MINERS RIDE EARLY BARRAGE TO TEN-RUN WIN OVER VALLEYCATS
THE WIRE-TO-WIRE VICTORY CLINCHES THE SERIES FOR SUSSEX COUNTY
The Sussex County Miners (39-40) crushed the Tri-City ValleyCats (30-49), 13-3, on Wednesday night at Joseph L. Bruno Stadium.
The Miners quickly figured out ValleyCats starting pitcher Noah Estrella (4-3). The first three Sussex County batters of the night reached base, and after an out was recorded, right fielder Mahki Backstrom drove in two runs with a single. With two outs, first baseman Kiko Romero matched Backstrom’s contribution and catcher Keenan O’Brien made it 5-0 with an RBI double.
Miners starter Jorge Garcia (1-1) conceded a run in the bottom of the first, but that mistake would be erased in the second. Third baseman Dean Ferrara plated two runners with a single, and designated hitter Keenan Taylor gave the Miners an 8-1 lead with a sacrifice fly. In the third, second baseman Hunter D’Amato singled in a ninth run, and Garcia tossed his second straight scoreless inning.
Sussex County cracked into double figures in the fourth on an RBI single by shortstop Evan Berkey and got an eleventh run from center fielder Edwin Mateo’s single. Tri-City closed the gap to 11-2 in the bottom half of the inning. Jackson Balzan took over for Garcia when he loaded the bases in the fifth with nobody out, and Balzan only allowed one of Garcia’s runners to score.
In the seventh frame, Backstrom doubled Ferrara home, and in the eighth, Romero hit a solo home run, so the Miners were up 13-3 before Balzan completed his fourth inning of scoreless work. Jorden Sesar relieved Balzan in the ninth to close out the victory.
Balzan worked in low leverage, but dominated in four scoreless innings in which he did not walk a batter and only allowed three hits. Mateo led the Miners with three hits, while Backstrom and Romero knocked in three runs each. Each of the top five batters in Sussex County’s lineup collected at least one hit and one walk each.
Balzan was deemed the winning pitcher, and Estrella took the loss.
With a 39-40 record, the Miners are in third place in the Atlantic East Division. Sussex County is two games behind New York in the race for the second Wild Card spot in the playoffs.
Click for Box Score (https://pro.iscorecentral.com/FL/games/36615ee5-02a4-4201-bf8e-a2482ec3a0d3)
The Miners and ValleyCats will finish this series on Thursday, August 12th, at 6:30 PM. Watch all Miners games live on HomeTeam Network and listen to the Miners Radio Network broadcast on Mixlr.
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