By Connor Stalker, Blue Sox Staff Writer
The Blue Sox continued their winning ways outscoring the Lumberjacks 22-3 in a doubleheader in Boonville. The pair of wins put the Blue Sox firmly in 2nd place with a comfortable 2-game lead over the Mohawk Valley Diamond Dawgs.
Boonville led off the scoring on the day with a single by Alex Angulo off Blue Sox starting pitcher Avery Cook in the 1st inning.
Cook settled in and found his stuff in the 2nd and 3rd innings, however, in the top of the 4th, with bases loaded for the Blue Sox, a brief verbal scuffle between the home plate umpire and a fan ended in the fan being thrown out, the umpire quitting mid game, and a significant delay.
Play resumed roughly half an hour later with Norris McClure at the dish. McClure grounded into a fielder’s choice to tie the ballgame. A walk to 1st baseman Josh Skowronski reloaded the bases for Taylor Kaufman. Boonville’s starting pitcher, Eli Snelson, began to unravel throwing a wild pitch scoring a run before reloading the bases on a walk. The Blue Sox capitalized scoring 2 more runs making the score 4-1.
Jordan Savinon took the mound in the bottom of the 4th and pitched well going 4 innings, giving up only 3 hits and 4 walks, while allowing 2 runs, 1 earned, and striking out 3.
The Blue Sox added to their lead in the 6th and 7th. Kyuss Gargett plated the 5th run of the game on a line drive to right field. Boonville’s reliever Williams Tavarez could not find the zone in the top of the 7th, walking home a run and finishing the inning with 4 walks altogether.
Utica defeated Boonville 6-3 in the first game of the doubleheader. Savinon got the win on the mound, while Snelson was handed the loss despite giving up only 1 earned run.
Easton Brenner and Kyuss Gargett highlighted the Blue Sox offense getting 2 hits apiece and contributing 1 and 2 RBIs respectively. Gargett increased his batting average to .455 on the season. Josh Skowronski also had a solid night going 1 for 2 with 2 runs, an RBI, and 2 walks.
Samuel Fleming led Boonville’s offense going 2 for 3 with a double and a run scored.
The win also marked Coach Doug Delett’s 100th win as coach of the Blue Sox. An impressive feat on its own, Delett has been an integral part of the Blue Sox’s success and a great coach on and off the field. Congrats on the win Coach Doug!
The 2nd game of the set was a blowout. The Blue Sox scored runs in every inning of the shortened game finishing with a score of 16-0. Andre Demetral was at the top of his game going 3 for 4 with 3 RBIs and improving his batting average to .354. Ryan Rifenberg had his best game of the summer going 2 for 4 with 2 RBIs. Brenner saw the ball well today getting 2 more hits and collecting 3 RBIs while hitting his first triple of the year. Will Shannon also roped an opposite-field double, his 14th extra-base hit of the year.
Utica’s pitching was impressive. Cole Syversen got the start and threw 4 scoreless innings with 3 strikeouts. Billy Rozakis finished the game off with a scoreless inning, while also getting 2 K’s. Syversen got the win on the mound.
Boonville’s entire team looked flat. The offense could only muster 2 hits, while the defense made 6 errors and the pitching staff gave up 9 earned runs. Ben Bohlman got the loss on the mound after giving up 8 runs on 5 hits and 4 walks. Jack Gazdacka relieved him and also struggled allowing 8 hits in an inning of work resulting in 6 runs for the Blue Sox. Connor Brinson threw the last inning for the Lumberjacks and pitched well allowing 2 unearned runs and striking out 1.
The Blue Sox will look to continue their winning ways this Wednesday, July 18th, away, against Oneonta. Their next home game is another double header this Friday versus division rival Mohawk Valley. The first pitch for game 1 is at 5:15 PM.