Tri-State sets new team high in runs with 17-8 slugfest win

Tri State Name 16x9

PULASKI, Va. -- Two days removed from its 9-0 home finale victory, Tri-State made the next game a memorable one with a 17-8 victory against the Pulaski River Turtles.

After a scoreless first inning, Pulaski quickly gained an early lead. Scoring four runs on four hits, Pulaski built a 4-0 gap with a two-run home run by Alex Altmann and RBI single by Austen Jaslove.

Though the Coal Cats answered back in the third, scoring two runs on singles by Trent Adelman and CJ Richard, the home side extended its lead over the next few innings. By the end of the fifth, the River Turtles climbed out to a 6-2 advantage.

However, Tri-State’s fortunes turned with a monumental sixth inning as eight consecutive Coal Cats reached base before recording an out. In that span, the River Turtles walked in two runs and Jorge Gonzalez-Febo recorded an RBI single to make it a 6-5 game. After a Trent Adelman hit-by-pitch gave the Cats the lead, both Gonzalez-Febo and Logan Poteet capped off the nine-run rally with RBI singles.

Pulaski got a run back in its half of the sixth, but Tri-State’s offense did not let up. Poteet continued his productive night at the plate with another RBI single, and Chace Chaplin followed suit later in the eighth. In the ninth, Gonzalez-Febo skied his third home run of the season beyond the left field wall, making it 17-7 with a grand slam.

Following three shutout innings by Ben Rabatin, David Stich took the mound in the ninth and allowed just one run to close out a 17-8 victory. Rabatin and Jack Renaud combined for five innings of scoreless relief while Joe Gomez got the win in his one inning of work.

In the batter’s box, the Coal Cats set a new team high for runs scored in a single game. Chaplin’s eighth inning single to make it a 13-7 topped the team’s previous high of 12 runs, set on July 2 at Bluefield and last reached on July 17 vs. Elizabethton. Ironically, the Cats’ new season high came against a River Turtles side that set its own season high during 20-3 victory over Bluefield on Saturday.

The Coal Cats improved improved to 21-25 overall. Meanwhile, Pulaski drops to a 22-23 record, having gone 2-5 in its last seven games.

Tri-State takes a two-game winning streak into Game 2 of the three-game set at Calfee Park on Tuesday at 7 p.m.