The Franklin Reporter & Advocate Eight Villages, One Community
Bridgewater, NJ- The Somerset Patriots (38-24) defeated the New Britain Bees (25-37) 12-3 at TD Bank Ballpark on Saturday evening.
A seven run fifth inning put the Patriots in front for good after trailing 3-1 to enter the inning. Olmo Rosario’s RBI groundout got the scoring started and an RBI base hit by Greg Golson tied up the game at 3-3. Mark Minicozzi gave Somerset a one run lead with an RBI base hit before Tyler Bortnick followed with a grand slam (1) to break open the game.
“It all starts with my teammates getting on base,” said Bortnick. “I saw Beimel last night and got a good sense for his pitches. Tonight I was just looking to do something early in the count. Luckily he threw me something I could hit and I put a good swing on it.”
The Bees had jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning on an RBI double by James Skelton and a sacrifice fly by Craig Maddox.
Rosario hit a solo home run (4) in the bottom of the fourth inning to cut the lead to 2-1
Conor Bierfeldt made it a 3-1 game with a solo home run (11) in the top of the fifth inning before Somerset’s big rally in the bottom of the frame.
Christian Marrero flirted with the team’s second grand slam of the game on a two-run single off the right field wall in the sixth inning that made the score 10-3.
The Patriots added two more runs in the eighth inning on a bases loaded walk by Yovan Gonzalez and an RBI single by Alfredo Rodriguez.
Lucas Irvine (4-1) earned the win, allowing three earned runs on nine hits and nine strikeouts in seven innings. Jason Jarvis (1-4) suffered the loss, allowing five earned runs on five hits in an inning pitched.
The 2017 Somerset Patriots Season presented by Ford will continue at home on Sunday, June 25th with a 1:05 pm game against the New Britain Bees. The game features an appearance by Chase and Marshall of Paw Patrol. For tickets, visit www.somersetpatriots.com.
