Game 1: Richard Fitts (4-5, 3.99 ERA) vs. Adam Leverett (0-1, 3.67 ERA)
Nothing says the 4th of July like a Patriots game. A capacity crowd was on hand to spend a Summer night at the ballpark and enjoy some baseball. Richard Fitts took the mound to try and deliver yet another quality start. He did take the no-decision in this one going 6.2 IP, 1 R, 5 H, 8 K for a team-leading eighth quality start of the season and fourth over his last five starts. Fitts has struck out 8+ in six of his 15 starts this season. Over his last eight starts dating back to 5/24, the Yankees No. 8 prospect has posted a 2.16 ERA and 1.02 WHIP. Fitts’ 92 K this season now ranks second in the Eastern League, while his 1.19 WHIP ranks sixth.
Somerset got out to an early 2 run lead in the 3rd when Mickey Gasper (1-for-4, RBI, R) roped an RBI double and Austin Wells drove him in with a sac fly. Wells (1-for-3, 3 RBI) continued to stay hot in the game, driving in another 2 runs to extend the Pats lead to extend the lead to 4-1. The Yankees No. 2 prospect leads the team with 13 multi-RBI games. Wells’ 43 RBI on the season lead the Patriots despite only playing in 47 of Somerset’s 76 games.
2 run single by @wellsius16! He now has 3 RBIs on the night and @SOMPatriots leads 4-1 in the bottom of the 5th #RepBX
— Bobby Santoro (@bsantoro112) July 5, 2023
Unfortunately for the Patriots, that was all the scoring they had in them, as the team failed to produce another run for the rest of the night. Once Fitts left the game, the bullpen just could not hold the lead in the 8th inning. Both Danny Watson (who has been lights out this season) and Josh Maciejewski gave up 2 runs a piece in the 8th, and Somerset was unable to overcome the blown lead. They dropped game 1 of the series 5-4.
Game 2: Matt Sauer (0-1, 7.36 ERA) vs. Cristian Hernandez (3-1, 2.78 ERA)
After a 4th of July loss, the Bridgewater Bombers looked to even the series against Reading. Matt Sauer looked to have a bounce back start and Elijah Dunham was in the lineup, so the Patriots rolled out what may have been the best lineup they’ve had all year.
This lineup🔥@SOMPatriots #RepBX https://t.co/GvBZSiggdX
— Bobby Santoro (@bsantoro112) July 5, 2023
Sauer (5 IP, 3 R, 6 H, 6 K) gave up an early run and Somerset was getting no-hit until the bottom of the 3rd. With the bases loaded, Austin Wells launched a go-ahead grand slam, and the Patriots took a 4-1 lead. It was Wells’ 11th homer of the season. Wells’ 47 RBI on the season lead the Patriots, despite only playing in 48 of Somerset’s 77 games. The 4-RBI performance marked Wells’ second multi-RBI game in a row and team-leading 14th multi-RBI showing of the season. Wednesday marked the one-year anniversary of Wells’ Double-A promotion on 7/5/22. Over 103 games with Somerset since then, Wells is slashing .258/.355/.489 with 23 HR and 90 RBI.
$1,000 worth of cured italian meat…A GRAND SALAMI #RepBx @SOMPatriots @Yankees @wellsius16 https://t.co/asY3tfJ7Sz
— Bobby Santoro (@bsantoro112) July 6, 2023
Jeisson Rosario was 2-4 and extended his on base streak to a season-high 9 games. Dating back to the start of the streak on 6/24, Rosario is slashing .324/.410/.471 with 6 RBI and 5 R. Delvin Perez also drove in 2 runs on a double in the bottom of the 8th inning, and the Patriots went on to take Game 2 by a score of 7-3.
Game 3: Chase Hampton (0-0, 4.15 ERA) vs. Griff McGarry (0-0, 3.81 ERA)
Since Chase Hampton has been called up from Hudson Valley, he has been the pitcher Somerset thought they were getting. While he had no record going into the night, anyone who has watched him knows he is worthy of being a top 10 prospect in the Yankees farm system.
Tonight was no different, as Hampton put in a quality start and struck out 10 batters for the 4th time this season. He went 5 innings, giving up 3 hits and only allowing 2 runs.
Normally when a starter has that stat line, you would think it would be worthy enough of a win for the Bridgewater Bombers. Unfortunately, the offense was a no show tonight as Reading held Somerset to just 2 runs and 2 hits.
The only Patriot to even record a hit was Eric Wagaman who went 2-4 on the night. Wagaman extended his hit-streak to a season-high six games and on-base streak to a season-high 11 games.
Over Wagaman’s 11-game on-base streak, he’s 19-42 (.452) with 10 R, 7 RBI, and a 1.201 OPS. Wagaman now has multi-hit performances in his last four games, and 11 multi-hit performances over 31 games this season.
Due to the lack of offense Somerset fell to Reading in Game 3 by a score of 3-2, wasting a quality start by Hampton.
Game 4: Blane Abeyta (5-3, 6.00 ERA) vs. David Parkinson (2-4, 5.61 ERA)
The Patriots looked to bounce back after a loss that provided little to no offense the night before. Blane Abeyta was the starter and logged a solid outing going 5.1 IP, 3 R, 8 H, 8 K, 0 BB. Abeyta has struck out 8+ in five of his 15 appearances this season. Abeyta allowed no walks while striking out 8+ for the second time this season.
