Gold Sox Take Two of Three from Crushers to Win Series
July 14, 2016 - Great West League (GWL)
Yuba-Sutter Gold Sox News Release
The Marysville Gold Sox took two of three games from the Lodi Crushers this week to improve to 22 - 12 on the year in the Great West this season. Their record at home improved to 12 - 8 on the year at Colusa Casino Stadium. The Sox begin a five-game road trip starting with a three-game series against the Portland Pickles in Portland Friday night at 7:05 p.m. The Sox will return to Marysville on July 21st to face the Medford Rogues at 7:05 p.m. at Colusa Casino Stadium.
General Manager Michael Mink commented on the series saying "We are very pleased to win this series against the Crushers. They are a great team, but I'm proud of our guys for gutting out some tough wins and to our bullpen for holding onto leads late."
The Sox rallied in the first game of the series on Monday, but ultimately came away with a loss to the Crushers. The Sox dropped the game 4 - 2 after jumping ahead early off the bat of Steven Mercado who hit an RBI double in the second. Lodi answered back with four runs in the top of the third to gain the lead they would not relinquish. The Sox chipped away with a Randy Post RBI double in the fourth inning but finished with just six hits in the entire game and couldn't push past the Crushers. Austin Kearney was spectacular in relief for Marysville, allowing only one hit in four shutouts innings.
On Tuesday, both teams traveled to Lodi for game two of the series, with the Gold Sox coming away with the 7 - 5 win. The Sox turned to Shinpei Kanamori to start the game. Kanamori went 5 1/3 innings and got the win to even his record at 2-2 for the summer. Kevin Baranowski pitched 3 1/3 innings of relief and allowed no earned runs, giving up only two hits with four strikeouts. The Sox took a 4 - 1 lead in the top of the third after some Lodi miscues including two walks, two hit batters and two errors. The Sox extended the lead to 7 - 1 in the top of the sixth when Dalton DeVries hit a bases-clearing triple to plate 3 RBIs. Lodi fought back and plated three runs in the bottom of the sixth and added another run in the bottom of the eighth. But Kyle Merkel came in in the ninth to shut the door and earn his eighth save of the season. Hunter Stratton led the way for the Gold Sox, going 2 for 3 with two runs scored.
The Sox won the series Wednesday night with a 5 - 4 win in front of their home crowd at Colusa Casino Stadium. Starter Ryan McCarthy pitched five innings of three run, six hit ball and recorded four strikeouts to two walks to get the win. The Sox lineup backed him up scoring four runs in the third inning to take the lead which they would not give up. The Sox batted around in the fourth starting with a Randy Post double, followed by a T.J. Dove single. A few batters later, Dalton DeVries hit an RBI single to make the game 3 - 1. Billy Mason followed with another RBI single to push the lead to 4 - 1. Mason went 3 for 4 on the day with two RBIs to lead the Gold Sox. The Crushers answered back in the top of the fourth with back-to-back home runs off of McCarthy to cut the lead to 4 - 3, but McCarthy managed to get out of the inning and escape any additional damage. In the fifth inning, Hunter Stratton singled and stole second to get in scoring position for Billy Mason who hit another RBI single to push the lead to 5 - 3. Marysville then turned to relievers Ryan Waldrop and Zach Kornely who pitched three scoreless innings between the two of them before handing the ball to closer Kyle Merkel in the ninth. Merkel gave up a double and single right away and gave up a run on an error by shortstop Steven Mercado making it 5 - 4. But Merkel induced a 6-4-3 double play to end the game and escape the jam and record his league-leading ninth save.
The Gold Sox start a five-game road trip Friday in Portland where they will play three games against the Pickles. They will go on to face the Medford Rogues for two games on Monday and Tuesday before returning to Marysville on Thursday to finish out the series with one game at home. After finishing the series, they will start a three-game series against the Sacramento Stealth at home over the weekend. Tickets are available online at www.GoldSox.com . For more information on player signings, Gold Sox tickets, and the 2016 season schedule, go to www.GoldSox.com . You can also follow the team on Facebook and Twitter .
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Great West League Stories from July 14, 2016
- Gold Sox Take Two of Three from Crushers to Win Series - Yuba-Sutter Gold Sox
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