TROY — Brad Zunica’s RBI single with one out in the bottom of the seventh inning capped a three-run rally and helped the Tri-City ValleyCats to a 5-4 victory over the Trois-Rivieres Aigles, and earn a split of their Frontier League doubleheader Wednesday at Joseph L. Bruno Stadium.
Trois-Rivieres won the opener 3-1.
The ValleyCats trailed 4-2 entering the seventh and final inning of the second game. Juan Silverio began the inning with an infield single. Ciaran Devenney followed with a walk. One out later, Brantley Bell walked to load the bases.
Jesus Lujano then hit a two-run single to tie the score 4-4. Denis Phipps was intentionally walked to reload the bases. Zunica followed with his game-winning hit.
Kumar Rocker was sharp in his fourth start for the ValleyCats. The right-hander pitched four scoreless innings, allowing two hits. He struck out seven and walked two. Rocker tossed 58 pitches, 42 for strikes.
In Game 1, the Aigles took a 2-0 lead in the first inning. L.P. Pellitier scored on a groundout, and Steve Brown had an RBI single. They made it 3-0 in the second on Vaibhav Desai’s RBI double.
Phipps cut the Aigles’ lead to two in the fifth with a solo home run.
The ValleyCats threatened in the bottom of the seventh. Devenney and Pavin Parks singled to start the inning. They advanced a base on Bell’s sacrifice bunt.
But reliever Kyle Thomas struck out Lujano and got Juan Santana to pop out to end the game.
The teams conclude their three-game series at 6:35 p.m. Thursday.
Trois-Rivieres 210 000 0 — 3 8 1
Tri-City 000 010 0 — 1 7 1
Trois-Rivieres 000 022 0 — 4 8 0
Tri-City 001 001 3 — 5 8 1
Categories: -Sports-
