NEW BRITAIN, CT — The Lake Monsters scored four runs on five hits in the fourth and five runs on just one hit in the top of the fifth, while Zander Teator tossed four scoreless innings to close out the Vermont 9-6 in Futures League action Tuesday night at New Britain Stadium.
After having just one baserunner (leadoff single in third) and trailing 2-0 in the three innings, the Lake Monsters bats came alive in the fourth beginning with a Bryan Richman (Cal Poly Pomona) leadoff single followed by a Shaun McMillan (St. John’s) RBI double. After another single, caught stealing and groundout left McMillan on third with two outs, Vermont took a 4-2 lead on a Jeremy Sosa (Manhattan RBI double and Xander Meissner (Bethany Lutheran) two-run double.
The Bees tied the game 4-4 in the bottom of the fourth, but the Lake Monsters retook the lead with a one-out hit batter, walk, walk and Nick Frontino (Mississippi State) RBI infield single. They added four more runs on a fielding error, back-to-back bases loaded walks to Sosa and Meissner before a Thomas O’Connell (Virginia) sacrifice fly for a 9-4 advantage.
New Britain got two runs back in the bottom of the fifth on a two-run triple, but Teator (Babson) settled things down from there pitching scoreless baseball over the final four innings on three hits with one walk and three strikeouts.
MONSTER PERFORMANCES
* Sosa 2-for-3, 2 BB, R, 2B, 2 RBI
* Frontino 3-for-5, R, RBI
* Teator (S) 4 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 SO
BEYOND THE BOXSCORE
* Vermont (23-13) improves to a season-best 10 games over .500 with 4th win in last 5 games
* Will Polishuk (Pomona Pitzer) allowed 1 unearned run (0 H, 2 BB, 1 SO) in Lake Monster debut
* Meissner had 3 RBI (2-run 2B, RBI BB) for his 3rd straight game (3-run HR 7/4 and 3-run 2B 7/6)
* With an RBI double, McMillan increased his FCBL leads with 34 RBI and 12 doubles (2nd with 39 hits)
* Frontino has now hit safely in 8 of his 9 games for Vermont, including last 5 (going 9×20, .450)
* Other than 9 runs on 6 hits in 4th and 5th, Vermont had just 3 hits and 1 walk over 7 innings
* Lake Monsters have scored 9 or more runs in 3 of last 4 games and 8 or more in 6 of last 8
Next Game: Wednesday at New Britain, 11:05am (FCBLnetwork.com)
Next Home Game: Friday vs. Norwich, 6:35pm