The Futures League

 June 3, 2018

Futures League play continued yesterday as we had 3 more games played last night! The Brockton Rox traveled to the Vineyard at the Shark Tank to take on the Sharks while the Bristol Blues and the Pittsfield Suns switched sides of the scoresheet in the back half of a home-and-home back-to-back. Rounding out the set of matchups was a contest between the North Shore Navigators playing in their home opener against the Worcester Bravehearts.

The Brockton Rox played host to the Sharks in Campanelli just the night before and were handed a loss that night and now try to pay them back when they took the ferry to the Shark Tank in their second meeting of the season. This game seemed to be an easy one early for the Rox yet the Sharks did manage to make it close late, they were defeated by the Rox by a score of 13-9. The Rox offense got things started with a 5-run 1^st thanks to some sloppy defense by the Sharks infield that would lead Sharks SP Matt Goehrig (Post) to not have a single run charged to him. He would go 2IP striking out 3 with a walk. On the offensive side of the ball, the Sharks would make things interesting when in a 4-run 6^th, Brian Ronai (Yale) hit a two-run Home Run to make the game a 2-run game. The Sharks would put one more on the board but, a 4-run 8^th all but seals the deal for the Rox. Their starting pitcher Evan Ferris (Monmouth) had a fine outing, going 4IP with 1ER 1H, 5BB, and 3K.

 In what was the second straight game the Pittsfield Suns and the Bristol Blues played each other, pitching and defense would be the difference with the host Blues defeating the Suns 5-4 at Muzzy Field. The game would be a tight affair the whole way though when after 1 the score would be 2-1 Blues thanks to base hits by Ian Ostberg (Quinnipiac), Alex Loparco (Western New England), and Richard Brereton (Emory). The Suns would take the lead in the 3^rd when Taylor Meilleur (Saint Mary’s) The Suns would tack on another in the 4^th and the score would stay the same until a Blues 1-run 7^th and 2-run 8^th would give them the lead late thanks to patient hitting. The Blues bullpen would only surrender 1 run from the Suns lead by Brereton, who had played first base earlier in the game, would go 2IP, 2BB, 5K. and 0ER to go with a win charged to his record.

Finally, the North Shore Navigators opened their home schedule when the Bravehearts came to town. This one would be close early on, but Worcester would break things wide open mid-way through and never looked back to the tune of a 9-3 score. Down 0-2 early, the Navs would tie things up with a pair of RBI base hits by Corey DiLoreto (Northeastern) and Elias Varinos (Tufts). They would take the lead in the 4^th when Andrew Olszak (Southern Maine) would reach on an error, scoring Michael Wayne (Wofford). This game would be far from over as the Bravehearts would go to work at the plate in the 5^th when RBI base hits by Dustin Harris (St. Petersburg) and Joe Pesce (New York Institute of Technology) would lead the way in a 5-run inning. The Bravehearts wouldn’t look back as their bullpen shut the door on the Navs in Fraser Field’s home opener.

Closing out the weekend on Sunday will be a double-header between the Navigators and Blues with the first game starting at 3:00pm and the second beginning a half an hour after the conclusion of the first gme. It’ll be 2-for-1 baseball as 1 ticket get you in for both games. The Bravehearts host the Suns for the first time this season in Worcester and finally, the Silver knights, fresh off of an off-day will host the Rox at Homan Stadium.