To be the best, you have to beat the best. By collecting 12 hits and only allowing four, Tri-State did just that in a 9-2 victory over the Danville Otterbots Thursday evening.
Just as it did in its previous series, the Coal Cats set the tone in the batter’s box from the beginning of the series opener. CJ Richard and Jorge Gonzalez-Febo opened the game with back-to-back singles before Logan Poteet brought Richard home to take a 1-0 lead.
From there, Tri-State scored runs in the next two innings to gain a 4-0 gap. With the bases loaded, a line drive by Isaac Turner scored two runs in the second, proceeded by a solo home run by Gonzalez-Febo to lead off the next inning. With Gonzalez-Febo’s first home run of the season, the third baseman ended as the fourth Coal Cat to record a multi-hit game during the series opener.
With its collective back against the wall, the Otterbots fought back in the bottom half by drawing three walks to load the bases. From there, a wild pitch brought the Otterbots to a 4-1 deficit.
Despite the run scored, Coal Cats starter Kenyon Collins pitched five stellar innings. Though he allowed three walks, Collins only allowed three hits and one run while striking out three batters to earn his second win of the season. After Collins bounced back with a 1-2-3 fourth inning, the Cats' offense once again pounced on Otterbots' pitching.
Tri-State continued its small ball success in the fifth, as the team hit two singles in the frame including a two-run single by left fielder Gavin Johnson. This was the first of three hits by the Gardner-Webb product, a total that led all Tri-State batters after finishing the night going 3-for-5. With a 6-1 advantage, the visitors tacked on another run in the seventh inning as a single and steal put CJ Richard in position to score following an error at third base.
In the home half of the seventh, Danville got one run closer to Tri-State with an RBI single. Aside from that, the bullpen delivered three shutout innings from three separate pitchers. Before allowing the seventh-inning RBI single, Bryce Dolby began his outing with a scoreless sixth and Joe Gomez followed by striking out the side in the eighth inning.
Even though the Coal Cats offense made it a 9-2 game thanks to a two-run double by Jack Smith and a sacrifice fly in the next at-bat, the story of the ninth came from the mound. In the bottom half, Drew DelCollo had an impressive debut out of the Coal Cats bullpen to close out the victory. The native of Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania allowed a leadoff walk before retiring the final three batters and earning his first Appalachian League strikeout in the process.
With the 9-2 victory, Tri-State earned its fourth consecutive win while taking seven of its previous eight contests. The Coal Cats improve to 17-21 overall while the Otterbots fall to a 24-13 record. The two sides battle once more during Friday’s 7 p.m. contest, as Tri-State seeks its fifth straight victory.
