Lumberkings pitcher loses no-hitter, game

Jake Rasner faced one batter over the minimum, but no run support meant his one-hitter was a losing cause Friday night. In a game scheduled for 7 innings, the 8th proved disastrous for Rasner and the Clinton Lumberkings (Rangers) as they dropped a 1-0 contest to the Wisconsin Timber Rattlers (Mariners).

With the very first pitch of the eighth inning, Rattlers catcher Curtis Ledbetter changed everything. Ledbetter lined the pitch off the Fox Cities Stadium scoreboard in left-center field, ending Rasner's no-hitter, shutout, and most importantly his win as Wisconsin defeated the LumberKings, 1-0 in the second game of a double-header.

Rasner (L, 5-16) allowed only three baserunners through seven innings, battling through a scoreless contest with Rattlers lefty David Asher. The LumberKings had several chances against Asher and reliever Brian Kappel, leaving a pair of runners stranded in the sixth and the bases loaded in the eighth.

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The loss puts the Lumberkings in the cellar of the Midwest League (Class A) Western Divisoin, a game behind the Timber Rattlers.

14 Innings In Huntsville

Huntsville Stars (Brewers) LF Brendan Katin hit a 2-out solo home run in the bottom of the 14th inning to give the home team a 4-3 win over the Mississippi Braves Friday night. The Braves catcher was the losing pitcher.

Braves’ catcher Ray Serrano pitched a scoreless 13th inning and retired the first two hitters in the 14th before Katin blasted a 2-1 offering over the wall in left-center field toward the scoreboard for his third home run of the week and his second game-winner since joining the team. Backup catcher Jon Williams worked out of a one out, bases loaded jam in the 11th inning and tossed a scoreless 12th before switching positions with Serrano.

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The win puts Huntsville up by a game and a half in the Southern League (Double A) North Division with 10 games left on their schedule.

24 Runs For Fresno

The Fresno Grizzlies (Giants) didn't score in every inning Friday night. Imagine if they had.

When the game ended, the home team had scored 24 runs against Sacramento River Cats (A's).

The Grizzlies pounded out 24 hits with eight doubles and two home runs to rally from an early 8-2 deficit to pick up their second straight win over the River Cats.

Fresno right fielder Jason Ellison went 5-for-5, tying a single-game record for hits in a game and runs in a game with five runs scored to pace the Grizzlies.

Seven Grizzlies had multi-hit games with Lance Niekro and Jed Hansen recording four hits each and Clay Timpner and Fred Lewis with three hits.

Timpner blasted a grand slam in the 8th inning for his third home run of the season as he finished with a season-high five RBIs. Hansen homered for the second consecutive game in the 8th inning.

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It's Fresno's second win in a row against Sacremento, coming on the heels of a Sacramento sweep of Fresno. The two teams play in the Pacific Coast League (Triple A).

16 Innings In Connecticut

The Connecticut Defenders (Giants) came from behind in the 9th inning, but lost it in the 16th, to the Reading Phillies.

The Defenders battled from behind all night. Trailing 5-2 in the bottom of the 5th inning, Nate Schierholtz who had already doubled to extend his hit streak to 20 games, hit a two run home run over the wall in deep right to make it a 5-4 Reading lead. The Phillies would score two more runs, but in the bottom of the 9th inning trailing 7-4, the Defenders came all the way back. Connecticut scored three runs to tie the game with the last one scoring on a Juan Sosa error at deep short.

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In the 16th, Reading LF Joey Hammond reached on a ground-rule double, then, with 2 outs, scored when 1B Brandon Gemoll singled on a liner to right. The run held up, and the Phillies won the Eastern League (Double-A) contest.

United League Playoffs Begin

United League Baseball playoffs begin tomorrow night.

The Edinburg Coyotes are top seed. They'll play the 4th seed Laredo Broncos. The 2nd place San Angelo Colts will play the 3rd place Alexandria Aces.


Complete final standings

              W   L   PCT GB
EDINBURG     57  33  .633     
SAN ANGELO   46  44  .511 11.0
ALEXANDRIA   45  44  .506 11.5
LAREDO       44  46  .489 13.0
AMARILLO     39  50  .438 17.5
RIO GRANDE   38  52  .422 19.0

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Ironbirds' Figueroa hits for cycle

Danny Figueroa became the first player in the history of the Aberdeen Ironbirds (Orioles) to hit for the cycle Wednesday night against the Staten Island Yankees.

Figueroa went 4-for-5 and hit the first grand slam in franchise history as part of an eight-run second inning. Figueroa doubled in the fourth, singled in the sixth and tripled in the seventh to complete the cycle in his second home game since rejoining Aberdeen on rehab on Sunday.

Figueroa’s grand slam was part of a wild second inning in which Aberdeen sent 13 men to the plate and Staten Island starter James Conroy was ejected. Conroy (0-2) took the loss after he gave up six runs on five hits in 1 1/3 innings. He was ejected after his first pitch sailed behind Pedro Florimon, Jr., the first Aberdeen batter after Figueroa hit the grand slam.

Figueroa’s six RBIs led the way for the IronBirds and Miguel Abreu, David Cash and Kieron Pope added two RBIs apiece as part of the offensive outburst.

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Aberdeen and Staten Island play in the New York-Penn League (Class A Short-Season)

San Diego Forfeits To Yuma

Bus trouble. That's what caused the San Diego Surf Dawgs to forfeit their game to the Yuma Scorpions Monday.

With the forfeit, the Surf Dawgs stand 15-18 for the second half of the season. With the win, Yuma is 13-19.

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The two teams play in the Golden Baseball League.

