Americans Fall 3-9 in Rubber Match Against Batavia For Division Lead

BATAVIA, NY - For the third consecutive night, the Niagara Falls Americans faced off with the Batavia Muckdogs. After the teams split the first two games, both teams came into the contest with 17-9 records, with this game deciding who takes sole possession of first place of the PGCBL West Division. An explosive first inning for Batavia paved the way for the Muckdogs to cruise to a 9-3 victory and the division-lead.

On a night where the Americans could not get many bats hot, Grant Moore, Shane Pray, and Allen Ramos led the way. Moore was the only multi-hit American of the night, tallying three singles across his four at bats. Pray hit a RBI double, the only Americans' extra base hit in one of his four at bats. Ramos batted 1-of-3 with an RBI single.

Three pitchers appeared in the contest for Niagara Falls. CJ Hurley started the game, pitching the full 1st inning, and being relieved to start the 2nd. Hurley was tagged with a loss, allowing eight runs, but only two earned. Matthew Kasprowicz entered next, pitching 5.0 scoreless innings. Kasprowicz allowed just three hits and one walk across his 18 batters faced. Austin Barton pitched the final 2.0 innings, leading to one run on one walk and one hit. None of the three Americans pitchers were able to record a strikeout.

While most of the damage was done early, several Muckdogs had stat lines that pop out. Among them are Brayden Horton, Tyler Castrataro, Omar Carreras, and James Bolton. Horton hit two singles across his four at bats, driving in one RBI. Castrataro also tallied two singles across four plate appearances, but additionally walked once. Omar Carreras batted just 1-of-3, but his one hit was a two-RBI triple. Bolton batted just 1-of-3, but produced in three of his four plate appearances. Bolton reached base once by single and once on a hit by pitch, as well as hitting a sacrifice fly.

Batavia matched Niagara Falls' pitcher count, using three as well. Walker Glyshaw, the game's winning pitcher, threw the first 5.0 innings, allowing just two runs, only one earned, striking out three. Luc Rising entered for the next 2.1, pitching extremely effectively. Rising faced eight batters, allowing one walk, striking out six, and pitching to a lineout by the final batter. Garrett Beaver pitched the final 1.2, allowing one run on two hits and one walk. Facing eight total batters, all five outs recorded in Beaver's time on the mound were by strikeout.

Early defensive mistakes by Batavia allowed Niagara Falls to take a 1-0 lead after the top of the 1st inning. Grant Moore hit a leadoff single to the 1st baseman, and then advanced to 3rd on a throwing error by Batavia's pitcher on a pickoff attempt. Evan Kohr, the next batter, hit a flyball to left field, which resulted in a drop error on the defender. The error allowed Kohr to reach 2nd base, as well as for Moore to cross home. A lineout, followed by a lineout into a double play finished the inning.

Batavia immediately worked to fix their early missteps and build momentum, and turned it into an eight-run bottom of the 1st. The first three batters of the inning reached safely to load the bases, Brayden Horton and Tyler Castrataro by single, and then Jackson on a fielder's choice that resulted in no outs. The next batter, Sean Mindas, hit a groundball that resulted in a fielding error on the Niagara Falls shortstop, allowing each runner to move forward a base, and scoring Horton. A pop out put the first out on the board before a Cooper Fesh walk, followed by a hit by pitch on James Bolton pushed two more runs over home plate. Facing bases loaded and one out, a groundball by Brian Fry to the 2nd baseman appeared to have a chance to end the inning, but the American's were only able to get the force out at 2nd base, and not turn the double play. This allowed Cameron Copple to hit a single through the right side that scored Fesh. The 10th batter of the inning, Omar Carreras batted the biggest hit of the game, a triple down the right field line that scored both Fry and Copple. In his second at bat of the inning, Brayden Horton hit another single, this time scoring Carreras. A flyout ended the inning with the Muckdogs having taken a 8-1 lead.

The Americans offense could not muster up a response until the top of the 5th inning. After a leadoff strikeout, Greydon Miller got himself on 1st with a single down the right field line. Two batters later, after advancing to 2nd on a wild pitch, Miller was able to score off of an Allen Ramos single to center field. The inning ended with just one run scored, and marked a turning point where the Americans offense severely struggled through the remainder of the game. Despite scoring once more in the 9th inning, over the next 16 batters to step to the plate, 11 of them struck out.

The Muckdogs tallied their final run in the bottom of the 8th. The inning began with a hit by pitch on Mindas, followed by a single by Espinal. A flyout put the first out on the board, and allowed Mindas to advance to 3rd base. With a run just 90 feet away, Bolton capitalized by hitting a sacrifice fly to right field, scoring Mindas and extending Batavia's lead to 9-2.

Niagara Falls needed seven runs to keep hopes alive, and unfortunately could only score one. Gavyn Boyle led off the inning with a walk, before back-to-back strikeouts left the Americans with just one out. Shane Pray hit a double down the left field line that allowed Boyle to score, and briefly kept the home team's chances alive. The chances were short-lived however, as the next batter struck out to finish the game.

Links
PGCBL Box Score
Unfortunately, due to technical issues we did not have an Americans' broadcast of this game. However, here is a link to Batavia's broadcast.

The Americans will travel to St. Catharines in Canada to face the Niagara Ironbacks in a doubleheader tomorrow. Tune into our broadcast, with first pitches scheduled for 1:05 and 4:05pm. Catch the next Americans home game the day after, July 7th, when we host the Newark Pilots in a contest scheduled to start at 6:30pm. It is Johnnie Ryan Soda Night, so come to the stadium and enjoy an iconic Niagara Falls beverage and cheer on your Americans! To purchase single-game or season tickets, call 716-215-6161 or visit niagarafallsamericans.com for more information. Season tickets start as low as $99! If you or someone you know is interested in sponsoring the Americans, or organizing a group outing to an Americans game, please contact General Manager Marc Witt at mwitt.canusa@gmail.com.