Hartford, CT- Reliever Shane Broyles struck out back-to-back New Hampshire batters looking with the bases loaded in the ninth inning, and the Hartford Yard Goats held on for a 1-0 victory over the Fisher Cats Friday night, before a sellout crowd of 6,772 fans at Dunkin' Donuts Park. It was the
Hartford, CT- Reliever Shane Broyles struck out back-to-back New Hampshire batters looking with the bases loaded in the ninth inning, and the Hartford Yard Goats held on for a 1-0 victory over the Fisher Cats Friday night, before a sellout crowd of 6,772 fans at Dunkin' Donuts Park. It was the second straight sellout for Hartford and its tenth of the season.
Broyles, tabbed the closer with the promotion of James Farris to Triple-A, preserved another stellar pitching performance by Ryan Castellani. The righthander hurled eight scoreless innings, allowed five hits and tied a season-high in strike outs with eight. His biggest strike out came, when he recorded a strike out with the bases loaded to end the fifth inning. It was his fourth straight victory, and first at home. Castellani has not walked a batter and allowed just one run in the last 16 innings, covering two starts. His record improved to 5-4.
Castellani was matched in the pitching department by New Hampshire starter Chris Rowley. The West Point graduate and First Lieutenant, pitched seven innings and held the Yard Goats to three hits. His one mistake was to Correlle Prime, who homered into the left-field seats to lead off the second inning for the game's only run. It was the Fisher Cats second straight 1-0 defeat.
Hartford has moved to within one game of .500 (26-27) with the win. Seven of the Yard Goats' last eight games have been decided by one run with the Yard Goats winning four of the games.
Game two of the series is Saturday night at 6:35. Lefthander Jack Wynkoop will pitch for the Yard Goats against righthander Sean Reid-Foley for the Fishercats. The game can be heard on AM 1410 WPOP and on iHeart Radio.
