Sports stats



NYPL Vermont Lake Monsters

Expos storm back in eighth to take 8-6 victory

August 3, 2004 - New York-Penn League (NYPL)
Vermont Lake Monsters News Release


TROY, NY --- Not only did Vermont's offense finally show some signs of life, but did so against arguably the best pitcher in the New York-Penn League, as the Expos scored six runs on seven hits in the top of the eighth ininng to defeat the Stedler Division-leading Tri-City ValleyCats 8-6 Tuesday afternoon at Bruno Stadium.

The Expos trailed 6-2 when Tri-City brought in reliever Rodrigo Escobar to begin the eighth. Escobar entered the game 5-0 with four saves and a 0.28 ERA, having allowed just two runs (one earned) on 18 hits over 32.1 innings.

But Ja'Mar Clanton greeted Escobar with his third hit of the game and Ofilio Castro walked on a 3-2 pitch to put Vermont's first two runners on. They wouldn't be for long as Luke Montz followed with a three-run homer to leftfield to cut the Tri-City lead to 6-5. It was Montz's second home run in three games and his seventh home run of the season, tying him with four former Expos for third on Vermont's single-season home run list.

After a long flyout from Steve Mortimer, the Expos put three straight singles together from John Poppert, Brad Ditter and pinch hitter Marvin Lowrance to load the bases. Jose Contreras followed with an infield single off reliever Chad Reinke to score Poppert with the tying run, but Ditter was thrown out after rounding third base for the second out.

Doug Vroman, who was 0-for-4 in his first four at bats, then lined a double down the rightfield line to score Lowrance and Contreras for an 8-6 Expos lead and Vermont's seventh hit of the inning. How big an inning was it offensively for Vermont? The Expos had not had more than seven hits in a complete game since July 21st and had just 42 hits (.152 average) over that nine-game span.

Vermont had taken an early 2-1 lead in the fourth inning on a two-run homer from Mortimer. It was Mortimer's fifth home run of the season, giving the Expos four players with five or more home runs on the season (only the 1999 Expos have had four players with five or more homers).

The ValleyCats quickly took the lead back in the bottom of the fourth on a two-run homer from Francisco Caraballo off Expos starter Steven Cook, who allowed three runs on five hits over five innings.

Ben Cox relieved Cook in the sixth inning and struckout four of the first five batters he faced. But with one out in the seventh, Cox gave up three straight singles and a two-run double to Hunter Pence to give Tri-City what looked like three insurance runs. Gus Hlebovy took over for Cox and got a strikeout before allowing a single to right field from Caraballo, but Mortimer threw out Pence at the plate to end the seventh and keep the Expos deficit at 6-3.

Hlebovy (2-0) stayed on the mound for Vermont in the eighth and ninth innings to pick up the victory with four strikeouts in 2.2 innings. Reinke (0-2) gave up two runs on three hits in the eighth to take the loss, while Escobar's ERA went from 0.28 to 1.38 with the four runs in a third of an inning.

Clanton was 3-for-4 with a walk and a run for Vermont, while Ditter was 3-for-4 as the Expos 12 hits were the most in a game since 14 at Lowell on July 16th. Edgar Babilonia was 2-for-3 with two runs and Luke Barganier 2-for-5 with one run and RBI for Tri-City (27-17).

Vermont (20-23) escaped falling five games under .500 for the first time this season with the victory, which also gave them one more win than the entire 2003 season when the Expos went 19-56. The Expos open a three-game homestand with Jon Felfoldi on the mound against the Williamsport Crosscutters on Wednesday night at Centennial Field beginning at 7:05 p.m.

Check out the Vermont Lake Monsters Statistics



New York-Penn League Stories from August 3, 2004


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

OurSports Central