BURLINGTON, VT — After holding Westfield hitless until the eighth inning, the Vermont Lake Monsters broke a 2-2 tie with three runs in the bottom of the eighth for a 5-2 victory over the Starfires in Futures League action Saturday night at historic Centennial Field.
Vermont led 2-0 with starter Francis Ferguson (Eastern Nazarene) and reliever Silas Reed (Tufts) combining to no-hit Westfield until a one-out double in the top of the eighth inning. The Starfires would rally in the inning to tie the game at two on an RBI single and an RBI forceout (Vermont just missed turning an inning-ending double play).
The Lake Monsters eighth-inning rally started with back-to-back hit batters before a
Jackson Kline (Kansas) RBI single to leftfield for a 3-2 advantage. After a walk reloaded bases, the Lake Monsters scored two more runs on a
Harrison Didawick (Virginia) RBI groundout and
George Cooper (Harvard) safety squeeze bunt.Earlier Vermont had taken the 2-0 lead on an
M.J. Metz (Duke) RBI single in the third and a
Connor Bowman (Tufts) one-out RBI single after a
Cam Conley (Pepperdine) leadoff double in the sixth.
Monster Performances
* Silas Reed 4.2 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 2 BB, 4 SO
* Connor Bowman 2-for-2, 2 BB, 1 RBI
Monster Highlights
* Ferguson tossed 2 2/3 hitless innings, but also issued 6 walks including 3 in the 2nd before getting out of inning with a double play
* George Goldstein (Middlebury) allowed an inherited runner to score and was also charged with a run top of 8th, but also had 2 strikeouts in scoreless 9th to earn the victory.
* Metz, Kline and Cooper each had a hit, run and RBI for the Lake Monsters
Beyond The Boxscore
* Vermont has won nine of its last 12 and 25 of last 28, while improving to franchise-best 25-8 after 33 games
* Since July 1, 2021 the Lake Monsters are 55-14 in the regular-season and 42-15 overall in FCBL games at Centennial
Next Game: Sunday vs. Westfield 1:05pm
CHAMP Pilot Bobblehead Giveaway
First 1,000 fans receive bobblehead depicting CHAMP! as a pilot in F-35 jet.
