Gentile leads Salem to walk off victory over Pelicans

5/6 Cup of Coffee: Pawtucket put together an all-around stellar victory over their rivals while Portland and Greenville were edged away from victories. The story of the evening was Salem’s walk off victory in an extra inning thriller.

Pawtucket was not intimidated by their rivals, squashing the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees (NYY) 4-1. Matt Fox took the hill on short notice, contributing 5.0 innings, allowing just a hit and a walk to go along with three strikeouts as he picked up the victory. Tony Pena followed Fox with 2.0 innings of scoreless relief, walking 2 and striking out a pair. Michael Bowden picked up his fourth save of the year despite a rocky 1.1 innings, allowing 1 runs on 3 hits, striking out 2. The PawSox wasted no time getting out in front in this contest, plating three runs in the first inning on RBI singles by Hector Luna and Nate Spears. In the sixth, Daniel Nava laced a lead off triple and Josh Reddick lofted a sacrifice fly to put Pawtucket in front 4-0. The Yankees attempted a rally in the ninth, but only managed to bring home one run. Luna and Spears each had 3 hits to lead the PawSox offense which totaled 12 hits on the day.

Looking to avenge their loss a day earlier, Portland dropped an extra inning, back-and-forth affair 8-7 to the rival Trenton Thunder (NYY). Stephen Fife received the start and was outstanding, tossing 6.0 innings, allowing 1 run on 4 hits and a walk while striking out 4. Caleb Clay added an inning of relief, allowing 2 runs on 1 hit and 2 walks. Eammon Portice followed Clay but was roughed up to the tune of 4 runs on 7 hits in his 2.0 innings out of the bullpen. Kyle Fernandes picked up the loss as he allowed the winning run to score in the 11th inning. In the second, Portland took a 2-0 lead as Che-Hsuan Lin and Alex Hassan both smacked RBI singles. After Trenton cut the lead in half in the bottom of the second, Portland again took a two run lead in the third on Oscar Tejeda’s sacrifice fly. The game then remained scoreless until the seventh, when the Sea Dogs expanded their lead to 5-1 with a Jorge Padron RBI triple and a Chih-Hsien Chiang RBI double. Trenton clawed back for two in the bottom half of the seventh, leaving the contest in favor of the Sea Dogs 5-3 after seven. In the eighth, Ryan Lavarnway hit a towering two-run home run in the top of the inning, while Trenton added two of their own in the bottom half. The Thunder then scored two in the bottom of the ninth to tie the game and eventually broke through with the winning run in the bottom of the eleventh on a bases loaded walk. Lin and Chiang each had three hits to lead the Portland offense.

Like their Double-A counterparts, Salem entered into an extra inning tussle, but walked off with a 4-3 victory over the Myrtle Beach Pelicans (TEX). Ryan Pressly got the start and went 5.0 innings, allowing 2 runs on 2 hits and 3 walks, striking out 3. Jeremiah Bayer added 3.1 innings of relief, allowing 1 run on 2 hits and a walk while striking out 2. Kendal Volz picked up his first victory of 2011 by tossing 1.2 innings of relief, allowing just 2 hits and striking out 1. Salem took an early 1-0 lead in the first as Peter Hissey rocketed an RBI triple that brought home Jeremy Hazelbaker. The Red Sox doubled their lead in the third, receiving an RBI double from Hazelbaker. Myrtle Beach tied the game in the fourth, and the game would remain knotted until the later innings. The Pelicans grabbed a 3-2 lead in the ninth, but Salem tied the game in the bottom half of the inning on a Peter Hissey RBI ground out. In the bottom of the tenth, the Red Sox staged a two out rally, culminating in a Zach Gentile walk off single that was aided by a throwing error by the Myrtle Beach pitcher. Gentile was the star of the game, going 4 for 5 with a triple and two runs scored. The Red Sox stole 5 bases in the game, three from Derrik Gibson and two from Hissey.

After jumping out to an early lead, the Greenville Drive couldn’t hold on to victory in a 3-2 defeat against the Kannapolis Intimidators (CHW). Kyle Stroup got the starting nod for Greenville and went 5.0 innings, allowing just 4 hits and a walk. Keith Couch received the loss, as he allowed 3 runs on 5 hits and a walk during his 3.0 innings of relief. The Drive wasted no time getting on the board, as they received a pair of RBI singles from Christian Vazquez and Bryce Brentz to take a 2-0 lead after one. The offense would remain quiet the rest of the way as Kannapolis broke through for 3 in the bottom of the eighth, aided by two Greenville mishaps in the field. The Drive were just 3 for 14 with runners in scoring position and managed just one extra base hit the entire game.

Player of the Night: Zach Gentile, who went 4 for 5 with a triple, two runs scored, and the game winning walk off single in Salem’s 3-2 victory over Myrtle Beach.

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