The offense got off to a good start as Trey Sweeney led off the bottom of the 1st with a solo shot to right, putting Somerset up 1-0 early in the game. Sweeney’s 12 HR this season mark the third-most of any Patriot. After homering four times over his first 52 games of the season, Sweeney has now gone deep eight times over his last 21 games.
Solo shot Trey Sweeney and we are off and running here in Somerset! 1-0 @SOMPatriots #RepBX
— Bobby Santoro (@bsantoro112) July 7, 2023
After the Sweeney home run, the Patriots struggled to get runs across the board. While the Yankees top two prospects Jasson Dominguez (2-for-5, RBI) Austin Wells (2-for-4) each had multi-hit games, the Patriots failed to push across another run until the bottom of the 9th when they were trailing 4-1. Dominguez brought home the Patriots second run of the ballgame with an RBI single in the 9th inning, cutting Somerset’s deficit to two runs. The two-hit game marked the 14th multi-hit performance of the season for Dominguez, tied for most on the team.
The game ended, however, when Tyler Hardman struck out with runners at the corners to end the game. Somerset dropped game 4 by a score of 4-2 and now would have to win the next two games in order to split the series with Reading. Yoendrys Gomez will look to stop the 2-game skid Saturday night.
Game 5: Yoendrys Gomez (0-0, 1.37 ERA) vs. Tyler Phillips (3-5, 5.35 ERA)
Yoendrys Gomez has started his year pitching like the top prospect that he is. Posting a 1.37 ERA coming into this game, he was looking to continue his ace like run. He did just that by going 2.2 IP, 0 ER, 1H, 5K (a season high for him) and took a no-decision in this one. It was Gomez’s 8th start of the year since coming back from injury; he continues to try and lengthen out his pitch count and innings.
Following Gomez was Edgar Barclay who continued his dominant pitching by going 4 IP, 1 R, 2 H, 6 K recording season highs for both innings pitched and strikeouts. Barclay’s ERA on the year is now 1.06, as he has become a reliable arm for this Somerset team.
Austin Wells got the Patriots on the board first in the bottom of the 3rd with an RBI groundout scoring Delvin Perez.
Another RBI for @wellsius16 he just keeps producing and has been well overdue for a call up #RepBX https://t.co/f1aXJRSaFp
— Bobby Santoro (@bsantoro112) July 9, 2023
Jasson Dominguez (2-for-3, RBI, R, 2B, SB) stayed hot in this one, driving in a run on an RBI single in the 5th inning. Dominguez is starting to heat up after a slow start to the year, having multi-hit games in 4 out of the 7 games in July.
Tyler Hardman (1-for-5) drilled a solo home run to right for his team leading 20th of the year extending Somerset’s lead to 4-1 in the 6th inning. Hardman now also leads the Eastern league in long balls, as well.
Tyler Hardman just keeps going yard! His 20th long ball of the year puts @SOMPatriots up 4-1.#RepBX
— Bobby Santoro (@bsantoro112) July 9, 2023
The Phils fought back in the 8th, however, after Blas Castano came in to try and hold the lead. Castano gave up a 1-out, RBI double to Johan Rojas and was then lifted for Alex Mauricio. Mauricio then gave up a a 2-run single to Jhailyn Ortiz to tie the game at 4.
The game stayed tied at 4 and went on to extra innings where Mauricio, since giving up the lead, had settle down. Reading, however, was able to tack on 2 runs in the top of the 10th inning and Somerset went into the bottom of the 10th trailing 6-4.
With Trey Sweeney starting on 2nd as the ghost runner, both Austin Wells and TJ Rumfield struck out, leaving it up to Tyler Hardman. Sweeney was able to score on a wild pitch which cut the lead to 6-5. However, Hardman grounded out to end the game. Somerset lost their third straight game and lost the series going into the Sunday finale.
Game 6: Richard Fitts (4-5, 3.99 ERA) vs. Josh Hendrickson (1-5, 5.47 ERA)
Somerset entered Sunday’s game on a 3-game skid and looked to go into the All-Star Break with a win. Richard Fitts has pitched a lot better than his record shows, and he looked to lock in another quality start.
The offense helped out Fitts early, as both Elijah Dunham and Matt Pita hit long balls to give Somerset an early 3-0 lead in the bottom of the 2nd inning. Another run was tacked on in the bottom of the 5th on a throwing error by Reading that allowed a runner to score and made it 4-0. Josh Breaux (2-for-4, R) registered his first multi-hit game of the season for Somerset.
GIMME DAT PITA BREAD🫓
Matt Pita puts us ahead 3-0 in the 2nd with his first Double-A homer of the season💣 pic.twitter.com/BPIlYv3lAS
— Somerset Patriots (@SOMPatriots) July 9, 2023
Fitts’ only mistake on the day was allowing a run to score in the 6th, cutting the lead to 4-1. He left the game with a final line of 6 IP, 1 ER, 3 H and 4 Ks. In the top of the 6th, however, Austin Wells was thrown out of the game by the home plate umpire. Still to this moment it is not known as to why he was thrown out, but it was after he tried to throw a runner out at second.
Once Fitts left the game, the Somerset bullpen quickly gave up the lead just like the game before. Jesus Liranzo was the culprit this time surrendering the runs on 4 hits and walking a batter. Lisandro Santos came on to pitch the 8th and 9th keeping the score locked at 4. Before the bottom of the 9th could start, the skies opened up and the game was suspended until August 15th where it will be resumed in Reading.
The suspension of play may not have been the worst thing as Somerset has limped into the break on a 3-game slide and gave up a 4-0 lead in this one. The team is already playoff bound, however they will need to come out strong after the break to see how they respond to their recent struggles.
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