Beloit, E-Twins, DSL Twins all victorious

Beloit 5 at Kane County 3

W: M. McCardell (8-3, 2.82); L: J. Friend (4-5, 4.33); SV: S. Arias (2)
HR: BEL: R. Leveret (2). KCC: L. Cobb (11).

Mike McCardell worked 8 innings allowing 3 runs, 2 earned, while scattering five hits and a walk and fanning 7 to help lead the Snappers to a 5-3 win over the Kane County Cougars. Estarlin De Los Santos lead the attack, going 3-for-3 at the plate with a walk and a pair of runs.

Justin Frash singled and Larry Cobb went yard, his 11th home run of the 2008 season, in the bottom of the 3rd for Kane County.

The Snappers answered back in the top of the 4th with De Lo leading off with a single then stealing 2nd. Following a fly out to Paul Kelly, Rene Leveret homered, his 2nd for the Snappers, over the center field wall to tie up the game.

Matt Ray singled but was taken out on D.J.Hollingsworth's force out in the bottom of the 5th. Greg Yersich would attempt to pick off Hollingsworth, but over threw the base, allowing Hollingsworth to score for the unearned run. That put the Cougars on top again and it would stay that way until the top of the 8th.

Justin Friend came to replace Scott Deal and Yersich hit a line drive single to left. He'd be replaced by Jeanfred Brito as a pinch runner, and Brito would move to 2nd on Yangervis Solarte's sac bunt. Andrew Schmiesing ground out, but a wild pitch by Friend let Brito come home to tie up the contest. Ben Revere singled and stole 2nd and De Lo took a walk. A passed ball by Kane County's Petey Paramore advanced the runners. Kelly then walked to load the bags. Leveret's line drive to right scored Revere and De Lo before Mark Dolenc was taken out on strikes.

Leveret finish off 2-for-4 with a run and 4 RBIs. Revere, Ramon Santana and Schmiesing were each 1-for-4, Revere with a run, Santana with a double. Yerisch was 1-for-3, with a single.

Santos Arias worked the final inning to pick up his second save of the season, while McCardell improves to 8-3 on the year.

The two teams rematch on Friday, August 8 for a 6:30 PM start. Jamie Richmond (7-8, 4.52) gets the start for Kane County against the Snappers' David Bromberg (6-9, 5.25).

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Bristol 1 at Elizabethton 3

W: B. Lanigan (5-3, 3.35); L: S. Buriff (3-1, 5.79); SV: M. Hamburger (9)
HR: ELI: M. Harrington (8).

Dominic De La Osa doubled in Angel Morales and Nathan Hanson in the bottom of the 7th inning, giving the Elizabethton Twins a win in a pitcher's duel between Bobby Lanigan and Brisol's Steve Upchurch.

Lanigan would work 8 innings scattering 4 hits and a walk while fanning five for the Twins. Upchurch allowed only one hit and 3 walks over the first five inning while fanning five before giving way to Shane Buriff.

Buriff would allow a home run to Michael Harrington in the bottom of the six. The 8th yard ball of Harrington's professional career went over the right field wall. Buriff would also give up the two runs in the seventh.

Jorge Castillo doubled in the top of the 7th inning, moved to 3rd on a Jorge Vargas sac bunt and came home on Kevin Dubler's single for Bristol's lone run.

Mark Harmburger worked one inning of relief for his ninth save of the of year.

With the win, the E-Twins maintain a 2.5 game lead over Bristol in the Appalachian League west division. They start a three game series against the Burlington Royals at Joe O'Brien Stadium Friday, with the first pitch due out at 7:00 PM.

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DSL Twins 17 at DSL Rockies 4

W: R. Doran (2-0, 2.45); L: J. Hernandez (0-1, 5.19); SV: L. Parra (2)
HR: DSL TWI: F. Caro (3).

I double there was any Rocky Mountain air for the balls to soar on Thursday, but the DSL Twins pounded out 17 runs on 17 hits, 6 walks and 7 Rockies errors to wallop the Colorado farm team 17-4.

