boxscore

BURLINGTON, VT — The Lake Monsters got five scoreless innings from three relievers and were able to push across a pair of runs in the bottom of the eighth inning as Vermont rallied to win its Futures League home opener 4-3 over the Brockton Rox in front of 3,352 at historic Centennial Field.

Brockton scored a pair of runs in the first inning and another in the second for an early 3-0 advantage before the Lake Monsters scored twice in the bottom of the second. The game stayed 3-2 until the eighth when Vermont loaded the bases with no outs on an infield single, walk and fielding error.

After a strikeout, Tommy Googins (Princeton) hit a grouindball to short that was booted for an error with Owen McKiernan (Tufts) scoring the tying run from third base. Cooper O’Brien (Vergennes/Colby Sawyer) followed with another grounder to short for a forceout at second, but O’Brien beat the throw to first allowing Evan Dennis (Blue Mountain/Colby Sawyer) to score the go ahead run. 

Vermont is now 2-0 to start the season, while Brockton falls to 0-1 with the loss in its opener. 

MONSTER PERFORMANCES                                                                                          

  • Matt Safer (Saint Michael’s) 2.2 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 1 SO
  • Matt Hirsch (Tufts) 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 SO
  • McKeirnan 2-for-3 with 1 run scored

MONSTER HIGHLIGHTS 

  • Safer scoreless innings in 5th and 6th before leaving with 1 out in the 7th with bases loaded, but Hirsch got out of jam with strikeout and flyout to keep score 3-2
  • After Vermont took lead in 8th, Wyatt Cameron (Salisbury/Central Connecticut) tossed a 1-2-3 top 9th with 1 strikeout to earn the save. 
  • Lake Monsters 2 runs in 2nd came on Googins RBI forceout and O’Brien sac fly
  • Starter Dylan Watson (Colby-Sawyer) 3 runs (1 earned) on 5 hits over 4 innings 

BEYOND BOXSCORE 

  • Vermont has rallied to win when trailing after 6th and 7th innings in both games played
  • Lake Monsters are now 3-1 in their 4 FCBL home openers
  • O’Brien and Googins both had 2 of the Lake Monsters 4 RBI
  • Crowd of 3,352 was the largest for a Vermont home opener since 2012

Next Game: Sunday vs. Brockton, 5:05pm (FCBLnetwork.com)