By Emma del Sol
Jon Duplantier struck out seven of the Brewers nine starters and had 10 strikeouts in six innings of work as the ‘Sters fell to the Los Angeles Brewers 4-1. The ‘Sters had the bases loaded with two outs in the bottom of the ninth and the winning run at the plate, but were unable to capitalize on that situation. Our one run was scored on a bases loaded walk in the bottom of the ninth inning to Ford Stainback, forcing home a run.
The Brewers struck first in the top of the third inning, scoring two runs. The ‘Sters had multiple chances throughout the game, but weren’t able to generate any momentum. The Brewers only gave up five hits to the ‘Sters and left 11 men on base.
In the sixth inning Colt Atwood had a triple and on the throw home, Jake Vickerson, who reached on a walk, was thrown out at the plate. The Foresters did seem as if they were going to come back in the bottom of the ninth inning. With no-outs there were runners on first and second. After two consecutive outs, the next batter Atwood walked. With the bases loaded the Brewers walked Stainback to force home a run. Jaylin Davis then hit a hard line drive to second ending the game.
On a side note, the ‘Sters reached base on eight walks and one HBP.
The real story of the game goes to ‘Sters pitching. Duplantier, along with Blake Goins, Cody Van Aken, and Kyle Kubat struck out 14 Brewers. Duplantier leads the team with 46 strikeouts on the season. He also is an All-Star along with 12 Foresters and is second in the CCL in strikeouts with 38. In 24 CCL innings Duplantier has a 1.5 ERA, one of the top in the league.
Duplantier, Atwood, Bret Boswell, Davis, Dillon Dobson, AJ Kennedy, Andrew Lantrip, Jeremy Montalbano, Sam Odom, Granger Studdard, Vickerson, and Jon Woodcock are all members of the 2014 CCL All-Star team. The game will be at 7pm on Wednesday July 16th at the MLB Academy and will be broadcast on Fox Sports West.
The ‘Sters are back in action again tonight against the Brewers at 5 pm.