Jairo Perez and Lesther Galvan were both 3-for-4 in the contest, Perez with a double, 4 runs and 1 runs scored, and Galvan with a pair of walks, a pair of runs and a RBI. Felix Caro was 4-for-6 at the plate with a double and a home run, two runs and 4 RBIs.

Caro's home run, in the fourth inning, brought in two for the DSL Twins.

Eliel Sierra finished up 2-for 3 with a walk, a pair of doubles, 3 runs and 1 RBI. Randy Pina was 2-for-5 at the plate with a walk, a run, and a RBI.

Oswaldo Arcia and Yorby Martinez finished up 1-for-5 each, Martinez with 1 run, Arcia with two. Each had a walk and a RBI as well. Wilfy Gil was 1-for-4 with a pair of runs.

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The GCL Twins had Thursday off. They return to action Friday at Noon against the GCL Pirates.

Kingsport makes the most of E-Twins errors

Saturday: Kingsport 6 at Elizabethton 13

W: C. Leavitt (4-1, 4.72); L: O. Melendez (3-2, 7.34)
HR: KNG: W. Flores (7), D. McNulty (4). ELI: E. Bigley 2 (6), N. Romero (5), D. De La Osa (3).

The bats were booming for the Elizabethton Twins as they took the first game in Saturday's double header, 13-6. Curtis Leavitt would pick up the win, despite allowing 5 runs, earned, on 8 hits and a walk, while fanning 5 over five innings.

The K-Mets would get Charles Doyle all the way to 3rd base, helped by a pair of wild pitches from Leavitt before Seth Williams ground out to end the inning. They would not be so lucky in the top of the second, as Stefan Welch doubled. Two outs later, Douglas McNulty went yard for his fourth home run of the season, putting a fly ball over the left field fence.

Elizabethton responded in the bottom of the second though with Michael Harrington taking a walk of Mets' starter Oscar Melendez. Evan Bigley put his fifth home run of the year over the left field wall to tie up the game. Jeff Lanning followed that up with a singled. After Adam Severino stuck out swinging, James Beresford singled, moving Lanning to second. Dominic De La Osa then blasted a ball over the left field wall for his 3rd home run of the season, adding three more runs to E-Twins total.

Doyle would double in the top of the 3rd with one out on the board, and come home on Wilmer Flores single. Williams would single as well and a throwing error by Bigley put Flores at 3rd and Williams at 2nd, but Welch would go down on strikes while Pedro Zapata hit into a ground out, stranding the runners.

Harrington and Bigley hit back-to-back singles and Lanning would double them in. Severino took a walk and K-Mets field Manager Pedro Lopez took a walk out to the mound to take the ball from Melendez. Travis Babin would come into replace him. Babin lead off with a wild pitch that moved the runners, but would get Bereford out on strikes. He'd then plunk De La Osa with a pitch to load the bags. Nick Romero stepped up to the plate and blasted his fifth home run ball of the year over the right field wall for a grand slam. Jon Waltenbury would take walk before Alex Soto went down on strikes to end the inning.

Bigley went yard again in the bottom of the 4th, launching his 6th of the year over the right field wall.

Charles Doyle doubled off Leavitt in the top of the 5th and Flores followed that up with a home run over the left field fence, making the score 12-5 E-Twins.

Elizabethton was not done however, as De La Osa doubled in the bottom half of the stanza. Romero and Jon Waltenbury followed up with back-to-back singles to drive in De La Osa. Alex Soto would ground into a force out, move to 2nd on a throwing error and to 3rd on a wild pitch before Lopez called for another pitching change, going with Manuel Alvarez on the hill. Alvarez would get Bigley to pop out before Soto went any further, so the score stood at 13-5.

Danny Rondon took over for Leavitt in the top of the 6th. The K-Mets would try an abbreviated rally in the top of the 7th with Rafael Fernandez doubling. One out later, he'd move to 3rd on Flores' fly out and come home on a Williams single. Welch would go down on strikes however, to end contest.

