BURLINGTON, VT — Max Moore tossed seven scoreless innings, while his batterymate Connor Bowman went 3-for-3 with five RBI to lead the Vermont Lake Monsters to a 12-0 victory over the Nashua Silver Knights in game one of the Futures League Championship series Wednesday night at historic Centennial Field.
Moore (Mount St. Mary’s), making just his second appearance (other 8/2 at Norwich) for the Lake Monsters and first at Centennial, allowed six hits with two walks and seven strikeouts. The left-hander worked out of a first-n-third, one-out jam in the second with a strikeout and flyout. Nashua opened both the fourth and sixth with runners on first-n-second with no outs, but Moore got out of both situations unharmed including a double play in sixth.
Bowman (Tufts) gave Vermont the only runs they would need with a two-out, two-run double in the second inning before the Lake Monsters opened up a 7-0 advantage with a five-run fourth that included a Harrison Didawick (Virginia) RBI single, Cooper Kelly (Kansas) two-run double and Tyler Favretto (Crowder) RBI single.
Vermont added a run in the sixth, then two more in both the seventh and eighth for the 12-0 lead. Kyle Hoog (UMass) had an RBI triple and scored on a Bowman RBI single in the seventh, while Bowman collected his fifth RBI with a sacrifice fly in the eighth after a Hoog RBI single.
The Lake Monsters head to Nashua on Thursday for game two at 6:00pm and a chance to sweep the best-of-three finals and clinch their second straight FCBL Championship. A loss to the Silver Knights would force a deciding game three at Centennial Field on Friday.
Monster Performances
Max Moore (W) 7 IP, 6 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 7 SO
Connor Bowman 3-for-3, 2 R, 2B, 5 RBI
Kyle Hoog 2-for-4, 3 R, 3B, 2 RBI
Monster Highlights
* Lake Monsters finished with 16 hits (led by Bowman’s 3), including five players with 2 hits: Tommy Martin (Yale), Brian Schuab (Trinity), Hoog, Didawick and Kelly
* Hoog and Schuab both scored 3 runs, while Hoog and Kelly each had 2-RBI games
* Wiliston, VT and CVU grads Liam Reiner (St. Lawrence) and Oliver Pudvar (Manhattan) each tossed 1 scoreless inning of relief
Beyond The Boxscore
* Vermont now 3-1 in Futures League championship games and 7-1 in FCBL playoffs games past 2 years
* Lake Monsters 3rd shutout win of the season and 2nd at home (16-0 June 26th vs. New Britain)
* 16th time in 66 games (regular season/playoffs) that Vermont has scored 10+ runs in game, 6th time 12+ runs
* Lake Monsters 30-7 at Centennial this season, including 7 straight and 12 of last 13 home games
Next Game: 6:00pm Thursday at Nashua (Game 2 Championship Series)