Baseball: Monsters Build Huge Lead, Hold Off Yankees 14-10

Posted on , updated on by George Commo

Courtesy Vermont Lake Monsters

BURLINGTON — The Vermont Lake Monsters scored 14 runs over the first three innings to build an 11-run advantage and withstood five home runs from the Yankees in a 14-10 victory over Staten Island Wednesday night in New York-Penn League action at historic Centennial Field.

The Yankees started game with Josh Smith leadoff walk followed by a Jacob Sanford two-run homer off Vermont starter Osvaldo Berrios, but Lake Monsters reponded in bottom of first with Logan Davidson leadoff single followed by a Noah Vaughan 421-foot two-run homer to rightfield to tie game 2-2.

Lake Monsters added five runs in the bottom of the second including a Lawrence Butler RBI single and Jordan Diaz two-run double (his league-leading 38th and 39th RBI). Vermont scored four more runs in the third, including Vaughan’s fourth RBI of game on bases loaded fielding error by Nelson Alvarez (who had homered in top of inning)

After Davidson scored the 11th run on a wild pitch, the game was stopped by rain with one out in the bottom of third, but after a 33-minute delay the game resumed and Kyle McCann capped off a seven-run inning for Vermont with a three-run homer (his sixth) to right for a 14-3 advantage after just three innings.

Sanford (4-for-6) hit his second home run of the game in the fifth, a solo shot off the foul pole down the left-field line. Staten Island added three more runs in the inning, including a Matt Pita two-run single to cut deficit to 14-7 as game became official in the fifth.

Josh Smith added a solo shot in the eighth and Pita a two-run homer in the ninth for Staten Island (29-24). The five Yankee home runs are the most-ever allowed by Vermont in a single game, breaking record of four hit by Brooklyn on August 23, 2013 at Centennial.

Davidson was 2-for-4 with three runs scored, the fourth time in last eight games that the first-round pick out of Clemson has scored three times in a game, while Dustin Harris was 3-for-4 with a pair of runs scored and Vaughan all scored three runs. Carlos Sanchez (4-0) allowed three hits with three strikeouts over 2 1/3 innings of relief to earn the win.
Vermont (23-29) has won each of its last three series, winning seven of its last nine games overall, and head to Lowell for a three-game series against the Stedler Division-leading Spinners starting at 7:05pm on Thursday. The Lake Monsters return to Centennial for a six-game homestand starting on Sunday.