Tigers Maul Vermont 13-1 On Monday

BURLINGTON, VT --- The Connecticut Tigers hit three home runs, including a pair of three-run homers, in a 13-1 victory over the Vermont Lake Monsters in New York-Penn League action Monday night at historic Centennial Field.

Austin Athmann got the Connecticut 13-run, 16-hit attack started with a three-run homer in the top of the second inning after a Blaise Salter single and Josh Lester double. The Tigers added five more runs in the fourth inning on five straight hits including RBI doubles from Anthony Pereira and Victor Padron before a Will Savage three-run homer gave Connecticut an 8-0 lead.

The Tigers added single runs in the fifth, sixth and eighth before Vermont recorded its only run of the game in the bottom of the eighth when Luis Barrera walked with one out and scored on a Eli White double. Connecticut, which had entered the contest with just six home runs in its first 42 games, got their third home run of the night in the ninth inning on a two-run shot from Cole Bauml.

Athmann, Salter, Lester and Mario Sanjust each had three hits on the ninth for the Tigers, who had six doubles to go along with the three homers in their 16-hit night. Starter Afreed Gutierrez allowed just one hit and one walk in four scoreless innings, while reliever Emmanuel Chavez (2-1) gave up one hit and struckout three in two innings to earn the win.

Eric Marinez went 4-for-4 for the Lake Monsters second four-hit game of the season (the other from Sean Murphy against Aberdeen on June 30th). Starter Dakota Chalmers allowed eight runs on eight hits with one walk and five strikeouts over the first four innings, while outfielder Steven Pallares pitched the final 1 1/3 innings with two runs (the Bauml two-run homer) on two hits with one walk and two strikeouts.

Vermont (19-24) and Connecticut (23-20) will wrap up the Lake Monsters six-game homestand on Tuesday at a special starting time of 11:05 am at Centennial Field. There will be extremely limited parking available at the ballpark and Trinity lots, so fans are encouraged to park at the Gutterson Fieldhouse Parking Garage and take the shuttle bus to Centennial.