Complete Game Shutout For Florence Pitcher

Jason Bowlin, pitcher for the Florence Freedom, got just enough offense to support him as he pitched a complete game shutout Wednesday night in a 1-0 win over the Kalamazoo Kings.

The lone run from either team came in the first. Reggie Watson singled, and then stole second for his 16th steal of the year. Greg Stone then singled in Watson, Reggie scored on a great slide at home. Jason Bowlin (5-7) took care of the rest, he went a complete nine innings for the shutout. He only allowed nine hits, striking out nine, while only walking two.

Greg Stone was the leader of the offense, he went 3-4 with an RBI. Wally Quigg continued his perfect hitting, he went 1-1. Reggie Watson went 1-4, with a stolen base, and a run scored. Clint Chauncey, Beau Blacken, and Kyle Geswein each added singles.

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Florence and Kalamazoo play in the independent Frontier League.

Indianapolis Loses One-Hitter

Ryan Vogelsong pitched 8 innings of one-hit ball, the only hit allowed by the Indianapolis Indians, but it was enough for the Norfolk Tides (Mets) to beat Indianapolis, 1-0.

Indianapolis starter Ryan Vogelsong (2-5) was nearly perfect in the contest, but still took the tough-luck loss. He did not issue a walk and allowed just one hit in 8.0 innings, but the hit was a solo home run by Tides' third baseman Chris Basak in the 5th inning. Vogelsong struck out five and threw just 82 pitches, 60 of which were strikes.

Indianapolis put runners on first and third in the ninth inning off of Tides' closer Heath Bell, but Norfolk escaped the jam when Bell fanned Chris Richard and Carlos Maldonado to ensure the win. It was Bell's 11th save in 11 chances this season, and helped the Tides to their fourth win in the past five games.

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The two teams play in the International League (Triple-A).

[wrapups: Tides, Indians]

Light Schedule In Minors On Monday

Many minor leagues had few games ... and many leagues had no games ... Monday.

As a result of the light schedule, the longest game of the day was an 11-inning affair in Niles, OH.

The Mahoning Valley Scrappers (Indians) camed from behind to tie the Tri-City Valley Cats (Astros) in the 9th on a Josh Roberts home run, then won it in the 11th:

Roberts tied the game at 5 with a two-out solo home run in the bottom of the ninth inning. He came up again in the bottom of the 11th with two out and Andy Lytle on second base, but this time Langbehn and the ValleyCats chose to walk him.

And while Roberts’ long home run to right field kept the Scrappers alive, it was all-star centerfielder Jason Denham’s suicide-squeeze bunt down the third-base line that beat Tri-City, 6-5, Monday night.

The Scrappers improved to 30-24 and moved a game and a half in front of second-place State College in the Pinckney Division of the New York-Penn League. Tri-City fell to 31-23 but is still in first place in the Stedler Division.

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The Scrappers and the Valley Cats play in the New York-Penn League (Class A Short-Season)

The best pitching performance of the day on Monday was a 2-hit, complete game shutout by Corpus Christi Hooks (Astros) pitcher Chance Douglass against the Tusla Drillers (Rockies):

Douglass retired the first six hitters of the game before hitting Alvin Colina with a pitch to begin the third. A double play eliminated Colina, and the Drillers did not have another base runner until two outs in the fifth as Matt Miller ended the no-hit bid by dropping a single into center field. Colina followed with another base hit, but it would be the final runner of the game for Tulsa. Douglass retired Doug Bernier to end the fifth, then retired the next 12 Drillers in a row to end the game.

It was only the second complete game of the season against Tulsa and only the third time that the Drillers had been shutout. Douglass improved his record to 7-6 with the victory.

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The game was Douglass' second complete-game shutout of the year, and the 5th in the Texas League (Double-A) this season.

20 Innings In Jacksonville

It took 2 days and 20 innings, and the catcher was the winning pitcher. When it was all over, the Jacksonville Suns (Dodgers) had defeated the West Tennessee Diamond Jaxx (Cubs) 5-2.

Saturday's game was suspended in the 4th inning. Suns starter Danny Muegge hadn't allowed a hit in 3-2/3 innings when the skys opened. That meant the two teams would complete the 9-inning game Sunday, then play a 7-inning game. But the 9-inning game would go 20.

When it was over, Muegge's battery mate A. J. Ellis had caught 18 innings before being called into service to pitch in the 19th inning.

It was a career day for Ellis, who collected five of the Suns' 16 hits, drove in a run in the bottom of the 19th inning to tie the score at 2-2 and caught 18 innings before taking the mound.

"That was the most amazing game I've ever played in in my life," Ellis said. "You just don't see that between two Double-A teams, not being able to score runs.

"When I went out there on the mound, my thought was just to throw strikes, make them put the ball in play. If they're going to beat you, make them swing the bats; don't walk them."

Ellis faced 11 batters and issuing just one walk, an intentional one. The Diamond Jaxx loaded the bases on him in the 19th with nobody out, but could only manage one run on a sacrifice fly.

The Suns catcher made up for that run when he laced a single down the right-field line to drive in Gabriel Gutierrez in the bottom half of the inning.

The Suns' run in the 19th inning was their first score since Chin-Lung Hu's home run in the first inning Saturday.

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The game was the longest played at Baseball Grounds of Jacksonville in its short 3-year history. The Suns and the Diamond Jaxx play in the Southern League (Double-A).

