Parmelee pays off for Snappers
It paid off Tuesday as the 20-year-old slugger had a career-high seven RBIs, including a walk-off homer in the bottom of the 11th inning to give the Beloit Snappers an 8-6 victory over the Dayton Dragons.
"I hit a slider that was down and in," Parmelee said. "I got two fastballs and when the count went to 1-2, I was just looking to put something in play. The pitch hung a little and I was able to take advantage."
Parmelee, who had a two-homer, six-RBI game for Beloit against Quad Cities on June 15, 2007, went 3-for-5 overall to raise his batting average to .351.
He lifted a sacrifice fly in the first, ripped a two-run single in the third, delivered a two-RBI double in the fifth and hit his game-winner with two out and Steven Singleton aboard in the 11th.
The left-handed hitter has four homers and 14 RBIs this season. Last year, he hit 15 longballs and had 70 RBIs, but was only .239 and didn't make contact as much as he wanted.
"I struggled with strikeouts last year, but this season I'm feeling more comfortable," Parmelee said. "I'm doing a lot better job of putting the ball in play."
The California native credits Snappers' hitting coach Rudy Hernandez and Bill Springman, the Minnesota Twins' hitting coordinator, for his improvement.
"They know a lot about hitting and I really believe in them," he said.
Leadoff hitter Keltavious Jones provided a lot of the offense for Dayton. He went 3-for-5 with a solo homer, a triple and a double and finished a single shy of the cycle.
Jones, who is hitting .414, has a five-game hitting streak, going 10-for-20 during the run.
Despite allowing two runs on three hits while fanning two and walking one over three innings, Matthew Williams (1-0) picked up the win in relief for the Snappers (5-8).
Enerio Del Rosario (1-1) surrendered two runs on two hits while striking out one over 1 1/3 innings to take the loss for the Dragons (7-5).
Alan Friedman is a contributor to MLB.com.