Vermont Lake Monsters

Vermont Strikes Past Lowell 3-1 On Monday

boxscore

BURLINGTON, VT  —  The Lake Monsters scored three runs in the bottom of the first inning and the Vermont pitching staff made it hold up with 16 strikeouts in a 3-1 Futures League victory in front of 3,031 at Delta Dental Diamond at Centennial Field on Monday night. 

Bryan Richman (Cal Poly Pomona) and James Henshon (Tufts) led off the bottom of the first with back-to-back singles before Jake Dunlap (Catawba) plated Richman with an RBI single to left. Jack Fitzgerald (Montevallo) followed with a line drive two-run triple down the right-field line for a 3-0 Vermont lead. 

Six Lake Monster pitchers combined for the season-high 16 strikeouts, including five strikeouts over two innings for starter Luke Fithian (Rutgers) in his Vermont debut and six punchouts over three innings for reliever Ethan Freed (Harvard). 

Lowell scored its only run of the two-game series in the eighth inning on an RBI forceout and had the tying run at the plate in the ninth when Sam Lebrecque (Oberlin) induced a game-ending 4-6-3 double play to earn his third save of the season as Vermont improves to a FCBL-best 15-7 overall.

MONSTER HIGHLIGHTS
* Freed 3 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 6 SO
* Fitzgerald 1-for-4, 3B, 2 RBI
* Dunlap 2-for-4 (3rd straight game), R, RBI

BEYOND THE BOXSCORE 
* Lowell’s 8th-inning run snapped a 23-inning scoreless streak for Vermont pitchers dating back to final 7 innings Saturday and Sunday’s shutout win
* Lake Monster pitchers 2 runs allowed on 13 hits with 5 walks and 32 strikeouts over last 3 games
* Lebrecque now has 10 straight outings with 1 scoreless inning and has retired 18 of last 20 batters faced
* After the 4 straight hits to open the 1st inning, Vermont had just 1 more hit, a Dunlap 1-out single in 3rd,
* Lowell and Vermont pitchers combined for just 5 walks and 28 strikeouts over the 8 ½ innings
* Vermont defensively had 0 errors for 3nd straight game and for 7th time last 10 games (7 errors total)
* 3rd Centennial crowd of 3,000+ this season and now averaging 2,533 over 10 home dates
* Lake Monsters have won each of their last 5 home games after starting season 2-3 at Centennial

UPCOMING 
Next Game: Wednesday vs. Norwich, 6:35pm
Promotion: Expos Night!
Broadcast: FCBLnetwork.com (streaming), WJOY 1230am (radio)