STATEN ISLAND, NY — Abdeil Mendoza tossed seven scoreless innings in his second straight start, while Logan Farrar and Greg Deichmann both homered to lead the Vermont Lake Monsters to a 4-0 New York-Penn League victory over the Staten Island Yankees Thursday night at Richmond County Bank Ballpark.
Mendoza (2-1) allowed just three hits (doubles in the second, fourth and fifth innings) along with one walk and five strikeouts over his seven scoreless frames. Over his last two starts, the 18-year-old has give up just seven hits with one walk and 12 strikeouts in 14 shutout innings.
Playing in just his second game with the Lake Monsters, outfielder Logan Farrar (36th-round pick out of VCU) drilled a two-run homer to right field to give Vermont a 2-0 lead in the second inning. The Lake Monsters added another run in the third on a Jack Meggs sacrifice fly, while Greg Deichmann (2nd-round pick out of LSU) lined a leadoff homer to rightcenter in the sixth inning for his first professional home run and a 4-0 Vermont lead.
The Yankees loaded the bases with no outs in the bottom of the eighth against reliever Jean Ruiz, who held Staten Island to just one run in the inning on an Oswaldo Cabrera RBI groundout. Ruiz got out of further trouble with a pop up to shortstop and a tapper back to the mound before Vermont added an insurance run in the ninth.
Deichmann was 2-for-4 with the solo homer, his third straight two-hit game for Vermont. Staten Island’s Jason Lopez was 2-for-4 with one run and one double, while starter Daniel Alvarez (1-1) allowed four runs on four hits with four walks and four strikeouts over six innings to take the loss.
Vermont (15-8) earned a split of the four-game series at McNamara Division-leading Staten Island (17-6) with the victory. The Lake Monsters have now won eight of their last 10 and have their second-best record all-time after 23 games (17-6 in 2010). Vermont returns home to historic Centennial Field for a six-game homestand beginning on Friday night against the Auburn Doubledays at 7:05 pm.