Stay Connected

The Potters won Hispanic Heritage Night in what can be described as one of the strangest games of the year.  The Potters jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead after a delyaed double steal in the bottom of the first inning brought home Charles Middleton. The Rogues would get the run back in the third inning to even up the ballgame after a Riley Kasper single. The Rogues would take the lead in the 4th inning but the Potters would take the lead right back after a single from Will Law scored Joe Starick. Zach Patterson would score on a wild pitch in the inning to make a 3-2 ballgame. The Rogues would punch right back in the 5th inning and then take the lead in the 6th inning by a score of 4-3. At that time in the game, all 7 runners who had touched home plate, reached base via a walk. Ryan Stevens said after the game, "That shows how important it is to limit the free passes you give up. For awhile it seemed every walk would result in a run, that's why you have to limit the damage." 

In the top of the 7th inning it appeared that the trend might end after Riley Kasper hit a ball that appeared to be a homerun until Charles Middleton made an incredible play to bring it back into the field which limited Kasper to a 1 out triple. Nolan Murphy was then able to strikeout the next two hitters to keep the score right where it was. In the bottom of the inning, Brennan Rozell singled with 2 out to bring up Charles Middleton who had bounced into 2 double plays earlier in the game. Manager Ryan Stevens said, "I told Charles, I have faith in you, I know what you can do and that's why you are in the lineup." With one swing of the bat, Middleton hit a 2 run opposite field homerun to put the Potters up 5-4. "Shows how tough he is and how good of a hitter he is to go out and do that. He made big plays for us tonight." 

The Potters would look to maintain that lead with Nolan Murphy heading out for his third inning of a work but a 1 out single and then stolen base and error put the tying run on third. Murphy got the next batter to strike out and that brought up Daniel Nist. On a full count Nist was able to double home the run to tie the game at 5. It ended Murphy's night and brought closer Tyler Cochran into the game. The first batter Cochran faced reached on an error to put runners on first and third with 2 out. After a wild pitch, Nist tried to score but was tagged out at the plate, which is where the madness started to begin. 

In the bottom half of the inning, with one out Zach Patterson doubled to put the go ahead run in scoring position. After a Larry Fonseca lineout it brought up Matt Lopez with 2 outs. Lopez drove a ball to the gap that appeared to have bounced in front of the wall and over the fence but was ruled a homerun. Immediately afterwards, the Rogues Manager Tyler Graham asked the umpires to confer. The umpires did just that and the call stood. Graham was ejected for arguing the call and the Potters went up 7-5. 

In the top of the ninth, Cole Carder popped up to centerfield where Brian Morley appeared to have made the catch but was later revelaed he didn't but the umpires ruled him out on the catch at first. But after Cole Carder left first base and walked back to the dugout, the umpire then signaled him out again. Cochran then struck out 2 more hitters and ended the ballgame for a Potters win. The Potters improve 24-17 and the Rogues fall to 23-19. The Potters maintain a game and a half lead on the Rogues for 2nd place. 

Jacob Frederick got the start for the Poters and went 5 innings allowing 4 runs only 3 of them earned, 4 hits, 4 walks, and struck out 4. Nolan Murphy and Tyler Cochran combined to go 4 innings out of the bullpen allwoing 5 hits, 1 unearend run, 1 walk and struck out 5 batters. "Frederick gave us a quality start out there and probably walked more than he wanted to but Murphy and Cochran continued to be excellent out of the bullpen for us. Murphy uses all of his pitches to throw strikes and did that again. Cochran hadn't thrown in 5 days and he was really bringing it tonight. Those guys are big out of the bullpen for us. 

The Potters will look to take the series tonight. First pitch is 6:05, the gates open at 5 PM. You can buy tickets here: Tickets