Tucker, West Power 'Cats to Win

BURLINGTON, VT Tri-City right fielder Preston Tucker went deep for his first career homerun, and drove in five runs to lift the ValleyCats over the Vermont LakeMonsters Friday evening. 'Cats starter Aaron West continued his dominant mastery of his opponents, pitching seven scoreless innings and allowing just two hits while fanning seven.

In the fourth inning, Tucker stepped to the plate with two men on and one out and drove a ball deep over the right field fence. The home run was Tucker's first of his professional career, and came in just his third game as a ValleyCat giving Tri-City a commanding 3-0 lead.

One inning later, Tucker would come to the plate again, with Tri-City up 4-0. Tucker cooly smacked a two-out single the other way to put the game on ice, 6-0, and to give him his fifth RBI of the game.

Six runs was more than enough for West who was dealing from the first pitch. With the victory, West is now 4-0 on the year and also lowered his ERA to a very impressive 0.88. Jamaine Cotton entered the game in the eighth and pitched two hitless innings to complete the 2-hit shutout for Tri-City.

With the win, Tri-City swept the first part of their home-and-home four-game series against Vermont. Now eight games up in the division, the 'Cats (24-8) will look to continue their three-game winning streak at "The Joe" tomorrow evening when Brian Holmes (2-1, 3.80 ERA) takes on Andres Avila(0-2 3.41 ERA). Game time is 7pm, with fireworks presented by Price Chopper to follow.