Come See Some Baseball at Benevento on Friday Night

NRLL's first "Friday Night at the Fields" of 2013 takes place this Friday, April 19, with four Majors games at Benevento Memorial Fields, including the season's first night game.

The action starts at 5:30 pm with three contests: Athletics vs. Royals on Field 1, Blue Jays vs. Pirates on Field 2, and Astros vs. Giants on Field 3. The Giants and the two-time defending champion Astros are the final two undefeated teams in Majors play, both with 2-0 marks.

At 7:30, the action moves under the lights when the Rangers square off against the Cardinals on Field 1.

On Wednesday, the Astros defeated the Pirates, 15-4, as Nick O'Donnell banged out four singles, Josh Zelikman scored three runs, and pitchers Daniel Lignos (2 innings, 4 Ks), Nick O'Donnell, and Cole Doke each took to the mound for the winners.

The Astros trailed, 4-2, heading into the fourth inning before the bats came alive as they erupted for 13 runs. Cole Doke's bases-clearing double was the inning's big hit.

For the Pirates, Madison Jay, Robbie Tammaro, and Stuart Glover all pitched. Michael Mills had an RBI triple and later scored a run. Richie Collarusso hit a double in the loss.

Also on Wednesday, the Giants scored a 9-3 win over the Athletics as Matt Pasquale and Zach Sampson slammed sixth-inning home runs to break open a close contest. Ryan Connor added three doubles and drove in three runs for the victors.

On the mound, Ryan Veneziano started and went 4.2 strong innings. He struck out 13 batters and yielded just one hit to earn the victory. Dylan Babcock came on in relief to gain the save.

The Athletics received a solid effort from pitcher Jason DiNapoli, who made his first career start. He pitched three innings and struck out five batters. Danny Hornby had a two-run single in the third inning that sliced the A's deficit to 4-2, and Sam Giunta singled and drew a walk.

The game was still just 5-3 heading into the final inning before Pasquale launched a leadoff home run over the left-center field fence on field three. Five batters later, Sampson hit his first Majors round-tripper, a high blast down the left field line that scored Dylan Babcock and Mario Perrone.

In Minors action on Thursday, the Seadogs slipped past the Bulls, 6-5, as Joey Framantino and Ryan Caviasca combined for an outstanding pitching effort and each made great defensive plays in the field. On offense, Nick Shea and Joey Caviasca contributed multi-hit games.

For the Bulls, Jake Needham performed well on the mound while Connor Aalto  and Andrew Daly delivered clutch hits to drive in three of the team's five runs.