BURLINGTON, VT — Chone James snapped a 5-5 tie with a bases clearing three-run double in the bottom of the seventh inning as the Vermont Lake Monsters extended its winning streak to five straight with an 8-5 Futures League victory over the Nashua Silver Knights Sunday evening in front of 3,045 at historic Centennial Field.
Vermont had built a 5-1 advantage before Nashua scored two runs in the sixth and seventh innings to tie the game, but the Lake Monsters loaded the bases in the bottom of the seventh on a Jack Rickheim (Harvard) leadoff single, Wyatt Patchett (Le Moyne) hit by pitch and Tyler Favretto (Kansas Wesleyan) walk. Two batters later, James (Virginia) lined an 0-1 pitch into the right-center gap to clear the bases.
Patchett was 3-for-3 including an RBI single in the second followed by Zander Teator (Babson) and Joe Marini (Catholic) RBI singles in the third for a 3-0 Monsters lead. After the Silver Knights scored a run in the fourth, Vermont added a pair of runs on wild pitches in the bottom of inning for the 5-1 lead.
After Nashua tied the game 5-5 with the hit batter in the seventh, Christian De Risi (New Haven) came on to strikeout the final batter of the inning to leave the bases loaded. He then struckout two in a 1-2-3 eighth and then, after a one-out walk in the ninth, ended the game with a 3-6-3 double play to earn the victory.
MONSTER PERFORMANCES
- Patchett 3-for-3, HBP, 2 R, 1 RBI
- James 1-for-4, BB, 2B, 3 RBI
- De Risi 2.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 3 SO
MONSTER HIGHLIGHTS
- Vermont had 12 hits in the victory, including at least 1 hit by starter (Patchett 3 hits, Rickheim 2 hits)
- Starter Hayden Mutz (AIC) allowed 1 run on 4 hits, 2 walks and 5 strikeouts over first 4 innings
- Lake Monsters defense played their 3rd straight errorless game and have not made an error in 7 of their last 10 contests
- Favretto had a double and walk, scoring 2 runs (giving him 16 runs scored last 14 games)
BEYOND BOXSCORE
- Vermont (21-17) has won 5 straight games to move 5 games over .500 for the 1st time this season
- Lake Monsters are now 7-1 vs. Nashua this season and 33-11 overall (18-4 at Centennial) against the Silver Knights
- Vermont is 17-4 when scoring 5 or more runs (6-13 when opponents 5+)
- Attendance of 3,045 marked the 7th time with a crowd of 3,000+ this season
- Prior to the game, the Lake Monsters officially retired #45 jersey of 2021-23 Head Coach Pete Wilk, who passed away this spring.
Among the former Lake Monster players in attendance were Jimmy Evans, M.J. Metz, Tim Noone and Silas Reed.
Next Game: Tuesday, 6:30 pm at Worcester (FCBLnetwork.com)
Next Home Game: Thursday 6:35pm vs. New Britain