Bigley and Lanning were both 3-for-4, Bigley with 3 runs and 3 RBIs, and Lanning with 2 runs and 2 RBIs. De La Osa and Waltenbury were both 2-for-3, De La Osa with a walk, 3 runs and 3 RBIs and Waltenbury with a walk and a RBI. Romero was 2-for-4 with a run and 4 RBIs while Harrington was 1-for-2 with a pair of walks and a pair of runs. Severino (1-for-3) and Beresford (1-for-4) each added a single and a run, Severino with a walk as well.

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Saturday: Kingsport 9 at Elizabethton 4

W: Z. Rosenbaum (2-3, 5.32); L: S. Blevins (0-1, 10.45)
HR: KNG: K. Suire (2). ELI: J. Waltenbury (4).

Steve Blevins would allow 5 runs in the 8th inning, breaking open a 4-4 tie as the Kingsport Mets went on to defeat the Elizabethton Twins, 9-4.

Alex Curry made his first Appy League start and was greeted in the second inning with a line drive by Seth Williams. A throwing error by Curry allowed Williams to advance to 2nd. Stefan Welch would go down on strikes and Pedro Zapata took a single. Jean Luc Blaquiere struck out as well, but Michael Moras singled to score Williams. Moras would advance to second on a throwing error by Michael Harrington. A missed catch error charged against Jon Waltenbury allowed Justin Garber to reach and Zapata and Moras to score. Kyle Suire's line drive single plated Garber before Curry could get Imbewere Alvarez to ground out to bring the Twins up to bat.

The Twins would not start to feel muscular though until the bottom of the 4th when Waltenbury put his 4th blast of the year over the right field wall. Evan Bigley singled and Harrington reached on a fielding error by Suire. Danny Rams would go down on strikes before Angel Morales reached on a missed catch by pitcher Robert Carson. Bigley would score on the play. Nathan Hanson's fly ball single drove in Harrington and James Beresford sacrificed in Morales.

Zach Rosenbaum would plunk Harrington in the fifth with a pitch, leading to a bases loaded situation after Waltenbury had singled and Bigley walked. But Rams and Morales both went down on strikes to strand the runners.

The game was slated for 7 innings but stretched into eight as the tie remained unbroken. With one out on the board in the top of the 8th, Welch singled and Zapata doubled. Blaquiere would ground out and Blevins would intentionally walk Moras to get at Garber. That almost work, as Garber struck out but he did so on a wild pitch that plated Welch and allowed Garber to get to 1st. Suire would then go yard for a grand slam, his 2nd home run of the season.

Morales would single in the bottom half of the stanza, but on the whole, the Twins went down quietly.

Waltenbury as 2-for-4 with a run and a RBI, Morales and Hanson were both 1-for-4, Morales with a run, Hanson with a RBI and Bigley was 1-for-1 with three (3) base on balls and a run. Speaking three (3), this is the number of times Rams would strike out through four at bats.

Curry allowed 4 runs, only 1 earned on six hits. He'd strike out 2 over 4 innings for the no decision. The loss, coming on 5 hits and a pair of walks while fanning 4 over four, would be Blevins first of the year for the E-Twins.

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Sunday: Kingsport 11 at Elizabethton 9

W: P. Orta (2-3, 1.17); L: M. Hamburger (1-2, 4.50); SV: M. Powers (4)
HR: KNG: D. McNulty (5), K. Suire (3). ELI: J. Waltenbury (5), D. De La Osa (4), J. Lanning (3).

The Kingsport Mets would again score late to slip past the Elizabethton Twins in a slugfest at Joe O'Brien Stadium.

Danny Berlind would allow back to back singles to Kyle Suire and Charles Doyle, then advance the runners with a wild pitch. He'd get Wilmer Flores to pop out, then hit Seth Williams with a pitch, He'd then take Stefan Welch and Pedro Zapata down on strikes to get out of the jam, but it appears Mr. Berlind might be having some control issues. (Maybe someone needs to check that boy for Tight Shoulder, there seems to be a lot of it going around these days.)

Dominic De La Osa and Nick Romero both flew out in the bottom half of the first before Jon Waltenbury doubled. Evan Bigley would get plunked by a pitch and Michael Harrington doubled to drive in Waltenbury and Bigley. A throwing error by Suire saw Harrington advance to 3rd. Jeff Lanning then launched a ball over the left field wall to add two more for a 4-0 lead before Angel Morales struck out.

