The Trenton Thunder (22-16) snapped an 8-8 tie on Thursday with a four-run eighth inning, sinking the Flying Squirrels (10-29) to their 13th consecutive loss.
The 12-8 Thunder win completed a three game series sweep at Arm & Hammer Park. Ricky Oropesa connected on three of the Squirrels 15hits, including his seventh home run of the season in the defeat. Richmond out-hit the Thunder 15-13 for the third consecutive night but fell yet again. Ray Black took the loss with the four runs allowed in the eighth inning. The Squirrels return home on Friday, May 20th with a Free Shirt Friday & Happy Hour. The promotional schedule can be found here.
Trenton jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the second inning against Richmond starter Andrew Suarez. Sebastian Valle opened the inning with an infield base hit and JoseRosario reached on an error. A balk moved both runners into scoring position as Cito Culver delivered a two-runsingle into left field.
The Squirrels cut that deficit in half with a run off Daniel Camarena in the top of the third inning. With two out, Myles Schroder extended his hitting streak to ten games with a base hit to center. Christina Arroyo then doubled down thethird base line to bring in Schroder for a 2-1 game.
Suarez could not settle in over the next few innings as Trenton continued to make solid contact against the lefty. The Thunder took a 6-1 lead with three runs in the third and another in the fourth. Dustin Fowler ripped a two0run homer to left and Cito Culver delivered an RBI double to power the offense to the five-run lead.
Despite the deficit, Richmond battled back quickly to tie the game in the fifth. Ricky Oropesa doubled and Camarena walked the next two batters to load the bases.Myles Schroder then struck out and Christian Arroyo reached on a force out at home to nearly allow the Thunder out of the inning. Austin Slater forbade that from happening with a bases-clearing triple to make it a 6-4 game. Slater’s double pushed Camarena from the game and the Thunder replaced him with leftCaleb Smith. Tyler Horan greeted Smith with an RBI double and Hunter Cole followed with a base hit to tie the game, 6-6.
Camarena allowed six run on five hits over 4 2/3 innings in a no-decision. The Thunder returned fire with another pair of runs in the bottom of the fifth inning. Lane Adams led off the frame by reaching on an error and then stole second base.Sebastian Valle followed with a single and Mark Peyton gave Trenton back the lead with a triple to center field.8-6. Suarez did not make it out of the inning and finished his outing with 4 /13 innings worked. He allowed eight runs on ten hits on 94 pitched in the no-deicison.
Ricky Oropesa pulled Richmond back to within a run with his seventh home run of the season in the sixth inning. Oropesa connected on three hits in the loss. The Squirrels managed to tie the game briefly at 8-8, with a run off reliever Dillon McNamera in the eighth inning. Myles Schroder doubled and moved to third base on a single from Christian Arroyo. Austin Slater then delivered his fourth RBI of the game with a fly ball to left field.
The tie game was short lived as Trenton plated four runs off Ray Black (0-1) in thebottom of the eighth. Dan Fiorito opened the inning with a single as he ambushed the first pitch from Black. A pair of walks loaded the bases and Trenton pulled ahead, 9-8 on a Lane Adams single to left. Black was then pulled for Tyelr Mizenko and Kyle Higashioka lopped a double to left field to clear the bases for the 12-8 advantage.
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Chris Graham
