BURLINGTON, Vt. (July 25, 2023) -- With a Futures League All-Star Game record crowd of 4,415 fans watching, Team Mountain beat Team Lake 3-1 Tuesday night at Centennial Field.
The 2023 edition was the 11th all-time Futures League All-Star Game. The previous record All-Star Game crowd came back in 2016, with an attendance of 4,319 in Worcester, Mass.
All of the scoring came in the third inning. Team Mountain got on the board on a bases-loaded walk to right fielder Shane McNamara (Nashua/Eastern Nazarene) before first baseman Nick Serce (Westfield/Alfred State) followed with a two-run single to right.
Team Lake got its run in the bottom of the same frame after center fielder Tommy Martin (Vermont/Yale) hit a leadoff single, stole second and scored as shortstop Dean Ferrera (Norwich/Fairfield) hit a two-out RBI single.
Serce was named the All-Star Most Valuable Player as a result of his deciding hit, marking a first for the fifth-year Westfield franchise.
Zach Gitschier (Nashua/Southern New Hampshire) became the second-ever Silver Knight to win the Most Outstanding Pitcher honor after striking out both batters he faced to begin the seventh inning.
The victorious Mountain side, which was managed by reigning championship-winning manager Kyle Jackson of the Nashua Silver Knights, totaled only three hits. Center fielder Ryan Gerety (Brockton/Northeastern) and left fielder Kiernan Caffrey (Westfield/American International) had the other two.
Jared Kuryan (New Britain/Western New England) earned the win for Team Mountain, pitching a scoreless inning in relief of starter Michael Gemma (Nashua/Northeastern) that set up the game-winning offense. Brian Hart (New Britain/Hofstra) worked out of a bases-loaded jam to record a save, striking out two.
The Lake side was full of home-standing Lake Monsters players. Francis Ferguson (Vermont/Eastern Nazarene) drew the start and pitched a scoreless inning.
After Mountain took the lead, the Lake pitching staff retired 17 consecutive batters until a two-out walk in the ninth. Dylan Vigue (Worcester/Michigan), Oliver Pudvar (Manhattan) and Wyatt Cameron (Central Connecticut) all struck out two batters in their inning-long appearances.
On Monday night, New Britain and Ohio State slugger Tyler Pettorini outlasted McNamara to become the first-ever Bee to win the All-Star Game Home Run Derby and the second in three years to come from a Power Five program.
Both finalists hit double-digit home runs in the first two rounds to advance to the two-minute championship round, where Pettorini went on a huge run before taking his timeout on the way to earning an 8-7 victory. Pittsfield’s Connor Grotyohann (Rhode Island) and Norwich’s DJ Perron (Rhode Island) also broke the 10-homer mark in the first round.
The Futures League begins the home stretch of the summer season with a full slate of Thursday games. The regular-season, which ends on August 6, resumes with Vermont (31-18) and Worcester (32-19) in a virtual tie atop the standings with Norwich (31-19) just one-half game behind.
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