Skeeters hang on to win 11-9

With just 11 games remaining in the season, wins needed to start coming soon and often, as well as Lancaster & York loses. Kelvin Villa got the start for Sugar Land and faced off against Derell McCall for Somerset. 

After losing the last game in the 9th inning when Somerset put up 4 runs, the Skeeters were motivated to not let that happen again. They came out swinging in the top of the 1st inning putting up 4 runs on 4 hits. With 1 out, Dionys Cesar & Bubba Bell both singled to reach base. Josh Pressley grounded into a fielder's choice where Cesar was thrown out at 3rd. Steve Moss then singled driving in Bubba Bell for the 1st run. Ofilio Castro then drew a walk to join Pressley & Moss on bases to load the bases. Aaron Bates then drove a ball in outfield gap for a bases clearing triple! 4-0 Skeeters!

The bats were quiet until the top of the 3rd inning when Bubba Bell hit a lead off single and eventually came around to score on an Ofilio Castro single. 5-0 Skeeters! Kelvin Villa gave up 1 run on 2 hits to make it 5-1 Skeeters after 3 innings!

The runs continued to add up in the top of the 4th inning. Manny Mejia hit a lead off triple and came in to score on a Bubba Bell single with 2 outs. Josh Pressley then walked and Steve Moss singled to center field to bring Bell around for the score. 7-1 Skeeters!

The Skeeters exploded for another 4 runs on 5 hits in the top of the 7th inning. Matt Hagen, Manny Mejia & Dominic Ramos all singled to load the bases...no outs! Hagen came in to score on a Dionys Cesar sac fly to left field. Josh Pressley then hit a 2-out triple to bring in Mejia & Ramos! Pressley then came in to score on a Steve Moss single to 2nd base. 11-1 Skeeters! Not wanting to be out done, the Patriots also put up 4 runs on 5 hits to make it 11-5 Skeeters after 7 innings.

The scoring for Sugar Land was done for the night but the Patriots added 1 run on 2 hits in the 8th inning to make it 11-6 Skeeters after 8 innings.

To make things scary for the Skeeters fans, and exciting for the Patriots fans, the Patriots mounted a rally in the bottom of the 9th inning scoring 3 runs on 3 hits but fell short by 2 runs...SKEETERS WIN 11-9!

I know that most of the MVP awards go to batters but my MVP award goes to Kelvin Villa this time. He pitched 6 innings, allowed 2 runs on 7 hits and struck out 11 batters! Villa becomes the first Skeeters pitcher to record double-digit strikeouts of the season!

Hitting Streaks:

Dominic Ramos (3)

Matt Hagen (2)

Aaron Bates (2)

Steve Moss (2)

Dionys Cesar (2)

The Skeeters vs. Patriots season series comes to an end with a 6-14 record.

With the win, and a Lancaster loss thanks to the Long Island Ducks, the Skeeters are now just 7 games out of 1st place with 10 games to go!

The final road series will begin Friday night when the Skeeters start a 4-game series against the Bridgeport Bluefish over the next 3 days...double-header scheduled for Saturday! Friday's game 1 is scheduled to start at 6:05pm local time.