BURLINGTON, VT — The Vermont Lake Monsters hit their way to victory on Tuesday night. Hit by Pitch there way that is.
Held to just three hits for the game, Lake Monster batters were hit by pitch four times, including back-to-back two-out bases loaded hit batters to force home the tying and walkoff runs in a 2-1 victory over the Futures League Road Warriors in front of 3,819 at historic Centennial Field.
Trailing 1-0 in bottom of the ninth, Wyatt Patchett (Le Moyne) was hit by a pitch for the second time in the game to leadoff the inning. After a pair of flyouts around a one-out walk, Dylan Pacheco (Seton Hall) walked two load the bases. Both Chone James (Virginia) and Jesse McCullough (Tufts) were then hit by the first pitch of each at bat to end the contest.
The Road Warriors scored their only run in the second on back-to-back singles to leadoff the inning followed by back-to-back fielder’s choices off Vermont starter Eddie Kaftan (Catholic).
The middle of the game saw Colchester High School graduates Chase Carey (Road Warriors) and Zach Davis (Lake Monsters) facing off on the mound. Carey, who played for Vermont in 2021 and 2022, allowed three hits with two walks and two strikeouts over 3 ⅔ scoreless innings (third to two outs in sixth), while Davis three hitless innings (fifth thru seventh) with two walks and two strikeouts.
MONSTER PERFORMANCES
- Davis 3 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 2 SO
- James 2-for-3, BB, HBP, 2B, RBI
- Christian De Risi (New Haven) 1 IP, 0 R, 1 BB, 2 SO to earn win
MONSTER HIGHLIGHTS
- Road Warriors left the bases loaded in both the 7th and 8th innings (had 2nd-n-3rd with 0 outs in 8th), then had 1st-n-3rd with 1 out in 9th before strikeout and groundout.
- Vermont got 2 of its 3 hits in the 4th on James 1-out double followed by Joe Marini (Catholic) infield single, but foul out and pop out kept Monsters off board
- James had Vermont’s only other hit, a 1-out single in the 6th
- Kaftan allowed 1 run on 4 hits with 2 walks and 3 strikeouts over 4 innings
BEYOND BOXSCORE
- Along with 4 times hit by pitch, Lake Monsters batters walked 7 times
- Vermont pitchers allowed 7 hits and 7 walks, but Road Warriors left 14 runners on
- Crowd of 3,819 was the 2nd largest of season at Centennial and 12th largest in the FCBL era (2021-24)
- The Lake Monsters and Road Warriors are scheduled to complete their June 20th suspended game on Wednesday beginning at 5:35pm with Vermont leading 3-1 in the top of the 3rd (that game will be followed by 7-inning contest).
Next Game: Wednesday July 10th, 5:35pm vs. FCBL Road Warriors (completion of suspended game from June 20th and followed by 7-inning contest)
Broadcast Info: Streaming on FCBLnetwork.com