8-5 Win Saturday Gives Vermont 4-0 Start To Season
BURLINGTON, VT — The Lake Monsters improved to 4-0 on the young Futures League season by rallying from a 2-0 deficit with a five-run bottom of the seventh and three insurance runs in the eighth for an 8-5 victory over the New Britain Bees in front of 3,225 in the home opener Saturday afternoon on Delta Dental Diamond at Centennial Field.
Held to just three hits over the first six innings, Vermont opened the seventh with three straight singles to load the bases before tying the game on a one-out hit batter and run-scoring wild pitch. Danny O’Brien (Montclair State) followed with a two-run single down the rightfield line and later scored on another wild pitch.
Vermont added three runs in the eighth on a Patrick Shrake (Colby) RBI single, Jack Fitzgerald (Montevallo) RBI groundout and an RBI single from O’Brien. Those runs would prove key as the Bees scored three runs on five hits in the ninth before Brady Lane (Brandeis) came on to record the final out with the tying run at the plate to earn his second save.
MONSTER PERFORMANCES
* O’Brien 3-for-4, BB, R, 3 RBI
* Shrake 2-for-4, 2 R, 1 RBI
* Alvin Gomez (AIC) 3 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 4 SO
BEYOND THE BOXSCORE
* Lake Monsters are 4-0 for just the 2nd team in franchise’s 32-year history (started 8-0 in 2001)
* 4th straight game that Vermont has scored 4 or 5 runs in one inning (29 runs scored in 4 games)
* Also 4th straight game with 10 or more hits (49-for-152, .322 average)
* Bryan Richman (Cal Poly Pomona) and Shrake combined 4-for-9 with 4 runs in top 2 spots in order
* Fitzgerald was hit by a pitch 3 times in the game
* After Gomez’s 3 scoreless innings, 4 different relievers pitched 1 scoreless inning including Hinesburg’s Jack Richburg (Springfield) who needed just 6 pitches for 1-2-3 top of 8th
UPCOMING
Next Game: Sunday vs. New Britain, 5:05pm
Promotion: Dig In Against Cancer
Broadcast: WYCI-TV, FCBLnetwork.com, WJOY 1230am