Stygles Strikes In Vermont 6-2 Win Thursday
LOWELL, MA — Reed Stygles struck out nine Spinners over four scoreless innings of relief and James Henshon capped a three-run top of the ninth with a two-out, two-run single to lead the Vermont Lake Monsters to a 6-2 Futures League victory over Lowell Thursday night at LeLecheur Park.Â
After starter Chase Burrows (Babson) allowed two runs on five hits over the first four innings, Stygles (USC-Aiken) retired the first 11 Lowell batters faced and 12 of 13 in his four scoreless frames. The BFA-St. Albans grad struckout the final two batters of the fifth and sixth, struckout the side in the seventh and two more punchouts in eighth sandwiched around a one-out single.Â
Vermont scored a run in the top of the first on a Zach Geertsma (Mississippi State) one-out sacrifice fly after a leadoff single, walk and bunt single. Geertsma added an RBI double in the third for a 2-0 advantage.Â
Lake Monsters added another run in fourth on bases loaded wild pitch for 3-1 lead, then held a one-run lead from the fifth until a Brad Johnston (Swartamore) one-out RBI single in the ninth and later Henshon’s two-run single to center for four-run edge.Â
MONSTER STARS
* Stygles (W) 4 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 9 SO
* Geertsma 2-for-3, BB, R, 2B, 2 RBI
* Henshon 2-for-5, 2B, 2 RBI
MONSTER HIGHLIGHTS
* With the victory, Lake Monsters have officially clinched FCBL playoff spot for the 6th straight season
* Vermont (35-12) has won 5 straight, 6 of last 7 and are 17-2 in July
* 35-12 record is the Lake Monsters best FCBL record after 47 games (34-13 in 2022)
* Vermont 8 games in front of 2nd-place New Britain (25-18), magic # to clinch 1st-place is 8
* Stygles 9 K’s most for a Lake Monster pitcher since Wyatt Cameron’s 11 vs. New Britain July 18, 2024 and most by Vermont reliever since Chris Clark’s 9 SO vs. Worcester June 4, 2021
* With 2 RBI, Henshon now leads Vermont with 25 RBI (Jack Fitzgerald’s 24 has led since June 25th)
* Bryan Richman (Cal Poly Pomona) had 2 hits to become 3rd FCBL Lake Monster with 100 career hits (Tyler Favretto 101, Colby Brouillette 102)
UPCOMINGÂ
Next Game: Friday at Worcester, 6:30pm (FCBLnetwork.com)
Next Home Game: Monday, July 27th vs. Westfield, 6:35pm (Hot Dog Hysteria)Â