Baseball: Monsters Complete Sweep, Crush Brooklyn 13-6

Posted on , updated on by George Commo

Courtesy Vermont Lake Monsters

BURLINGTON — Josh Watson went 2-for-3 with an RBI double in a three-run third inning and a three-run homer in the sixth to lead the Vermont Lake Monsters to a three-game sweep of Brooklyn Cyclones with a 13-6 New York-Penn League victory Friday night at historic Cenntenial Field.

Vermont opened the scoring with three runs in the bottom of the third, starting with Watson’s RBI double down the right-field line that plated Logan Davidson (three runs scored in a game for the fifth time in his last 17 played). Dustin Harris followed with an RBI single and Lawrence Butler an RBI on a groundball to first.

After an unearned run in the fourth for Brooklyn, Watson smacked the three-run homer just in front of the leftcenter video board for his first Lake Monsters home run of the season. Vermont scored four more times in seventh, including Davidson two-run double, and then a Yerdel Vargas
three-run homer in the eighth for a 13-1 lead.

The Cyclones were able to plate five runs on two hits and four walks in the top of the ninth, but Vermont was able to complete just its second three-game sweep of Brooklyn all-time (the other coming August 6-8, 2015 at Centennial Field).

Lake Monters starter Seth Shuman allowed the unearned run on three hits with two strikeouts over the first 3 1/3 innings, while Yorlenis Noa (1-5) two hits, one walk and three strikeouts in 3 2/3 scoreless innings to earn his first win of season. Starter Matt Cleveland (3-3) was charged with three runs on four hits over 3 2/3 innings to take loss for Brooklyn (32-27).

Watson also walked twice to go with his 2-for-3 night, while Davidson was 1-for-3 with three walks in his six plate appearances and Dustin Harris 2-for-4 with two RBI (has now hit in 10 of his last 11 games). Vargas’ went 2-for-5 with three runs scored to go along with his fourth home run of the season.

Vermont (28-33) finished the three-game sweep with 29 runs and 36 base hits after Brooklyn held the Lake Monsters to three total runs on 10 hits in a Cyclones three-game sweep at Centennial July 26-28. The 29 runs and 36 hits also come after Vermont had just two runs on 18 hits in being swept by Aberdeen over the first three games of the six-game homestand.

The Lake Monsters now head to Aberdeen for another three-game series starting Saturday at 6:05 pm. After that series and the NYPL All-Star Game, Vermont returns home next Thursday for a three-game series against the Lowell Spinners.