CalL1 Stockton Ports

Ports Complete First Sweep with 9-3 Win

Published on June 18, 2015 under California League (CalL1)
Stockton Ports News Release


LAKE ELSINORE, Calif. - For the first time in 2015, the Stockton Ports have completed a series sweep and find themselves two games over .500. The Boys of Banner Island completed a seven-game Southern California road trip with a 9-3 win over the Lake Elsinore Storm to punctuate a trip on which they went 6-1. In earning their fifth-straight victory on Wednesday night, the Ports matched their longest winning streak of the season.

Lake Elsinore opened the scoring in the bottom of the first as they loaded the bases with nobody out on a pair of singles and a walk given up by Ports starter Dillon Overton. Marcus Davis came up with the bases loaded and nobody out and hit a sac-fly to right to give the Storm the initial 1-0 lead. Overton would escape further trouble by inducing an inning-ending double-play ball off the bat of Ryan Miller.

Overton pitched around a pair of singles allowed in the second and a two-out triple in the third and went on to retire the final seven batters he faced. He received a no-decision, going five innings and allowing one run on five hits while striking out four.

Storm starter Rafael De Paula (4-5) would allow his first run in the third. B.J. Boyd led off with a triple to center and scored two batters later on a RBI groundout by Branden Cogswell to tie the game at 1-1.

De Paula kept the Ports out of the run column over the next three innings, but the Ports would take the lead on his watch in the seventh. With one out, John Nogowski and Beau Taylor hit back-to-back singles. Franklin Barreto followed with an RBI double that scored Nogowski and gave the Ports their first lead at 2-1. Two batters later with runners at second and third and two outs, Brett Vertigan delivered a two-run double to give the Ports a 4-1 cushion. At that point De Paula was lifted from the game in favor of Kyle Bartsch, who recorded the final out of the inning. De Paula suffered the loss, going 6.2 innings and allowing four runs on seven hits while striking out three.

Sam Bragg took over for Overton to begin the sixth and did not allow a run in his first inning of relief. In the bottom of the seventh after the Ports had taken a 4-1 lead, Bragg would see a pair of unearned runs score on his watch. With two outs and the bases empty, River Stevens doubled and Auston Bousfield reached on a fielding error committed by the shortstop Barreto. Fernando Perez followed and singled to right field, at which point the ball got by the right fielder Tyler Marincov, allowing a second run to score and cutting the Ports lead to 4-3. Perez, the possible-tying run, wound up at third base with two outs. Bragg would go on to get Davis to fly out to center to end the inning and avoid further damage.

Bragg earned the win, going two innings and allowing two unearned runs on four hits while striking out one.

The Ports would widen their lead over the final two innings beginning in the eighth facing Bartsch, who issued walks to three of the first four batters to open the frame. Jordan Hershiser was then summoned from the bullpen to face Taylor, who reached on a fielding error committed by the first baseman Davis on which a run scored. Two batters later with two outs, Boyd added a two-run double to right-center to make it a 7-3 ballgame. All the runs in the inning were charged to Bartsch, who allowed three runs (one earned) while allowing three walks in two-thirds of an inning.

Stockton would build in its lead again in the ninth facing Adys Portillo, who was making his Cal-League debut. Portillo issued walks to Cogswell and Chapman and then a passed ball allowed them to advance to second and third, respectively. A wild pitch would then allow Cogswell to score and Chapman to advance to third. With two outs, Portillo walked Nogowski and would be lifted for Eric Yardley. Yardley walked Taylor to load the bases and then gave up an RBI single to Barreto that gave the Ports a 9-3 advantage.

Ben Bracewell and Omar Duran pitched a perfect eighth and ninth inning, respectively, to close out the ballgame.

After going 6-1 on their seven-game road trip, the Ports return home to Banner Island Ballpark to begin a four-game series with the Bakersfield Blaze. Raul Alcantara (0-0, 11.57 ERA) gets the start in the series opener for Stockton, opposed by Bakersfield right-hander Brett Ash (3-4, 3.21 ERA). First pitch is set for 7:10 p.m. PDT.

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California League Stories from June 18, 2015


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