Sunday Vermont trailed 4-3 at Norwich before scoring six times in the top of the ninth for a 9-4 victory. Friday the Lake Monsters, who had just two hits over the first eight innings and no baserunners after the fourth, got a leadoff single from Tommy Hawke (Wake Forest). Hawke promptly stole second and third base before scoring on a Tyler Favretto (Crowder) RBI single to center tying the game.
After a walk and fielder’s choice out at second, Harrison Didawick (Virginia) crushed a two-run triple to deep center field to give Vermont a 3-1 lead and one out later Connor Bowman (Tufts) added a pair of insurance runs with a two-run homer to left.
Both starting pitchers were exceptional as Vermont’s Crawford Wade (Wake Forest) retired 15 of 16 batters he faced with 11 strikeouts, tying for second-most ever by a Lake Monsters pitcher over the franchise’s 28-season history (see more below). The only hit off Wade was a two-out solo home run in the bottom of the first inning. Nashua starter Jonah Wachter went seven scoreless innings, allowing just a second-inning double and third-inning single with seven strikeouts.
Monster Performances
* Crawford Wade 5 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 11 SO
(2 strikeouts in 1st, 2nd, 3rd & 4th, then 3 K’s in 5th)
Monster Highlights
* The 11 strikeouts for Wade are tied for 2nd-most all-time behind Benji DeQuin’s 13 strikeouts over 6 innings for the Vermont Expos at New Jersey Cardinals August 16, 2000
* Only 3 other pitchers have 11 strikeouts in game for Vermont: Mark Magnum 8/2/98 (7.2 IP), Jorge Julio 7/7/98 (6 IP) and Scott Strickland 8/18/97 (6 IP)
* Most strikeouts for a Vermont pitcher since 2019 (Jonathan Hurtado with 10) and most in a road game since 2011 (Seth Frankoff with 10)
* 4 Lake Monster relievers (Karter Muck, Evan Clark, Ian Parent, Wyatt Cameron) each tossed 1 scoreless inning on 3 hits, 0 walks and 5 strikeouts
Beyond The Boxscore
* Vermont has won 21 of its last 23 games and improves to a franchise record 21-5 after 26 games
* Since July 1st of 2021, the Lake Monsters have a 51-11 regular-season record (30-6 to end 2021, 21-5 in 2022)
* Instead of being shutout for 1st time this season, Vermont has now scored 5 or more runs in 8 of last 9 games, 13 of 15 and 20 of 26 overall.
* 5 Vermont pitchers combined for 0 walks, 16 strikeouts marking the 6th time this season Lake Monsters 10+ strikeouts and 0 walks in a game
Next Game: Saturday vs. New Britain, 6:05pm