Baseball: Monsters Roll Past Williamsport 11-2

Posted on , updated on by George Commo

Courtesy Vermont Lake Monsters

WILLIAMSPORT, PA — The Vermont Lake Monsters took advantage of early Williamsport defensive woes to score seven unearned runs over the first three innings of an 11-2 New York-Penn League victory over the Crosscutters Wednesday night at Bowman Field.

Vermont sent 10 batters to the plate and scored five times in the first on Wednesday. All five runs were unearned as Michael Woodworth scored the first run all the way from first base on a two-out fielding error before Marty Bechina added a two-run double, Lawrence Butler an RBI single and Yerdel Vargas another RBI single.

Williamsport got a run back in bottom of first, but Jordan Diaz doubled and scored another unearned run in the second inning as Kevin Richards reached on another two-out fielding error. Vermont added a seventh unearned run in third as Butler scored on another Vargas RBI single after reaching on the Crosscutters fourth error.

The Lake Monsters, who scored 14 runs at Connecticut on Saturday, reached double figures for their second straight road game when Jordan Diaz lined a three-run homer to leftcenter in the sixth inning. It was a team-leading fourth home run of the season for Diaz, who also now has a team-high 20 RBI.

Vermont finished with 11 base hits, including a Shane Selman (2-for-3, two walks) RBI triple in top of the ninth inning. Diaz (2-for-4) added a double to go along with his home run, while Bechina was 2-for-4 with two runs and the two-run double in his second game with the Lake Monsters.

Starter Colin Peluse allowed one run on five hits with no walks and three strikeouts over first three innings, while Jhenderson Hurtado allowed one run (solo homer to Logan O’Hoppe) on three hits, one walk and six strikeouts. Hurtado worked out of a bases loaded, no-out jam in the seventh with back-to-back strikeouts and a groundout.

Vermont (11-15), which has won three of its last five games after a seven-game losing streak, play the second of three-game series at Williamsport (5-19) on Thursday at 7:00 pm. After series finale Friday, the Lake Monsters return to Centennial Field for three-game homestand vs. Batavia Saturday-Monday.