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FL New England Knockouts

Knockouts Blister Three Home Runs in 11-Inning Victory

July 9, 2024 - Frontier League (FL)
New England Knockouts News Release


BROCKTON, MA.- New England took a 5-4 victory in 11 innings over Tri-City on Tuesday night at Campanelli Stadium. The Knockouts improved to 16-35, while the ValleyCats dropped to 28-24.

Prior to the game Coach Jerod Edmondson spoke about how the Knockouts are looking to stop ValleyCats nine game winning streak. "It doesn't really matter to me what they've done in their last nine or what they're going to do in the next nine. I only care about tonight. Hopefully it's going to be a good game. We are here trying to defend our home field and we haven't done a great job doing that this year and if we are going to get where we need to get to we need to play really good...All of our series from here on out are essentially death matches. We have to win every night and we are going to do everything that we can to win every single night. If we don't, we will turn the page and try to get the series. That's the way we have to do."

Both pitchers ended up with a no-decision. New England's pitcher, Matt Cronin, pitched 5.1 innings, giving up nine hits and three earned runs, while walking two and striking out four batters. Tri-City's pitcher, Easton Klein, pitched for six innings, allowing six hits and two earned runs, but walked an impressive eight batters. The deciding win went to Reeves Martin, who pitched for two innings, allowing only one hit and one run (with none earned), walking a batter, and striking out two.

New England did not waste any time with one out in the first they delivered back-to-back homeruns. Luis Atiles crushed a 391-foot home run to left center field, for his first home run of the season while John Cristino powered a 432-foot home run to right center field which tied for his frontier league leading 12 of the season.

Cronin got off to a good start by retiring the first two batters in the second. However, Tri-City turned the tables and managed to get two runners on base. This happened after Chris Burgess walked and Dylan Broderick singled to right center field. Then, Tyson Gingerich grounded out into a fielder's choice to end the inning.

The newest Knockout, Victor Castillo, delivered an opposite field double on the left field side, bouncing off the wall. Ramon Jimenez followed with a fly ball to center field, allowing Castillo to advance to third. Although the inning ended with J.R. DiSarcina grounded out to third, as Castillo was left stranded 90 feet away.

Atiles smacked a line drive to center field with only one out in the third. He then stole second base and made it to third after an error by ValleyCats pitcher Klein. Despite this setback, Klein recovered and proceeded to strike out the next two Knockouts batters, Cristino and Jalen Garcia, to close out the inning.

Kyle Novak hit a single to right field in the fourth and Ian Walters drew a walk, putting two Tri-City runners on base with nobody out. A few batters later, with two outs, Tyson Gingerich came through with a clutch RBI single to right field, cutting the Knockouts' lead to just one. Unfortunately, the inning ended as Robbie Merced's fly ball was caught by Garcia at the left field warning track, leaving two Tri-City runners stranded on base.

In the top of the fifth inning, with one out, both Javeyan Williams and Ryan Cash hit singles, and Novak reached first base due to an error by Jake Boone, loading the bases. After that, Walters singled, bringing Williams home and tying the game at two. Then, Tri-City added one more run to their score when Cronin balked, giving the ValleyCats a 3-2 lead.

Jimenez led off the seventh with a 403-foot home run, marking his fifth home run of the season. The homer leveled the game at three runs apiece.

New England quickly got two runners on base with nobody out. However, DiSarcina popped out to shortstop Gingerich for the first out, and Castillo's attempt to steal third resulted in a rundown, leading to his second out. Jimenez then advanced to second on a wild pitch, and back-to-back walks by White and Atiles loaded the bases for Cristino. Unfortunately, he struck out swinging, with the bases loaded as the game went to extra innings.

In the tenth inning, Walters was placed on second base as the ghost runner, Elvis Peralta Jr., successfully sacrificed, moving Walters to third. Dylan Broderick then hit a single to center field, giving the ValleyCats a 4-3 lead. In the bottom half of the inning, Calero, the pinch runner, was placed on second, stole third, and Garcia brought him home with a sacrifice fly, tying the game at four apiece.

The game went to the eleventh, and the Knockouts opted to field. It went in their favor as they captured all three outs before the runner, Hallmark, scored. The Knockouts ended the ValleyCats nine-game winning streak.

For the Knockouts, Atiles had a three-hit game while Castillo had two. Four different Knockouts had a hit apiece. For the ValleyCats, the trio of Williams, Broderick, and Merced had a multi-hit game while five different Tri-City had a hit apiece.

The Knockouts return to Campanelli Stadium tomorrow, entering game two against the Tri-City ValleyCats. Tickets for the week can be found at https://tickets.knockoutsbaseball.com/.

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Frontier League Stories from July 9, 2024


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