Fort Worth No Hits El Paso

Fort Worth Cats pitcher Joel Kirsten threw the first no-hitter in modern Cats history Monday night, en route to a 2-0 won over the El Paso Diablos.

Kirsten faced just two batters above the minimum, permitting a walk in the fourth inning and hitting a batter to start the eighth. He struck out a season-high 11 as he notched his second complete game of the year and his seventh win on the season.

With the victory, the Cats clinched at least a tie for a playoff spot in the American Association South as they reduced their magic number to one.

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It's the first no-hitter thrown in the new American Association. The Cats returned to Fort Worth in 2001. The American Association returned this season.

Mavericks Combine For No Hitter

The High Desert Mavericks (Royals) recorded the first no-hitter in franchise history Monday as Patrick Green and Jarod Plummer combined to shut down the Inland Empire 66ers (Mariners).

Green faced the minimum through six innings by throwing his sharp slider for strikes early in the count. Womack reached on a two-out walk in the bottom of the second on an 0-2 pitch, but was thrown out between first and second as he took off too early and Green's throw to Irving Falu at the second base bag was in time to catch the baserunner. Working against a small strike zone where neither starting pitcher was given any benefit of the doubt on the outside corner, Green began to labor in the seventh as he issued three walks in the frame and left with the bases loaded and two outs, giving way to Plummer who induced the Womack popout to shallow left on a running catch by James Tomlin. In the ninth inning, Plummer struck Luis Valbuena and Arroyo swinging, though Arroyo took first on the passed ball. Ronnie Prettyman then send a slow chopper up the middle, though Falu charged the ball, picked it up on the shorthop, and fired over to Stodolka at first for the second out of the inning as Arroyo took second base. With a 2-2 count on Casey Craig, he got underneath a ball and popped it up on the infield as Mike Gaffney moved underneath it and pulled it down on top of the third baseline for the final out of the game.

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The Mavericks and 66ers play in the California League (Class A Advanced).

Columbus (GA) Ballpark Suffers Damage

photo: Columbus Catfish

When the Columbus Catfish (Dodgers) return home from their short road trip up to Rome, they'll have another issue to contend with. While heavy rains interferred with the game against the Rome Braves, heavy winds were wreaking havoc on Golden Park in Columbus.

The center field wall collapsed, and damage was done to the pressbox, the scoreboard, the billboards, and a light tower. Additionally, there was damage to the playing field.

The plan is for a temporary fence to be erected in center field in time for Thursday night's homestand opener. If everything is repaired sufficiently by Thursday, the Catfish' final homestand of the year will take place with several promotions that have been delayed by weather rescheduled for this week.

Four Extra Innings Games In Frontier League

Four of five games played Sunday in the Frontier League went extra innings. And the one game that didn't go into extra frames was won in the bottom of the 9th.

The Windy City ThunderBolts took 12 innings to beat the Evansville Otters 3-2.

CF Kevin House hit a single with runners on the corners and one out in the bottom of the twelfth inning to score Anthony Seratelli. [more]

The Washington Wild Things won a 10-5 11-inning contest with the Florence Freedom. Things fell apart for Florence in the top of the 11th.

Chris Carter began the inning with a single. The left fielder would be brought in after a double by Peavey, making the score 6-5. Lance Koenig advanced the score 7-5 after a RBI single, bringing in Peavey. The rest of the damage was done by the Florence bullpen, as they allowed six walks in the 11th inning alone with pitcher Patrick Clayton creating most of the damage with four walks. Washington earned three more runs and sealed the victory by a solid defensive performance in the bottom of the 11th.

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It took 12 innings for the Gateway Grizzlies to edge the Traverse City Beach Bums 7-6.

Rob Wirth hit a one-out home run in the bottom of the 12th inning Sunday night to lift the Gateway Grizzlies (31-48) to a 7-6 win over the visiting Traverse City Beach Bums (48-33). The second consecutive exta inning win for the Grizzlies came in front of 3,783 fans at GCS Ballpark.

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The River City Rascals won a 5-4 contest from the Chillicothe Paints in 12 innings.

The Rascals continue to make believers in this late season push for the West Division Wild Card spot as an extra-innings single by Trave Hopkins gave River City a 5-4 dramatic victory over the best team in the Frontier League. Chillicothe led 4-3 with two outs in the bottom of the 12th inning when the Rascals’ catcher smacked a single to right off of Eric Teall that scored the tying and winning runs for River City who took three of four games from the first place Paints.

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The lone 9-inning game in the Frontier League almost went extra innings. The Kalamazoo Kings won their game with the Rockford RiverHawks in the bottom of the 9th.

The Rockford RiverHawks had a chance to get their first sweep in Kalamazoo in team history, but the Kalamazoo Kings had different plans.

Mike Russell hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the ninth inning for a walkoff Kings victory, 4-2.

Rockford was still able to get their first ever series win in Kalamazoo by winning the first two games of the series.

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No Hitter For Missoula

Two Missoula Ospreys (Diamondbacks) pitchers combined for a no-hitter Sunday. Osbek Castillo and Hector Ambriz combined to no-hit the Casper Rockies.

Castillo lasted six innings and retired the last 16 he faced. The only Rockies batter to reach off Castillo came on a two out walk to Austin Rauch in the first. Ambriz then followed retiring the first six he faced and allowed only one base runner via third baseman Andrew Fie's throwing error to put Radamis Nazario on base leading off the ninth.

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Missoula and Casper play in the Pioneer League (Rookie).

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).

[more]

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

[wrapups: New Hampshire Fisher Cats, Trenton Thunder]