BURLINGTON, VT — Wyatt Cameron struckout 11 over 4 ⅔ innings and Chone James went 3-for-4 with two doubles and three RBI to lead the Vermont Lake Monsters to a season-best seven-game winning streak with an 11-8 Futures League victory over the New Britain Bees Thursday night at historic Centennial Field.
Cameron (Central Connecticut) struckout the side in the first inning, had two strikeouts in both the second and third innings and then three straight strikeouts in the fourth after opening the inning with three straight singles allowed. He picked up his 11th strikeout in the fourth before leaving with two outs after a double and RBI single. The 11 punchouts tied the Vermont FCBL-era record for strikeouts in a game and tied the franchise’s 30-year record for strikeouts at Centennial Field (see Monster Highlights below for more).
Vermont jumped on top 5-0 in the bottom of the second inning, scoring five times on just two base hits. The first hit was a James (Virginia) RBI double followed later in the inning with a pair of run-scoring errors, bases loaded walk to Tyler Favretto (Kansas Wesleyan) and an RBI fielder’s choice.
After the Lake Monsters increased their lead to 8-2 with a Jackson Sirois (Virginia) RBI single in third and Joey Gale (Saint Joseph’s) RBI single in the sixth, the Bees cut the deficit in half with three runs in the seventh. Vermont restored the six-run edge in the eighth on a Zander Teator (Babson) RBI single and James two-run double.
New Britain threatened in the ninth, scoring on a bases loaded hit batter, sacrifice fly and RBI double, but Sean Gamble (Minnesota State) struckout the tying run looking to end the game and earn his league-leading sixth save of the season.
MONSTER PERFORMANCES
- Cameron 4.2 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 11 SO
- James 3-for-4, 2 R, 2 2B, 3 RBI
- Will Harrigan (Columbia) 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 1 SO for win
MONSTER HIGHLIGHTS
- Cameron’s 11 strikeouts tied the Lake Monsters FCBL-era for K’s in a game set by Crawford Wade June 24, 2022 and Tim Noone July 7, 2022 (both at Nashua)
- The 11 strikeouts also tied the Lake Monsters franchise record for most strikeouts by a Vermont pitcher at Centennial (Scott Strickland August 16, 1997, Jorge Julio July 11, 1998 and Mark Mangum)
- 2nd game this season with 2 doubles for James, who is now tied for 2nd in the FCBL with 10 doubles overall, and has hit safely in 8 straight games (14-for-32, .438)
- Sam Cavossa (Saint Michael’s) went 1-for-5 with 2 runs, double and RBI in his 1st game for Vermont since June 4th
- 5 Vermont pitchers combined for 17 strikeouts, the most for the Lake Monster since May 27, 2023 vs. Pittsfield
BEYOND BOXSCORE
- Vermont is 7 games over .500 for the 1st time this season
- Lake Monsters 7-game win streak is their longest since 7 straight June 19-26, 2002
- Cameron now has 38 strikeouts for the season, 3rd-most in the Futures League, and 150 career strikeouts in 122 ⅔ innings.
- 7th time this season that Vermont has scored 10 or more runs (4th in last 9 games)
- Vermont (24-17) is ½ game behind New Britain (25-17) for 3rd-place in FCBL standings
Next Game: Friday, 6:35pm vs. New Britain (Maple Kings Night)
Broadcast Info: Streaming on FCBLnetwork.com and live on WYCI-TV