It would not stay that way though as Berlind continued to struggle on the mound. Douglas McNulty would strike out swinging and Jean Luc Blaquiere took a walk. Rafael Fernandez would go down on strikes before Suire put his 3rd home run of the year over the right field wall to give Kingsport two. Doyle then walked and Flores singled. A passed ball by Lanning advanced the runner and a Seth Williams single put two over the plate before Berlind could find another set of strikes for Welch.

James Beresford singled in the bottom of the inning as did De La Osa and Romero, giving the E-Twins another run.

Pedro Zapata walked in the top of the 3rd, then advanced to 3rd when Berlind over threw first on the pick off attempt. McNulty would ground out, but Blaquiere walked, sending Ray Smith on a walk out to the mound. Relieving Berlind of the ball, then called Kyle Carr from the bullpen. Fernandez would reach on a fielders choice that took Zapata out at the plate, saving a run.

The respite would not last long however as Flores singled with one out on the board. Williams went down on strikes but Welch and Zapata hit back-to-back singles to score Flores. Welch would end up at 3rd, so Zapata would steal 2nd to catch up. Seeing that the E-Twins defense was distracted, Welch then stole home. McNulty then put a fly ball over the left field fence for his 5th home run of the season, making the score 8-5.

Elizabethton would catch up in the bottom half of the fourth however as De La Osa and Waltenbury hit towering home runs, separated by a Romero single to tie up the game.

Thom Wright would replace Carr in the top of the fifth and issue a walk to Suire. A missed catch error by Wright allowed Doyle to reach and sent Suire to 3rd. Flores fly ball single plated Suire to put give Kingsport the lead again.

The Twins would not answer back until the bottom of the 8th when Harrington took a walk, then moved to 2nd, one out later, on Angel Morales single. Severino would fly out to put Harrington on third, and Beresford would bring him home with a line drive to left.

Mark Hamburger took over on the hill in the top of the ninth, walked Blaquiere, then advanced him to 3rd on a pair of wild pitches. Rafael Fernandez took a walk and Suire doubled to bring in Blaquire for the game winning run. Doyle would take a walk and another wild pitch by Hamburger put Fernandez over the plate for the insurance run.

Sadly, there would be no wild finish for the E-Twins, as Kingsport's Michael Powers sat them down, one-two-three.

Romero and Beresford were both 2-for-4, Romero with a walk, a run and a run scored, Beresford with a RBI. De La Osa and Waltenbury were both 2-for-5 with home runs, Waltenbury with 2 runs and 2 RBIs to De La Osa's one.

Harrington was 1-for-3 with a walk, a double and a pair of runs and a pair of RBIs in the designate hitter role, while Lanning and Morales were both 1-for-4, Lanning with a run and 2 RBIs.

The two teams play one more Monday night, this time for the West Division lead as E-town is 22-16 with a .579% and Kingsport is 23-17 with a .575%. The Twins then rest on Tuesday.

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Snappers, E-Twins streaks end

Beloit 5 at Clinton 8

W: F. Castillo (1-3, 5.49); L: D. Bromberg (5-5, 5.11); SV: A. Flores (6)
HR: CLI: I. Gac (19).

All good things must come to an end, and so it was with the Beloit Snappers' win streak. The Snapper fell into a hole early against the Clinton Lumber Kings and could not find enough runs to get out.

Ian Gac singled in the bottom of the 2nd before Beloit starter David Bromberg would hit Jonathan Greene with a pitch. Cristian Santana doubled to drive in the pair. Following a ground out to Jose Felix, Andres Jones singled to plate Santana, giving the L-Kings a 3-0 lead.

Renny Osuna singled to start out the bottom of the third, and Timothy Smith doubled him in. Michael Moreland's single moved Smith to 3rd, and Ian Gac would smack a line drive out to left to bring in Smith. Jonathan Greene hit into a double play and Cristian Santana would ground out to end the inning.

