(Reading, PA) - The 17th annual morning game at FirstEnergy Stadium ended with a bang before a crowd of 6,014 as the Reading Whoopies played their fourth straight one-run game to wrap up their long weekend series against the Flying Squirrels. For the second time in three days, an intentional
(Reading, PA) - The 17th annual morning game at FirstEnergy Stadium ended with a bang before a crowd of 6,014 as the Reading Whoopies played their fourth straight one-run game to wrap up their long weekend series against the Flying Squirrels. For the second time in three days, an intentional walk brought up Austin Bossart , who came through in the clutch with yet another game-winning single off Caleb Simpson . Leaving town with a 6-5 win in 10 innings, the Whoopies (24-31) will become the Fightin Phils once more when they start a three-game series in Altoona on Tuesday night at 7:00 PM.
Looking for his fourth straight win, lefthander JoJo Romero got immediate help in the bottom of the first against Flying Squirrels starter Shaun Anderson . The Whoopies came out of the gate on fire, with four straight hits, including a 2-RBI triple from Jiandido Tromp and a single from Darick Hall to open up a 3-0 lead four batters in.
Richmond rallied quickly in the top of the second on singles from Dylan Davis and Tyler Brown , which sandwiched a flyout. John Polonius popped a double to right before Matt Lipka chipped in with a sacrifice fly to center to drive in his 10th run and make it a 3-2 ballgame. Starting with a strikeout of Anderson, Romero retired 10 of the next 11 Flying Squirrels hitters to make it through the fifth inning.
Bossart later led off the fourth inning with a double into right center for his fourth two-bagger of the season. Two batters later, Romero jumped in on the cause with a bouncing ball back up the middle that snuck into center field for his first hit and run batted in to go up 4-2. However, he'd fail to record an out when he came back out to the mound for the top of the sixth inning.
Back-to-back walks to Ronnie Jebavy and Jerry Sands opened the inning, and Dylan Davis ended Romero's day with a single to make it a 4-3 ballgame. Ranfi Casimiro came in and delivered his finest performance of the season, allowing just one of his two inherited runners to score on a game-tying sacrifice fly off the bat off Tyler Brown. Aside from that, the big righthander fired two perfect innings of relief to keep the game tied at four.
The action picked up in the seventh when the Whoopies went back to work against reliever Will LaMarche in his first inning. Cord Sandberg's second hit of the day was a lined double inside the right field line, and after a walk to Emmanuel Marrero , Tromp brought in his third run of the day with a single into center to put Reading back in front 5-4.
With closer Edgar Garcia in for the ninth inning, he struck out Brown to back the Flying Squirrels into a corner with one out. On a 1-0 pitch, Polonius skied an opposite field home run into the pool in right field, giving him his first longball of the season and a 5-5 tie that forced extra innings for the second time in the series. Facing Simpson in the bottom of the tenth, Hall started the inning with an infield single to push Tromp to third as the winning run. With one out, pinch-hitter Zach Green was intentionally walked, and Bossart ripped an 0-1 pitch back up the middle for yet another game-winner and a 6-5 final.
America's Classic Ballpark is proud to be a part of Pennsylvania's Americana Region. Season tickets for the 2018 season are available online at Fightins.com, by phone at 610-370-BALL, and in-person at FirstEnergy Stadium. Follow the Fightin Phils on Twitter at @ReadingFightins and like them on Facebook via www.facebook.com/fightins.
