International League ( AAA ) Lehigh Valley 4 ( 74-68 ) Scranton Wilkes Barre 3 ( 78-64 )
Allentown, PA - Coca Cola Park
Summary :
Darick Hall crushed his 27th home run of the season in the first inning well over the right field wall scoring Scott Kingery ( singled ) in front of him.
Chris Owings doubled for SWB in the 4th inning and scored on a single by Ryan LaMarre.
Chris Owings homered for SWB in the 8th to tie the game. Ben Rortvedt went back to back to put them up one.
Dustin Peterson walked in the bottom of the 8th, went to second on a balk, to third on a wild pitch and scored on a single by Jorge Bonifacio.
Will Toffey was hit by a pitch to start the bottom of the 9th, Ali Castillo reached on a bunt single moving Toffey to third on a throwing error by the pitcher. Darick Hall singled for the game winning walk off hit !
On the Hill :
LH Michael Plassmeyer - 6 IP, 1 R, 5 H, 0 BB, 1 HB, 5 K’s - 84 pitches - 56 strikes
RH Griff McGarry - 1 perfect IP, 2 K’s - 12 pitches - 10 strikes
RH Vinny Nittoli - 1 IP, 2 R, 3 H, 0 BB, 1 K - 18 pitches - 13 strikes
RH Michael Kelly - 1 IP, 0 R, 2 H, 0 BB, 3 K’s - 18 pitches - 13 strikes
At the Bat : 10 H, 3 BB, 2 K’s
Darick Hall singled, homered and walked twice - he’s reached base in eight of his last nine plate appearances. Ali Castillo had three hits. Jorge Bonifacio had two hits.
Darick Hall - photo by Cheryl Pursell
Today in Fall Instructs Camp :
Some fun drills in practice today -
On Ashburn Field the pitching wheels were set up behind the plate and pitchers each took a turn on the mound, they would lie face down while a pop up was shot from the wheels, a coach would yell “now” and they would jump up - find the ball and if they successfully made the catch then sprint to first base where a coach would throw them a baseball from second base - if they successfully caught that ball they would then pivot and throw it home to a target taped onto a screen - if within the target then a successful round ! A lot of laughs and spirit as these competitions bring energy - RH Alex McFarlane won with LH Samuel Aldegheri finishing second.
On Carlton Field the pitching wheels were used to send ground balls to infielders positioned on the grass at shortstop - they would field it, throw to a target taped onto a screen at home plate and then sprint to retrieve a pop up into short left field launched by the wheels - in the final rounds there were other players serving as blockers to the fielders as they went for the pop up 🤓. Some really good over the shoulder catches made 👏. Nikau Pouaka Grego emerged as the winner - he made some really athletic catches.
On Roberts Field outfielders took part in their competition - three outfielders would start face down side by side and then jump up , turn and locate one of three baseballs shot into the air by the pitching wheels - it was fun to watch them try to retrieve fly balls side by side - couldn’t see a lot of this one as it was held in the left field corner out of my sight path from where I am allowed to observe but did note that Gavin Tonkel won the competition, he caught the most fly balls during the drill.