(TROIS-RIVIERES, Quebec) – Rockland used powerful offense and dominant pitching to come up with a doubleheader sweep at Trois-Rivieres on Wednesday night. The Boulders (44-38) came away with a 9-1 win in the opener before pulling out a 3-0 victory in the nightcap against Les Aigles (28-54). Their sweep, coupled with losses by Ottawa and New Jersey helped Rockland move up in the league standings with less than three weeks left in the regular season.
Another impressive offense performance paced the team in Game One, led by three-RBI performances from both Jared Schlehuber and Devin Harris. The scoring began in the first inning with a two-run single from Schlehuber before Mike Montville added another run on a single of his own. Rockland extended the lead in the fifth on a Harris single in the fifth before a five-run sixth put the game out of reach. Harris added a pair of RBI on a double before Schlehuber’s RBI single made it 9-1. In total, every Boulders starter reached base safely while all eight RBI came from the bottom half of the lineup.
While the bats were hot, so was starting pitcher Mike Adams. The rookie Adams (5-5) tossed five innings, allowing a Jiwan James homer as his only run, and scattering three hits while striking out four. Felled by a pair of errors, Profiro Lopez (4-7) took the loss by giving up six runs, three earned, on eight hits in just four innings of work. Both Pat Butler and Daniel Carela pitched scoreless innings in relief to give Rockland the win.
Game Two was a little more of a pitching duel as both Richard Salazar and Matthew Rusch kept the bats quiet through the first four innings. After an error by shortstop Connor Crane allowed Elvin Soto to reach safely to start the fifth, he advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt from Pat McKenna before scoring on Quinnton Mack’s RBI single. The Boulders then added two huge insurance runs in the seventh on a single from Mike Fransoso, giving them a 3-0 lead.
That would prove to be more than enough run support for Salazar (7-6), who picked up his second straight win. The veteran lefty went six scoreless innings, striking out eight and allowing only two hits, before Hector Nelo pitched a scoreless ninth to earn his 11th save. Rusch (5-8) took the loss by allowing three runs in six and two-thirds innings.
With their sweep, plus a loss by the Ottawa Champions, Rockland moved into third place in the Can-Am League standings and sit just six games behind first place New Jersey. The Boulders will complete their series in Trois-Rivieres on Thursday night before returning home to take on the Jackals in a three-game set. That matchup begins on Friday, August 19th, at 7:00pm at Palisades Credit Union Park.