Boulders, Tornadoes Split Double-Header

The Worcester Tornadoes and Rockland Boulders split Saturday night’s double-header at Provident Bank Park and also split the series 2-2 in Can-Am League action. 

Worcester benefited from the long ball, as the club hit a combined four home runs in the double-header, which powered their offense over the Boulders in game one, 12-4.  Rockland then walked off Worcester, 3-2, in the bottom of the 10^th on a game-winning single from Scott Clement.

Abraham Nunez gave the Tornadoes the lead early in game one with a two-run home run off Boulders’ starter Roger Lincoln in the first.  The right-handed batter put the 3-1 pitch over the right field fence for his fourth homer of the season, which gave Worcester the 2-0 edge.

Worcester benefited from the long ball again in the second, after the first two batters reached base.  Ryan Crespi, the ninth hitter in the Tornadoes’ lineup, came up to the plate with one out and belted the first offering from Lincoln over the right field wall for a three run blast.  Crespi’s second home run of the season gave Worcester the 5-0 lead after two.

In the top of the third, three of the four runs scored by Worcester once again came from a home run, this time it was off the bat of Nick Salotti.  The first baseman gave the third pitch of his at bat a ride to deep right center for his 10^th homer of the season, and second of the series. Cam Monger capped the frame off with an RBI single, to push the Tornadoes to a 9-0 lead.

Three more runs came in for Worcester in the top of the fifth inning, after Rockland plated one on a RBI ground out from Joe Hage in the bottom of the fourth.  Rockland scratched three in the bottom of the seventh, capped off by a RBI single from Cristobal Santana who had three hits in the contest.

Zach Zuercher picked up his sixth win in the club’s 12-4 victory over Rockland in game one.  He struck out seven while only walking one batter over 6 2/3 innings of work.  Lincoln is charged with his fourth loss of the year, going two innings allowing nine runs on seven hits.

The Boulders scored game two’s first run in the bottom of the first on a RBI single from Vic Buttler after Sean Smith lead the contest off with his third triple of the year.

However, with the score 1-0 in favor of Rockland, Mark Minicozzi blasted a two-run home run, off Boulders’ starter Jon Velasquez, over the left center fence to give the Tornadoes a 2-1 edge. 

The Boulders tied the game, 2-2, on Ryan Mollica’s solo blast in the bottom of the seventh inning, his third of the season, off Worcester pitcher Ryan Bicondoa.

Kent Worthington picked up his first win as a Boulder striking out four over two innings of work in game two, while Nick Serino is charged with the loss.

The Boulders host in the New York Federals tonight at 5:05 as they send John Muller to the hill (1-4, 7.75 ERA) for his eighth start of the season.