Blue Sox Win Nailbiter 4-3 over Blues
By: Brennan McGrevy
Holyoke, MA - The Valley Blue Sox hosted the Bristol Blues in what was a phenomenal game. Bristol (25-17) scored two runs in the top of the second. Blues’ Dean Oneill singled, which was then followed by a Thomas Ahlers single. The first baseman Trevor Hansen smacked a double into left to score Oneill and Ahlers. The Blues were in business up 2-0.
Valley (19-21) responded in the bottom of the fourth inning. Second baseman Sean Darnell singled into left for the Blue Sox’s first hit of the night. An E4 by Bristol’s Danny Infante allowed Michael Elko to advance to first. John LaFleur then came up to the plate. He doubled off the right field wall to score Darnell and advance Elko to third. Tim Ford hit a sac-fly to right, which scored Elko and advanced LaFleur to third. Valley’s Catcher, Hayden Perry singled, scoring LaFleur to give the Blue Sox the lead 3-2 after four innings.
The Blues found their offensive footing in the top of the fifth. Tyler Benick reached first on a walk. Blue Sox’s Starting Pitcher Conor Wolf got replaced by Jake Andrews with one out in the inning. Andrews struck out the first batter he faced, that being Infante. Kristopher Giangreco walked to put another runner on base for Bristol. The three-hole hitter, Gianno Merlonghi, ripped a single into shallow right field, scoring Benick to tie the game at 3-3. Valley’s relief pitcher Andrews, got out of the inning by striking out Oneill to limit the damage to one run.
In the bottom of the sixth the Blue Sox’s First Baseman Elko blasted a homer into right field as the crowd roared in cheers. Valley was now up 4-3 after the go ahead homer by Elko. Blue Sox Head Coach Endy Morales was hyped after the homer. “He’s unbelievable. Off the field he’s a high character guy and on the field he does all the little things right.” Ford then lined a single in the gap into left but then got caught on a pickoff by Bristol’s Pitcher Mason Glickman. The Blue Sox were not able to score more runs after the homerun but reclaimed the lead to end the inning.
No more runs were scored and the game ended 4-3 in favor of Valley. Morales gave his thoughts on the game. “I thought we pitched really well. We got ahead of a bunch of hitters and that makes a big difference when you’re getting ahead.”
The Blue Sox travel to Martha’s Vineyard to take on the Sharks tomorrow night at 7:05 p.m. and Morales’ message to his team is clear. “We have to continue to go out and compete. We need to have a little bit of urgency and not let [the small things] get in the way.”