Boulders Rock Tornadoes, 8-2

Will Hassett continued his fantastic start with Rockland as he and the Boulders pounded the Worcester Tornadoes by a score of 8-2 Tuesday evening in Can-Am League action at Provident Bank Park in Pomona.

Hassett tossed seven innings for the third consecutive outing, striking out a season-high eight batters and giving up just four hits to improve his record to 2-0 as a Boulder.

Ryan Mollica continued his blazing hot second half with a two-run blast in the bottom of the first.  The home run was his fifth in eight games, and his ninth of the season. 

With an out yet to be recorded in the first, Worcester starter Shawn Gilblair loaded the bases after two more hits and a walk.  Cristobal Santana then walked to bring in the third Boulder run.  Cole Kraft committed the first out of the inning, but his ground out plated another for Rockland.  Ryde Rodriguez then flew out for the next out, but he too would bring in a run on a sacrifice fly, leaving the Boulders with an early 5-0 lead.

The Boulders got on the board once again in the home half of the first.  They began the inning with four straight singles to bring in their sixth run.  Scott Clement kept the trend going with one out and stroked an RBI single of his own.  Norm Hutchins followed with a sacrifice fly to center that brought in the third run of the inning to give the Boulders an eight-run advantage after four.

Worcester scored its first run in the top of the fifth when Brendon Kelliher scored on a passed ball.  This cut the Boulders’ lead to seven runs.

Worcester was able to get to relief pitcher Jon Shepard in the eighth, but after loading the bases without an out, Shepard limited the damage to just a run, making the score 8-2 in favor of Rockland.