Estarlin De Los Santos and Chris Cates drew back-to-back walks off the L-Kings Fabio Castillo. Diebenson Romero would single out to left field to load the bags. Chris Parmalee would hit a sac fly to bring in De Lo while Joe Benson's follow up single plated Cates A fielding error by Santana gave Deibinson 3rd, and Benson would then steal 2nd, but Castillo would take Ozzie Lewis and Greg Yersich out on strikes to end the inning.

Bromberg would work the fourth without any further problems and the Snappers continued to play catch up in the bottom of the 5th. Eric Santiago walked. Mark Dolenc singled before De Lo would fly out, moving Santiago to 3rd. Cates ground out to put Dolenc on 2nd. Romero then doubled the pair in. Parmelee would fly out to retire the side.

Timothy Smith singled and Mitchell Moreland doubled to start out the bottom of the 5th. Gac then took a Bromberg pitch over the left field wall to give the L-Kings 8 to the Snappers 4. Bromberg would then hit Greene with a pitch before Nelson Prada took Bromberg off the mound and gave the ball to Henry Reyes. The big Dominican would get Santana to fly out, Felix to ground into a force out, and James to ground out, ending the inning.

Santiago and Dolenc would draw back-to-back walks from Joseph Ortiz in the top of the 7th. De Lo would offer up a sac bunt to advance the runners, and Cates would sacrifice in Santiago. Romero would be hit by a pitch and Parmalee would walk to load the bags before Chris Dennis came into to replace Ortiz, getting Benson to ground into a force out to stop the Snapper's scoring threat.

Bromberg's line score would not look good: 8 runs on 11 hits while fanning 4 over four innings. Henry Reyes and Danny Hernandez pitched the last four, with Reyes going three before letting Hernandez take over.

Romero was 2-for-4 with a pair of RBIs in the contest. Cates and Yersich were both 1-for-3, Cates with a walk, a run and a RBI and Yersich with a walk and pair of strike outs. Dolenc was also 1-for-3 with a run and a walk. Benson was 1-for-4 with 1 RBI.

The Snappers play one more against the L-Kings, Thursday night at Alliant Energy Field starting at 7:00 PM. They finally return home on Friday to open a 4-game series against the Cedar Rapids Kernels.

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Elizabethton 5 at Bluefield 13

W: T. Phelps (1-0, 4.50); L: B. Lanigan (0-1, 4.82)
HR: ELI: M. Harrington (3). BLU: L. West 2 (2).

The Bluefield Orioles took advantage of the Elizabethton Twins bullpen Wednesday night, putting 10 runs on the board to go on to a 13-5 win.

Andrew Schmiesing's single in the top of the 3rd combined with a Michael Herrington home run gave the E-Twins an early lead.

Twins starter Bobby Lanigan would give up 3 in the bottom of the fourth, putting the Orioles on top. He'd go on to work 5.1 innings, allowing 5 runs on 7 hits and a pair of walks while striking out 6. Jose Alcala would finish up the sixth inning, allowing 3 more runs on 2 hits and three walks while striking out 1.

The Twins would not find another run until the top of the 8th, when Michael Harrington walked, moved to 2nd on a Rene Leveret single and to 3rd on a Danny Rams ground out. Angel Morales then singled to plate Harrington.

Lee Martin, working the final 2 on the mound for the E-Twins would give up 5 run, 4 earned, on four hits and a walk while striking out 3 over 2 innings.

The final two runs came in the top of the 9th, with Nathan Hanson doubling and James Beresford singling him in. Schmiesing then lined out and Romero would go down on strikes before a passed ball moved Beresford to 2nd. Harrington then singled Beresford in. Leveret would fly out though, cutting the rally short and ending the game.

Hanson was 2-for-3 with a walk and a run; Harrington and Morales were 2-for-4, Harrington with a pair of runs, a walk and 3 RBIs and Morales with 1 RBI. Schmiesing was 2-for-5 with a run.

Rams, Nick Papasan and Leveret each had singles, the first two being one-hit wonders and the Leveret taking a walk to go with his single.

The E-Twin now return to Joe O'Donald Field to face the Johnston City Cardinals on Thursday night with a 7:00 PM start.

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