BURLINGTON, VT — The Lake Monsters broke open a one-run lead with a three-run, five-hit bottom of the sixth inning for a 6-2 lead and went on to earn their seventh straight victory with a 6-4 win over the Nashua Silver Knights Wednesday night on the Delta Dental Diamond at historic Centennial Field
As they have done of late, the Lake Monsters jumped out to an early lead with a pair of unearned runs in the first on an RBI double from Shaun McMillan (St. John’s), who later scored on a wild pitch in the inning. Nolan Colby (Fairfield) added an RBI single in the second for a 3-0 advantage.
Nashua cut the lead to 3-2 with single runs in the third and fourth, while the Vermont offense had just the two RBI hits from McMillan and Colby until the sixth when they collected five singles in the three-run frame. Hunter Kingsbury (Bryant) and McMillan opened the inning with back-to-back singles followed by a Leandro Guevara (AIC) sacrifice fly.
After singles by Will Mahala (Virginia) and Nick Frontino (Mississippi State), which saw McMillan thrown out at the plate for the second out, Thomas O’Connell (Virginia) laced a 2-2 pitch into left for a two-run single and four-run Lake Monster advantage.
Nashua got a two-out, two-run double in the seventh to cut the Vermont lead in half, but relievers Langdon Hazen (Quinnipiac/Mt. Mansfield) and Zander Teator (Babson) closed out the game with back-to-back 1-2-3 innings (one strikeout each) in the eight and ninth.
MONSTER PERFORMANCE
* O’Connell 1-for-2, BB, 2 RBI
* McMillan 2-for-4, R, 2B, RBI
* Jack McLaughlin (Tuft) 2.2 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 1 BB, 1 SO for win
BEYOND THE BOXSCORE
* Vermont (17-8) has won 7 straight games, its longest win streak since 7 straight July 9-18, 2024
* Lake Monsters have also won 6 straight home games and are 12-3 at Centennial this season
* Mahala went 2-for-4 with a run scored for his 1st multi-hit game for Vermont
* Starter Adam Schwartz (Colby) allowed 1 run, 3 hits and walked 4 over the first 3 innings
* Over last 8 games (6/17-25), Vermont starting pitchers 0.97 ERA (37 IP, 20 H, 4 R,4 ER, 16 BB, 27 SO)
* Crowd of 2,717 raised Vermont’s home attendance to 34,903 (average of 2,493)
Next Game: Thursday vs, Nashua, 6:35pm (FCBLnetwork.com)
Promotion: Golf Night (Golf Ball 3-pack Giveaway)