The Tri-City ValleyCats’ offense exploded for six runs in the bottom of the second inning Friday night en route to an 8-3 Frontier League win over the Empire State Greys at Joseph L. Bruno Stadium
After the first nine batters combined went down in order, Tri-City broke through — batting around the order. Denis Phipps began the frame with a solo home run on the second pitch of his at-bat. Three batters later, Jace Mercer hit the team’s second homer of the inning — a two-run shot scoring Juan Silverio. Brantley Bell and Jesus Lujano each contributed RBI singles to the scoring as well.
Carson McCusker singled in another run in the next inning before Brad Zunica concluded the ‘Cats scoring in the fourth with a solo home run of his own.
The Greys responded quickly with three runs over the fifth and sixth innings, but the trio of Tri-City relievers David Stiehl, Brac Warren and Thomas Kretzler shut the door over the last three-plus innings, striking out five batters combined while allowing just four baserunners.
Kumar Rocker started for the hosts and turned in his longest performance of the season, pitching five innings and allowing a lone unearned run on two hits with seven strikeouts.
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