Boulders Fall, 3-2, As Hitting Disappoints

Boulders’ starting pitcher Jonathan Velasquez turned in a solid outing despite allowing two runs in the first inning at Provident Bank Park on Friday.

“It’s on us, this loss is on the hitters,” Boulders’ centerfielder Sean Smith said of the disappointing 3-2 loss to the New York Federals.

Velazquez, who had not survived a sixth inning yet this season, went eight innings allowing 3-runs on seven hits and turned in four strikeouts. Not a spectacular performance, but he certainly gave his team a chance to win.

“He pitched really good,” said Manager Dave LaPoint. “He did a lot of work but you know he threw some good pitches when we needed and got us out of some jams.”

The Boulders (9-15) scored a run of their own in the first inning and tied the game 2-2 in the fourth when Tommy Giles sent his second home run of the year soaring down the right field line. Todd Jennings singled three pitches later and it looked like the Boulders were going to take control but the hits never came and the inning stalled.

LaPoint was quite unhappy with his teams performance at the plate after another close loss.

“Hitting wise, I see an embarrassment right now,” said LaPoint. “We only got five hits the whole night. There were pitches up in the zone all night that we did nothing with. So it is totally an embarrassment hitting wise. We’ve been doing this now for two or three weeks and it’s got to stop.”

“I threw one bad pitch in the eight,” said Velazquez.

The pitch he speaks of is one that was launched into the stands by Federals’ shortstop Alex Bardeguez. The solo blast put the Federals up 3-2 and it would stay that way.

Despite four stolen bases by Boulders’ third baseman Jermel Lomack — who flew out to center to end the game—the Boulders offense fell short. They play three more against the Federals and look to pull ahead in the series over the next couple of nights.

Special event

Hi-Tor Animal Shelter has teamed up with the Boulders in an effort to find homes for some of the wonderful animals up at Hi-Tor called “Home Plate To Your Home”.

A “Parade of Pets” will take place on the Boulders dugout and all animals will be up for adoption. The first opportunity to check this out tonight. The 7:05 p.m. game will also be followed by a firework display.

The Boulders’ bats will be looking to get even after falling asleep on Friday night.