In another close game, Batavia came out on top on Thursday night by a 4-3 margin. The Connecticut Tigers were dressed as the Norwich Navigators as part of a Throwback Thursday promotion to honor the former New York Yankees Eastern League affiliate of the early 2000’s. There was a short back-and-forth in the first four innings, but afterward, the game would be deadlocked until the ninth.
Chris Vallimont made his second professional start in the game. His low pitch count limited him to throwing just two innings. Two runs scored in the bottom of the first from an RBI single from Nick Ames, and a sac fly two batters later from Darwin Alvarado to make it 2-0 after one.
Batavia would come back in a big way in the top of the fourth when Denis Karas came up with two on and two outs, he then unloaded on one to straightaway center field that cleared the 401’ wall in center to put the Muckdogs in front 3-2 going to the bottom of the fourth.
A pair of errors for Batavia in the bottom part of the frame would put Eric De La Rosa on third base with no outs. The first was a throwing error on a tough play by Demetrius Sims that put De La Rosa on second, then a low throw on a pickoff attempt by Manuel Rodriguez sent him to third. Alvarado was the next batter up. His single allowed De La Rosa to walk to home plate to score to knot the game at three.
The bullpens locked the game down after the fourth. John O’Loughlin struck out seven batters in his three and two-thirds innings of work to keep Batavia scoreless. Both games in the series have now seen Batavia strike out at least 13 times in each game. A combination of CJ Carter and Elkin Alcala were able to shut out the Navigators in the last three innings to seal the win.
Game three and the rubber match of the series takes place on Friday night from Dodd Stadium, it will be a 7:05 p.m. first pitch. Batavia then returns home to take on the Lowell Spinners (Boston) for a three-game set.
