NYPL Vermont Lake Monsters

Vermont Beats Tri-City 7-4 For 2nd Straight Night And Wins Road Opener

Published on June 20, 2012 under New York-Penn League (NYPL)
Vermont Lake Monsters News Release


BURLINGTON, VT --- The Vermont Lake Monsters snapped a 2-2 tie with three runs in the top of the seventh inning and held on for a 7-4 victory over the Tri-City ValleyCats in New York-Penn League action Wednesday night at Bruno Stadium.

Kelvin Rojas led off the Lake Monsters seventh by reaching third base on a three-base error by rightfielder Emilio King, who dropped a flyball just short of the outfield wall. Dayton Alexander followed with his first hit of the season, a groundball single to center to score Rojas for a 3-2 Vermont lead. A Chris Bostick single followed by back-to-back walks plated another run before a run-scoring double play for a 5-2 advantage.

The ValleyCats got a run back in the bottom of the seventh and had the tying runs on base with no outs, but Austin House came on in relief for Vermont and struckout the side to squelch the Tri-City rally. Then House, making his professional debut after being taken in the 14th round of the 2012 draft out of the University of New Mexico, struckout two of the three batters faced in the eighth for two perfect innings of relief.

Vermont scored a pair of insurance runs in the top of the ninth for a 7-3 lead on a John Wooten sacrifice fly and RBI triple from Jacob Tanis, who finished 3-for-5 on the night. Tri-City's Jobduan Morales capped off a three-hit, three-run night with a solo homer in the bottom of the ninth off Vermont's Nate Eppley, who then retired the final three batters to give the Lake Monsters their second straight win after a season-opening loss.

The Lake Monsters had taken a 2-0 lead with unearned runs in the third and fourth innings on a run-scoring balk and forceout. Vermont starter Andrew Avilia worked out of trouble in both the second and third innings with inning-ending double plays, but allowed two runs in the fifth on a Andrew Aplin RBI single and Austin Elkins safety squeeze.

Logan Chitwood (1-0) allowed one run on three hits over 1 2/3 innings of relief to earn the victory, while Jeremiah Meiners allowed three runs (one earned) and did not retire any of his five batters faced to take the loss.  Bostick went 2-for-5 with two runs, while Rojas was 1-for-4 with two runs and a double for Vermont (2-1). Aplin and Elkins both had two hits for Tri-City (1-2), which lost in its home opener.

The Lake Monsters and ValleyCats wrap up their four-game series on Thursday night at Tri-City beginning at 7:00 pm. Due to a scheduling conflict with the NBA Finals on 101.3 ESPN radio, the game can be heard locally on 960 am "The Zone" and on the internet at www.thezone960am.com.

Check out the Vermont Lake Monsters Statistics

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New York-Penn League Stories from June 20, 2012


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