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Tigers Use Six-Run 13th Inning to Win 15-9

July 20, 2011 - New York-Penn League (NYPL)
Norwich Sea Unicorns News Release


TROY, NY - The Connecticut Tigers used a season-high 15 runs on a season-high 19 hits to take down the Tri-City ValleyCats 15-9 in 13 innings on Wednesday afternoon at Joseph L. Bruno Stadium.

For the second straight day the two teams got involved in a high-scoring affair. The ValleyCats struck first with three runs in the opening inning, getting RBI single's from Matt Duffy, Bubby Williams and Drew Muren.

Connecticut cut the Tri-City lead to one in the second frame. Dean Green led off the inning with his third homer of the year, a solo shot to right field. Curt Casali and Javier Azcona followed with back-to-back singles, as they advanced to second and third respectively on a groundout by Zach Maggard. Casali then came in to score on a sacrifice fly from Les Smith.

The ValleyCats got one of those runs back in the bottom of the second on a solo home run from Jacke Healey and added a run in the third on a Healey RBI double to take a 5-2 lead.

Connecticut would come back and put two runs on the board in the fourth, scoring with a two-out RBI single by P.J. Polk and RBI double from Colin Kaline to cut the ValleyCats lead to 5-4.

The Tigers would then tie the game at five in the sixth with some more two-out magic. With runners on first and second and two away, Jason King came up with a base hit through the right side to score Bo McClendon from second and tie it up 5-5.

The Tigers broke the tie in the seventh. Green was hit by a pitch to lead off the frame, while Casali followed with a single to left field. The ball hit to the left fielder Neiko Johnson was not fielded cleanly and allowed Green to go to third and Casali to second on the error. Two batters latter Maggard came through with a big two-run double that hugged inside the right field line and scored both runners, giving Connecticut their first lead of the game at 7-5.

The lead would not last long, as the ValleyCats roared back in the eighth. With Jeff Barfield on in relief for Connecticut, Neiko Johnson led off with a base hit and two batters latter Matt Duffy reached on a Javier Azcona error to put runners at first and second. Brandon Meredith was then hit by a pitch to load the bases with only one out. After John Hinson struck out, Williams came up with a two-out two-run single to tie the game at seven.

Both teams would remain scoreless over the ninth inning as the game was sent into extra innings. The ValleyCats loaded the bases with one out in the tenth, but Tigers closer Daniel Bennett got a strike out of Williams and induced a Muren groundout to keep the game tied.

Tri-City threatened again in the 11th. Neiko Johnson smacked a two-out single up the middle, while Zach Johnson was walked to put runners at first and second. Neiko Johnson then stole third base to put the potential winning run just 90 feet away. However, Neiko Johnson was picked off at third to end the danger.

In the 12th Chad Wright led off with a single, while Jeff Holm, who came in as a defense replacement for Les Smith in the 11th, hit a two-run homer to left to give Connecticut a 9-7 lead.

The ValleyCats though had yet another comeback in them for the bottom of the 12th. Duffy drew a lead off walk from Nick Avila, while Meredith smacked a single to put runners on first and second base. After Avila retired the next two batters, Muren came up with a two-out two-run double into right field to score both runners and tie the game. With the winning run again at third, Miles Hamblin, who came in to pinch-hit, flied out to left to send the game to the 13th inning.

Connecticut came right back to regain the lead by blowing the game open with a six-run 13th frame. Curt Casali drew a walk from Kristian Bueno to start the inning and Edwin Gomez came in to pich-run for Casali. Azcona put down a sacrifice bunt to move Gomez to second base and Gomez came in to score and give the Tigers the 10-9 lead on a Maggard RBI single to left field. They would add a run on a Chad Wright groundout with the bases loaded and break the game wide open when Jason King smacked a grand slam to clear the bases and put Connecticut up 15-9.

There would be no more comebacks in the bag for the ValleyCats after that and the Tigers went on for the victory. The Tigers won their second game in the last three days with an 11:05 AM start time.

While Avila picked up his first win of the season, Bueno suffered his third loss of the year.

The Tigers will now head back home for the first time in nine days as they start a six-game homestand tomorrow night with the Tri-City ValleyCats coming to town. They will play a doubleheader tomorrow, two seven-inning games, to make up a game that was rained out earlier in the season.

First pitch for game one is 6:05 PM.

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