POMONA, NY- The Rockland Boulders rallied in the eighth inning to hold off a Shikoku Island League All-Star rally, winning 7-2 at Palisades Credit Union Park. 
    Shikoku Island (3-5), playing in their eighth game of their American tour, were largely held in check by Rockland starter Richard Salazar through six innings. Salazar (4-2) struck out a season high eight batters through six innings, including five batters in a row, but ran into trouble in the top half of the seventh. The Japanese team consists of All-Stars from the Independent Japanese Shikoku Island League. 
After two singles and a sacrifice bunt to start the inning, Japanese second baseman Hayato Hirama stroked a single to plate two runs, which drew the All-Stars within a run. Salazar was then able to work out of the jam without anymore damage, with Marcus Nidiffer catching Hirama trying to steal third to end the inning. 
On the offensive side, Rockland (19-9) continued its recent hot hitting. The Boulders scored three runs against Japanese starter Hiroki Satoh, with Mike Montville and Mike Schwartz each having an RBI double. But it wasn’t until the eighth inning when the bats really came alive. 
Mike Fransoso led off the inning with his second home run of the season with a blast to the short porch in right, and Junior Arrojo followed later on with a big two-run triple to left, as well as scoring on the play on an error. Arrojo went 2-4 on the night with three runs scored, a walk and an RBI.       
      Pat Butler and Hector Nelo came in on relief for Salazar after his dominating start, and shut down the Shikoku offense to secure the win for Rockland. Salazar’s win was the 94th of his career. 
Shikoku reliever Riku Akiyama accomplished a rare feat in the bottom of the seventh inning, when he struck out four batters in a single frame. After striking out two batters to start the inning, a passed ball on a third strike gave Mike Montville first base. Akiyama then struck out Junior Arrojo two batters later for his fourth of the inning, and his seventh in his two innings of work. 
    Rockland will continue its International showcase against the Shikoku Island League All-Stars on Saturday night, with the first pitch being scheduled for 6:30 P.M. at Palisades Credit Union Park.