ValleyCats snap five game winning streak
July 29, 2004 - New York-Penn League (NYPL)
Tri-City ValleyCats News Release
Troy, MI- The Williamsport Crosscutters took a 3-0 early lead against the Tri-City ValleyCats, almost lost it, and cruised to a 9-4 win after putting up a six-run eighth inning. 2, 577 fans watched Williamsport end a five game ValleyCats winning streak.
Williamsport started things off with a run off of Ryan McKeller in the first inning. Jermel Lomack walked and stole second base. McKeller responded by striking out the next two Crosscutters hitters then Mike Hofius singled home Lomack for the 1-0 lead.
In the second inning, Milver Reyes got on first with a fielder's choice and quickly came around to score when Sean Smith hit a double to right-centerfield that brought home Reyes. 2-0 was the score after two innings.
McKeller surrendered another run in the fourth inning when AJ Johnson walked, went to second on a wild pitch, to third on a groundout, and crossed home plate on another McKeller wild pitch.
It would not be long before the ValleyCats chipped away at the 3-0 Crosscutter lead. The ValleyCats moved closer with a pair of solo home runs. Mario Garza crushed his league-leading tenth home run in the sixth inning and Brady Koch belted a one out shot in the seventh inning that got the ValleyCats within one at 3-2.
In the eighth inning, Anthony DeWitt took the mound for his second inning of relief off ValleyCats starter Ryan McKeller. He got ahead of the count no balls and two strikes before falling behind and having the count go full to Brian Bixler. Then Dewitt plunked Bixler. Tim Brown stepped up to the plate and belted a triple to right-centerfield. Bixler scored to make it 4-2. When Brown trotted home thanks to an RBI single by Wanell Macia, the ValleyCats went back down by three runs at 5-2. The ValleyCats would allow four more runs in the inning and be down 9-2 going into the bottom of the eighth inning. DeWitt left the inning with one out in the eighth and Chad Reineke came in to finish out the inning. All six runs were charged to DeWitt.
In the ninth inning, the ValleyCats started a mini-rally with two outs. James Cooper hit a single and moved up to second base when Drew Sutton walked. Jason Quarles, who came into the game to pitch the ninth inning, hit Francisco Caraballo with a pitch. The bases were loaded when Ben Zobrist hit a weak ground ball back to the Quarles. He slipped and fell, and no play was made. Zobrist got an RBI single and the third run of the game crossed home plate for the ValleyCats. Mario Garza walked home Sutton to make the score 9-4. Hunter Pence then grounded into a fielder's choice to end the game.
The ValleyCats will now play game two of the three game tomorrow night at 7:00. Andrew Alvarado gets the ball for the ValleyCats. The game can be heard in the Capital Region starting at 6:45 on AM 1160 WABY Mechanicville and AM 900 WUAM Saratoga Springs as well as on the Internet at sportsjuice.com.
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