Lowell Wins 5-3 At Vermont On Saturday Night

BURLINGTON, VT --- Lowell scored five runs over the first four innings and six pitchers combined for 14 strikeouts as the Spinners held off the Vermont Lake Monsters 5-3 in New York-Penn League action Saturday night at historic Centennial Field.

All five Lowell runs came off Vermont starter Mitchell Clegg, who entered the game with a 0.75 ERA (two earned runs in 24 innings). Ronald Bermudez put the Spinners on top in the second with an RBI triple down the rightfield line and Drew Dominguez followed with an RBI single to center for a 2-0 lead.

Chris McGuinness plated the Spinners third run with an RBI single in the third and Joantoni Garcia laced a line drive two-run homer down the leftfield line in the fourth inning for a 5-0 Lowell lead. Clegg (1-2) gave up five runs on nine hits in his four innings.

Vermont continued its strong relief pitching of late as Gary Amato, Johan Figuereo and Federico Tanco combined to allow just one hit with two walks and seven strikeouts over the final five innings to give the Lake Monsters a chance to get back into the game.

The Lake Monsters got their first run of the game in the bottom of the fourth when Jack Walker grounded into a bases loaded double play and J.J. Sferra had an RBI single in the seventh to cut the deficit to 5-2. Vermont, which finished the game 3-for-15 with runners in scoring position, loaded the bases in both the eighth and ninth innings but were only able to score one run in the ninth on a bases loaded walk.

Wilfred Pichardo was 3-for-5 with a run scored, while Dominguez and Michael Almanzar both had two hits for the Spinners. Reliever Tom Ebert (1-0) allowed one run over two innings to pick up the win for Lowell (18-17). Sferra, J.P. Ramirez and Justin Bloxom each had two hits for the Lake Monsters, who finished the night with eight hits and seven walks to go along with a season-high 14 strikeouts.

Vermont (19-16), which had won the first two games of the series at Lowell on Thursday and Friday, will wrap up the four-game set with the Spinners on Sunday afternoon beginning at 5:05 pm. The second-place Lake Monsters then play their next four games against Stedler Division-leading Oneonta, who leads Vermont by 1 1/2 games.