FL Tri-City ValleyCats

ValleyCats Power Past Crushers with Five Homers

June 14, 2023 - Frontier League (FL)
Tri-City ValleyCats News Release


TROY, NY - The Tri-City ValleyCats (15-14) slugged their way to a 13-6 victory over the Lake Erie Crushers (14-15) on Wednesday at Joseph L. Bruno Stadium. For the second time in the last three games, every ValleyCats starter reached base safely.

Tri-City opened the scoring. Matt Mulhearn issued a walk to Cito Culver in the first. Trey Hair then picked up a single. Carson McCusker reached on a fielder's choice, which moved Culver to third. Afterward, Culver scored on a wild pitch, and McCusker advanced to second. Aaron Altherr clobbered a two-run blast to pull the ValleyCats ahead, 3-0.

Lake Erie got on the board in the eighth. Jack Harris led off with a base hit. Kemuel Thomas-Rivero moved Harris to third with a single. Kenen Irizarry plated Harris with an RBI knock to cut the deficit to 3-1.

The ValleyCats got the run back in the bottom of the second with a solo homer from Pavin Parks to take a 4-1 lead. It was his fourth of the season.

Tri-City picked up a run in the third. Culver walked for the second time. Hair singled Culver to third. Carson McCusker picked up an RBI fielder's choice to put the 'Cats on top, 5-1.

The Crushers closed the gap in the fifth. Base hits from Todd Issacs Jr. and Gabe Snyder set the table for a three-run blast off the bat of Jack Harris to make it a 5-4 game.

Beebe received the no-decision. He went 4.1 innings, yielding four runs on eight hits, walking none, and striking out two.

The ValleyCats added some insurance runs in the bottom of the fifth. Hair doubled and McCusker brought him in with a single. Altherr picked up his second hit before Zach Biermann cranked a 440-foot shot to right field to give Tri-City a 9-4 lead.

Tri-City padded its lead in the sixth. Thomas Bruss issued a walk to Culver, and Hair clobbered a two-run blast to make it an 11-4 game.

Lake Erie made it a six-run affair in the seventh. Brendan Bell issued a walk to Santiago Chirino. Thomas-Rivero singled, and Jiandido Tromp drove in Chirino with a base hit.

The ValleyCats responded in the bottom of the seventh. Robbie Merced mashed a solo homer for his first professional hit off Perry Bewley to extend the ValleyCats lead to 12-5.

Issacs Jr. ripped a homer off Matt Dunaway in the eighth to cut the deficit to 12-6.

Tri-City picked up its 13th run of the day in the bottom of the eighth. McCusker singled, and Biermann brought him in with a double.

Bell (1-0) earned his first win in a ValleyCats uniform. He tossed a season-high 2.2 innings, allowing one run on three hits, walking one, and striking out three.

Mulhearn (2-2) was handed the loss. He threw 4.1 innings, giving up nine runs on eight hits, walking three, and striking out two.

Biermann became the fifth ValleyCat this season with a four-plus RBI game. Hair was the fifth player with Tri-City this year to record a four-hit game. Meanwhile, Culver matched a season-high as he compiled four walks.

Tri-City concludes its three-game set against Lake Erie tomorrow, Thursday, June 15. First pitch is scheduled for 6:30 PM.

FINAL | TRI-CITY 13 | LAKE ERIE 6

W: Brendan Bell (1-0)

L: Matt Mulhearn (2-2)

Time of Game: 2:44

Attendance: 3,806

Check out the Tri-City ValleyCats Statistics



Frontier League Stories from June 14, 2023


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