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Boulders Fall on Tri-City Rally

By New York Boulders Baseball, 08/18/21, 11:00PM EDT

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Luis Roman drove in the winning run in the bottom of the ninth inning to complete a Tri-City Valley Cats’ rally from a four-run deficit and defeat the New York Boulders, 5-4, on Wednesday night at Joseph L. Bruno Stadium in Troy.

Nelson Molina led off the ninth with a single off Zach Schneider, the third pitcher of the night for New York. After Oscar Campos popped out while attempting to bunt, Molina stole second. Roman followed with a hard-hit ball up the middle that deflected off Boulders’ shortstop Phil Caulfield into short centerfield that allowed Molina to come home with the winning run.

Schneider took the loss, falling to 3-1 on the year.

Trey Cochran-Gill, the Valley Cats’ fifth pitcher, escaped a no out, first and second top of the ninth to earn his fourth victory of the season against one loss.

The win gave the Valley Cats a 4½ game lead in the Frontier League’s Atlantic Division over the second place Boulders.

After being held to just one hit – a two-out fifth inning double by Nelson Molina, by New York starter Orsen Josephina, the Valley Cats pieced together a four-hit, two-walk rally in the seventh that produced four runs to tie the game at 4-4.

Zach Biermann led off the seventh with a single. After Willy Garcia struck out, an RBI double by Brad Zunica and a run-scoring single by Juan Silverio that cut Tri-City’s deficit to 4-2. After Nelson Molina singled, Josephina’s night was complete as he was relieved by Dylan Smith.

However, Smith, after getting Oscar Campos to pop out for the inning’s second out, walked Luis Roman and Connor Lien to force in a run. With Denis Phipps at the plate, Smith unleashed a wild pitch that scored Molina with the tying run.

Smith got Phipps to pop out to end the inning.

The Boulders had taken a 4-0 lead on the strength of three home runs. In the third, Zach Kirtley hit a two-run shot, his 13th of the season to give New York a 2-0 advantage. It became 3-0 in the fifth via a solo home run by Gian Martellini, his seventh of the year. Kevonte Mitchell’s solo shot, his 10th of the campaign, made it 4-0 in the sixth.

Josephina had opened the game by retiring the first 14 batters he faced before Molina’s double. He finished with 6 1/3 innings worked and allowed five hits and four runs. He did not walk a batter and struck out six.

Bryan Valdez started for the Valley Cats and worked five innings. He surrendered five hits and three runs, while walking one and striking out two.