Newcomers dazzle as upper levels win and lower levels lose

Not every headline needs to be art.

Columbus Clippers 12, Omaha Storm Chasers 3

Box Score · Clippers improve to 44-48

The Clippers have not lost since last week’s Saturday recap. Neat.

Alex Call, Trenton Brooks, and Oscar Gonzalez led the onslaught with three hits apiece. Call and Gonzalez both homered once. Ryan Lavarnway also homered.

Cody Morris pitched four innings of five-hit ball while allowing a single run. Four relievers combined for the remaining five innings; only Juan Mota ran into a bit of trouble as he allowed two. Fortunately for the Clippers, an insurmountable lead cannot be ... surmounted.

BONUS CONTENT: Mike Rivera, C, earned his first RBI as a Clipper.

Akron RubberDucks 4, Harrisburg Senators 2

Box Score · RubberDucks improve to 58-35

Akron put it all together in a decisive fifth inning against the Senators. Steven Kwan hit a hard grounder to first that scored Ike Freeman to tie things up at one Later, Bryan Lavastida singled in two more, and Bo Naylor provided the icing on the cake with an insurance ribbie of his own in the eighth.

Akron starter and suspected Big 12 QB Peyton Battenfield pitched six innings of one-run ball, striking out seven and allowing only two hits. Battenfield came over in the Luplow trade and is not wasting much time establishing his credentials, it seems. Yes, he is a college starter who was drafted in the middle rounds who does not walk folks.

I am shocked, shocked to find command here!

Jake Miednik, Dakody Clemmer, and Tanner Tully grabbed the door sequentially and slammed it shut, over and over, despite the Senators griping about damage to the frame and neighbors complaining.

Lake County Captains 0, Dayton Dragons 2 (F/6.5)

Box Score · Captains fall to 50-44

The Captains and Dragons squared off at 9:03 PM after nearly two hours of rain delay. When the Captains failed to score in the top of the seventh the umpires went ahead and called the game.

Hunter Gaddis pitched six strong innings for the Captains. He allowed four hits and two runs with three strikeouts and no walks. Unfortunately, Eduardo Salazar of the dragons outdueled him. It will go down as a seven-inning CGSO? That’s what I’d log it as, anyway. He struck out ten and allowed three hits against a single walk.

Jhonkensy Noel, Raynel Delgado, and Quentin Holmes picked up the only hits for Lake County.

Lynchburg Hillcats 4, Salem Red Sox 6 (F/10)

Box Score · Hillcats fall to 47-47

Franz Liebkind will show you how to lose like a man.

(10th inning: ~happens~)

Boy, when things go wrong!

Anyway, the Hillcats battled back from a three-run deficit with runs in the second and fifth. Four sensational shutout innings from follower/piggybacker Hugo Villalobos and a shutdown ninth from Cade Smith pushed the game into extras.

Sadly, Smith struggled in his second inning of work.

Salem pushed three runs across thanks to an intentional walk, a triple, and a wild third strike. Minor league baseball!

Jonathan Rodriguez scored on a sacrifice fly in the bottom half of the frame, but that’s all that the Hillcats could muster.

No word on whether you can make more money on a blowout than a win.