BURLINGTON, VT — Vermont starter Hayden Mutz retired the first 16 batters he faced to lead the Vermont Lake Monsters to its third straight victory to open the 2024 Futures League season with a 5-2 win over the Brockton Rox in front of 2,512 at historic Centennial Field on Sunday evening.
Mutz (AIC) retired Brockton 1-2-3 in each of the first five innings and the first batter of the sixth before the retired the Rox got their first runner on a one-out bunt single in the sixth inning. Mutz, who came out of the game after allowing a walk and single to open the seventh inning, finished with one run on two hits with five strikeouts over six-plus innings.
Vermont scored its first run in the third on a two-base throwing error, passed ball and wild pitch to plate Chone James (Virginia). The Lake Monsters scored their second run in the sixth on a Jack Rickheim (Harvard) RBI single to center.
The Rox loaded the bases with no outs in the seventh, but reliever Cole Tarrant (Williston, VT/Hobart) got out of the jam allowing just a run to score on a 6-4-3 double play.
Vermont pushed the lead to 5-1 with three runs in the bottom of the seventh on a Colby Brouillette (Georgia, VT/Central Connecticut) bases loaded walk and Eric Jeon (Columbia) line drive two-run single to left.
MONSTER PERFORMANCES
* Mutz (W) 6+ IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 5 SO
* Jeon 2-for-3, 1 BB, 1 R, 2 RBI
* James 2-for-4, 2 R
MONSTER HIGHLIGHTS
* Mutz threw 47 of his 67 pitches for strikes in his 6-plus innings
* Jeon and James both had 2 hits in their 1st game of the season for Vermont
* Zander Teator (Babson) 1 walk and 1 strikeout in scoreless 9th to earn save
* Colby Garey-Wright (St. Johnsbury, VT/Augusta) 1 run on 2 hits with 3 strikeouts over 1 inning in Vermont debut
BEYOND THE BOXSCORE
* Vermont is now 3-0 for the 1st time in its 4th FCBL seasons, 1st time since 2019 in NYPL and just 5th time in 30 seasons overall
* Lake Monster batters finished with 8 walks and 13 strikeouts (Vermont pitchers 2 walks)
* Cooper O’Brien (Vergennes, VT/Colby Sawyer) had 4 walks in 4 plate appearances
* Crowd of 2,512 increased Lake Monsters two-game home total to 5,864 (average 2,932)
Next Game: Monday vs. Brockton, 1:05pm (FCBLnetwork.com, WYCI-TV)