BURLINGTON, VT — Sam Cavossa went 4-for-6 with three runs and two RBI, including a one-out bases loaded RBI walkoff single in the bottom of the ninth inning to give the Vermont Lake Monsters an 11-10 Futures League victory over the Westfield Starfires on Friday night at historic Centennial FIeld.
Vermont had built a 7-3 advantage with six runs in the bottom of the second, including a Jeremy Sosa (Manhattan) RBI triple, Caavoss (Saint Michael’s) RBI single and Conner Vercollone (Saint Bonaventure) RBI triple.
Lake Monsters led 7-5 when Shaun McMillan (St. John’s) drilled an opposite field three-run homer in the bottom of the sixth for a five-run lead, but the Starfires fought back to tie the score 10-10 with a four-run top seventh (including a two-out three-run double) and a two-out RBI single in the top of the eighth.
Westfield had runners on first and second with one out in the top of the ninth when shortstop Bryan Richman caught a line drive and doubled the runner off first to end the frame. Back-to-back walks and a wild pitch opened the bottom of the ninth, then after a strikeout and intentional walk loaded the bases, Cavossa grounded the first pitch he saw into leftfield to bring Aidan Botti (Cuesta/Wallingford, VT) home with the winning run.
MONSTER PERFORMANCES
|* Cavossa 4-for-6, 3 R, 2 RBI
* Richman 4-for-4, BB, 2 R
*McMillan 1-for-4, 2 R, HR, 3 RBI
BEYOND THE BOXSCORE
* Cavossa has now hit safely in all 8 games played this season and .471 overall (16-for-34)
* 2nd 4-hit game in last 3 contests for Cavossa (4 hits at Norwich June 4th)
* Richman reached base safely in all 5 plate appearances (4 H, BB) and raised average to .448 (13-for-29) including 8-for-16 in last 4 games
* Alvin Gomez (AIC) allowed 1 run on 2 hits, 3 walks and 4 strikeouts over 3 innings of relief, while Zander Teator (Babson) a scoreless top 9th to earn the victory
* First Vermont game with both teams scoring in double figures since July 6, 2024 (16-13 loss to Westfield) and most runs allowed in a win since July 23, 2022 (13-10 win vs. Worcester)
* Lake Monsters have won season-high 3 straight to improve to season-best 3 games over .500 (6-3)
Next Game: Saturday vs. Westfield, 6:05pm