Vermont Lake Monsters

4-2 Monsters Win In 6 Innings Thursday

boxscore

BURLINGTON, VT — In a matchup of former CVU standouts, Vermont’s Jack Richburg outdueled Worcester’s Stephen Rickert as the Lake Monsters defeated the Bravehearts 4-2 in a Futures League game Thursday night that was shortened to six innings by rain on Delta Dental Diamond at Centennial Field. 

A teammate of Rickert and Lake Monster outfielder Travis Stroh (Dayton) on the 2023 Division 1 state champion RedHawks, Richburg (Springfield) retired all nine Worcester batters over the first three innings. After giving up two singles in the fourth, he got an inning-ending double play and retired the first two batters of the fifth before allowing an infield single, two walks and a two-run single. 

Richburg got the final out of the fifth on a strikeout with the tying run at second base to keep the Lake Monsters in the lead at 4-2. Alex Feeney (Drew), making his Vermont debut, got two groundouts to open the sixth before a two-out double and another groundout to end the inning. The game was stopped in the bottom of the sixth with runners on second and third with one out.

Vermont scored two unearned runs off Rickert in the second inning, including a Bryan Richman (Cal Poly Pomona) two-out RBI single. Rickert (Eastern Connecticut State) then gave up a leadoff and one-out single in the third before coming out of the game. The Lake Monsters ended up getting two runs in the frame on a Patrick Shrake (Colby) RBI infield single and Colin West (Baldwin Wallace) RBI fielder’s choice. 

CVU STARS
* Richburg (3-0) 5 IP, 4 H, 2 R, 2 ER, 2 BB, 1 SO
* Rickert (2-2) 2.1 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 2 ER, 0 BB, 0 SO

MONSTER STARS
* Richman 2-for-3, RBI
* Shrake 2-for-3, R, RBI

MONSTER HIGHLIGHTS
* Vermont (40-15-1) reaches 40 wins for the 4th time in 6 Future League seasons
* 2nd Lake Monster game to be shortened by rain this year (3-1 6-inning loss at Lowell June 7th)
* Richman extends his Vermont career hit record to 110 overall (54 in 2026 after 56 hits in 2025)
* Shrake is 11-for-24 (.458) with 8 walks in his last 8 games to .252 overall 
* With a crowd of 2,965 the Lake Monsters now averaging league-leading 2,737 (79,372 total)

UPCOMING 
Next Game: Friday vs. Worcester, 6:35pm 
Promotion: Local Legends Night (Hat Giveaway)
Next Home Game: FCBLnetwork.com (streaming), WJOY 1230am (radio)