropping the first two games of the series, won the final two to split the weekend affair with the Monarchs. The Stars were fuelled by a combined 26 runs in the final two contests, and are back to within 2.5 games of the division leaders.
Down 3-2, Stars' DH Rich Butler started the fifth inning with a solo home run, his fourth of the season. From there, the floodgates opened.
With the bases loaded, Raul Borjas hit a grounder to short. The force play was made at the plate, but the throw to first got away, allowing two runners to score. RBI singles by Nelwin Oquendo and Skip Adams kept the inning going. With two out, Rogelio Arias singled, scoring two more runners.
Denio Beltran, Adams and Oquendo combined to go 10-for-13 on the day. Rich Butler's three RBI's gives him 21 on the season. He is second behind Arias who has 25 RBI's, including two today.
Monarchs' pitcher Lee Maunu (5-1), after starting strong in the first few innings, was taken out of the game with two out in the long fifth. Maunu gave up eight runs - five earned - on 12 hits.
Niagara starter Joe Gannon (1-2) earned the win, his first of the season. Gannon pitched seven strong innings, allowing just three runs on five hits, walking four and striking out two.
Butler started the Stars' scoring with a single in the third inning, scoring Adams. An RBI single by Adams in the fourth scored Borjas.
Niagara's offence was not done yet, scoring three in the sixth, highlighted by three straight RBI hits by Oquendo, Beltran, and Adams respectively.
London opened the scoring in the bottom of the first with a two-out infield single by Francisco Cabrera. Cabrera, in the third, added to his totals with a two-run double. Now with 27 RBI on the season, Cabrera is tops on the Monarchs.
Kitchener's Jeff Pietraszko singled home two runners in the eighth to complete their scoring for the game.
Saints edge Royales 8-6 for sixth win in a row
The Trois-Rivieres Saints won their sixth game in a row Sunday beating the Montreal Royales 8-6 at Le stade de Trois-Rivieres.
After scoring on Juan Tolentino single in the first inning, the Saints took a 3-0 lead when Ali Cepeda hit a double into right field scoring Ed Campaniello and Pascual Matos.
Then added another run in the third when Matos scored Campaniello with an RBI single and another in the fourth on a single by Tolentino which scored Elliott Ayala to put the Saints up 5-0.
That was enough for the starting pitcher Matt Miller who threw six innings, allowing five hits, and one run (earned) with four K's.
The Saints added to their lead with three more runs in the seventh, starting with a double by Campaniello who was then driven in by a Matos single. Cepeda added an RBI to his stats by singling home Matos to make 8-2 for Trois-Rivieres.
But, with Nelson Lara on the mound the Royales scored four times in the eighth inning.
London, Ontario's Jeremy Hudson keyed the rally with a base hit and a stolen base. Hudson then scored on an RBI single by Roberto Santa. Singles to Armando Guerrero, Felipe Alou Jr., Nick Steppe and Sammy Torreira brought the Royales to within two runs, 8-6. But Saints pitcher Julian Tucker came in to nab his fourth save of the season to end it.
Caps win 8-3 over Heat in Battle of BC
The Victoria Capitals scored runs in all but three innings on Sunday night against the Kelowna Heat, winning the game 8-3 and salvaging a split in the Battle for BC.
Kelvin Ryan supplied the Heat with their only offence of the evening when he slapped a two-run double in the top of the fourth inning and then scored himself on an error by the Caps catcher, Aneury Abreu. The small, three-run rally pulled the Heat ahead, 3-2, after three and half innings.
But the Caps bounced back in the home half of the fourth when the scored two more runs of their own. Trail, BC product, Kareem Johnson, who was 1-for-1 with three RBI, hit a sacrifice fly to score Luis Landarta. Justin Hendrickson then scored a few pitches later on a pass ball to regain the lead for the Caps, 4-3.
They got two more insurance runs in the sixth when Mike Keston, who took the loss after 5 1/3 innings pitched while allowing six runs on six hits, hit Johnson with the bases loaded and walked Curtis Pelletier with the bases juiced. The two runs made it 6-3 and ended Keston's night.
Henry Pichardo added a two-run double in the eighth to cap off the scoring and making the final read 9-3 in favour of the Caps.
The Caps' Alex Perez bumped his record to 2-3 after a seven-inning, five-hit, three-run outing. Only two runs were earned.
The save went to former Chicago White Sox draft pick Jason Lakman, his third on the year.
Josh Ridgway, a Vancouver native, continued to impress while going 2-for-3 in the bottom spot of the order for the Heat. He is now hitting .329.
The Caps' Ramon Moreta went 1-for-3. His hit was an RBI double in the third.
Canadian Baseball League Stories from July 14, 2003
- CBL Sunday Wrapup - CanBL
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