No Hitter In New Jersey

photo: Lakewood Blue Claws

Carlos Carrasco's week has been the best of times and the worst of times. Tuesday, he had a near-perfect game get away from his as he ended up losing a 2-hitter. Sunday, he wasn't perfect, but he and Andrew Barb combined for a no-hitter as the Lakewood Blue Claws (Phillies) edged the Lexington Legends (Astros) 2-1.

For the second time in five years, the Lakewood BlueClaws held the Lexington Legends hitless. Carlos Carrasco and Andy Barb combined for a 2-1 no-hitter on Sunday night at First Energy Park.

The no-hitter comes just five days after Carrasco flirted with a perfect game against the Asheville Tourists. The BlueClaws’ now have three no-hitters in franchise history and the last came when Gavin Floyd tossed a no-hitter against the Legends on July 24, 2002 but lost 1-0.

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Carrasco pitched 7 innings of no-hit ball before being relieved at the top of the 8th.

Andy Barb came to the mound to throw the final two frames and other than two batters that reached base on errors, both by BlueClaws shortstop C.J. Henry, nobody reached for the Legends. The BlueClaws recorded the second out of the ninth inning on a controversial play that got Lexington Manager Jack Lind ejected from the game. Iorg reached on one of the two errors and was stealing second when Clemens flew out to left field. Lakewood appealed that Iorg had touched second base and did not return to the bag on his way back to first base to tag up. Iorg was called out and then Barb struck Ori out swinging to secure the no-hitter and the 2-1 victory.

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The Legends and Blue Claws play in the South Atlantic League (Class A).

No Hitter In New York

photo: Lowell Spinners

The Lowell Spinners (Red Sox) made team history Sunday when pitchers Jeffrey Farrell and Yulkin German combined to pitch the first no-hitter in the team's 10-year existence. The Hudson Valley Renegades (Devil Rays) were the victims of the no-no.

Offensively the Gades could not muster a hit against Farrell. He allowed only two runners to reach base. Hard throwing German took over in the sixth looking to keep the no-hit bid alive.

The Spinners broke the scoreless tie as they took advantage of a costly error by Hudson Valley third baseman Scott Gummo. After the potential inning ending groundball was booted, Exposito singled to left scoring Zak Farkes from second base. All-Star leftfielder Ryan Royster nearly gunned him out at the plate but catcher Matt Spring was unable to hold onto the ball. The Spinners extended their lead to two as reliever Celso Rondon proceeded to walk centerfielder Jeffrey Vincent with the bases loaded.

German completed the “no-no” as he consecutively retired the last 11 Renegades. He dominated for four innings while striking out four and walking none.

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The teams play in the New York-Penn League (Class A Short-Season).

Amirillo Walks Away With Win

Five walks in the bottom of the 9th paved the way for the Amarillo Dillas to come from behind and beat the Rio Grande Valley White Wings Saturday.

Amarillo batters were walked five times in the ninth inning, and as a result, the two runs scored proved the difference in Amarillo's 11-10 United League Baseball win before a loud and enthusiastic crowd of 4,129 fans in the Amarillo National Bank Dilla Villa.

The final walk coaxed by Dillas shortstop Ericnardo Padilla out of Igancio Estrada plated Gary Schneidmiller with the winning run.

It marked the fourth time in the game, and second time in the inning, Amarillo scored off a bases-loaded walks.

The Dillas tied the game at 10-10 the batter before Padilla when Marcus Lewis earned his fourth walk of the game on four pitches, plating Brett Donahoo.

Padilla then gutted out his plate appearance with two outs. Twice the 20-year-old Padilla fouled off pitches with the count full, then took an inside pitch that produced the winning RBI.

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The teams play in the independent United Baseball League.

I've been in the stands when my local team has walked in the scoring or winning run. It's about as frustrating as it can get for a baseball-fan. That had to be a long ride back to the hotel for the White Wings.

[wrapups: Amarillo.com, OurSportsCentral]

13 Innings In Georgia, New Hampshire

Two games went 13 innings Saturday, tying for longest in the minors.

In Rome, GA, the Braves beat the Augusta Greenjackets in a South Atlantic League (Class A) contest.

In Rome, Ga., Eric Campbell led off the bottom of the 13th inning with a double to right field and scored the winning run on a Joshua Morris' single, lifting the Rome Braves past the Augusta GreenJackets, 3-2 on Saturday.

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[wrapups: Rome Braves, Augusta Chronicle]

In Manchester, NH, they also played 13 innings. And again, the home team won on a 13th-inning single.

Manny Mayorson’s 13th inning single scored Ryan Klosterman to give the New Hampshire Fisher Cats a 5-4 victory over the Trenton Thunder before 6,021 fans at MerchantsAuto.com Stadium.

Klosterman beat out an infield single against Gerardo Casadiego (1-1) leading off the bottom of the 13th. After Curtis Thigpen laid down a sacrifice bunt, Dustin Majewski (2-for-3, HR, 4 BB) was intentionally walked for the second time in the game. Mayorson drilled a hit-and-run single to right-centerfield, easily scoring Klosterman to give the Fisher Cats their ninth win in 16 meetings with Trenton (65-54), salting away the season series in the longest game of the season (4:06).

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The Fisher Cats and Thunder play in the Eastern League (Double-A).

[wrapups: New Hampshire Fisher Cats, Trenton Thunder]