Burlington Edges Waterbury to advance to Semi-Finals

Burlington Hunters 9   Waterbury Mountain Boys 8

The Burlington Hunters defeated the Waterbury Mountain Boys 9-8 in a wild back and forth game to win the series and advance to the Semi-Finals.  The Hunters got the scoring started in the bottom of the first where they would plate 4 runs.  Chad Lavelle scored on a Justin McCulloch fielder’s choice and then Josue “Sway” Lopez with his jersey falling off swatted a long 3 run home run.  The Mountain Boys would chip away in the top of the 3rd and 4th thanks to sac flies from Justin DiGiovanna and Izaiah Walker.  In the bottom of the 5th Sean O’Donnell, always hustling, would score from second on a Chad Lavelle sac fly to make it a 5-2 game.  

In the top of the 6th the wheels fell off for the Hunters and the Mountain Boys plated 6 runs to take an 8-5 lead with base hits from Justin DiGiovanna, Colby Linnell, and a Jack Drewry double.   However, in the bottom of the 6th the Hunters would immediately respond with 3 runs of their own including a clutch 2 out RBI single by Ty Morin that brought in the tying run.  In the bottom of the 7th Chad Lavelle  doubled and stole third.  Andrew Bunger then came up and delivered the go-ahead RBI single to give the Hunters the lead, 9-8.  The Hunters turned the ball over to Derek Duffy who only on two days rest after throwing a complete game Saturday was able to record the final 9 outs, including 7 strikeouts, to secure the victory for the Hunters.  The Hunters move on to face the Candlewood Kraken with game 1 scheduled for this Friday 7pm at Municipal Stadium in Waterbury.

Game Highlights: Tim Krol only on one day of rest somehow managed to pitch 5 innings; Sway may be dead after catching three 9 inning games in a row; Andrew Bunger, shocker, if extremely slow and got hosed going for third; and finally Zack Rinkavage missed the entire series thanks to a coaching trip in Virginia and may have a severe case of swimmer’s ear, team doctors are monitoring the situation.