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NYPL Vermont Lake Monsters

Lake Monsters Rally From Early 5-0 Defecit For 6-5 Win

July 30, 2014 - New York-Penn League (NYPL)
Vermont Lake Monsters News Release


BURLINGTON, VT --- The Lake Monsters rallied from an early 5-0 deficit as J.P. Sportman tied the game in the bottom of the ninth inning with a two-out RBI single and pinch runner Brett Vertigan scored the winning run on a throwing error by rightfielder Victor Castro to third base for a Vermont 6-5 come-from-behind victory over the Batavia Muckdogs in New York-Penn League action Wednesday night at historic Centennial Field.

It was the second time in the last eight days that the Lake Monsters have rallied for the win after falling behind 5-0 early in the game (Vermont won 8-6 at Lowell on July 23rd after giving up five runs in the first inning). Batavia took the 5-0 lead with two runs in the first and three more in the third, including a Rodrigo Vigil two-run triple for the five-run lead that knocked Vermont starter Brett Graves from the game.

Three Vermont relievers would combine to retire 18 of 20 batters faced over the final 6 1/3 innings, allowing just one hit with no walks and seven strikeouts to give the Lake Monsters a chance to comeback. Jonnie Massad relieved Graves to record the final out of the third, then recorded a pair of 1-2-3 innings in the fourth and fifth. Daniel Gossett allowed a leadoff single in the sixth, but struckout three of the next five batters faced in two scoreless innings, while Lee Sosa (2-2) allowed just a hit batter to open the ninth in his two scoreless innings of relief.

Vermont got a run back in the bottom of the third on John Nogwski's first professional home run, a leadoff blast to leftcenter cutting the deficit to 5-1. Yairo Munoz extended his current hitting streak to 11 games with a one-out single in the third, but the only Lake Monster to get a hit after the third inning would be Sportman with three hits. After a two-out single in the fifth, Sportman cut the Vermont deficit to 5-4 with a three-run homer to left in the bottom of the seventh inning.

After striking out the side in the bottom of the eighth, Muckdogs reliever Connor Overton (1-2) walked Max Kuhn to open the ninth inning before retiring Jose Brizuela and Seong-min Kim on flyouts. Pinch runner Dayton Alexander then stole second base and advanced to third on a throwing erro by catcher Vigil. On a 3-1 count Batavia elected to walk Nogowski intentionally putting the winning run, pinch runner Veritgan, on first base.

Sportman followed with a line drive single to rightfield on a 1-2 pitch to score Alexander from third with the tying run and Vertigan went from first to third on the single before scoring when Castro's throw got away from third baseman Aaron Blanton allowing Vertigan to score the winning run. It was the second time this season that the Lake Monsters have gone from being behind to walking off with the win on the final pitch of game (other was July 8th when Vermont beat Lowell 5-4 on Scott Masik two-run double) after happening just one time in Lake Monsters first 20 seasons.

The win snapped a four-game losing streak for Vermont (17-29), which will host Batavia (22-24) in the second of the three-game series on Thursday night at Centennial Field. The first 500 kids to the game will receive a free CHAMP Jersey Drawstring Backpack courtesy of People's United Bank, along with a voucher for a free hot dog, bag of chips and soda as part of Kids Eat Free Thursday from Heritage and the H-Team.

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New York-Penn League Stories from July 30, 2014


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