Mathewson McCarthy
'Major East' Royals shut down Braves, 4-0

The Mathewson McCarthy "Major East" Royals shut down the attack of the National League leading Braves, winning 4-0.

The pitching of the Royals' Rob Paslaqua and Timmy Coulter held the Braves to just two hits. Paslaqua went 3.1 innings, striking out eight batters to record the win while Coulter finished the game striking out five for the save.

The Braves started the game out hot as the first two hitters, Doug Murphy and Steve Zaprowski, reached base on singles. Paslaqua then went to work, getting out of the jam and closing the door the rest of the way.

The Royals picked up two runs in the bottom of the first. Brenden Chambers launched one to the left field fence and came home on Paslaqua's sacrifice grounder. Coulter, who drew a walk, came home on a wild pitch to give the Royals an early two-run lead.

The Royals scored two more in the second. Matt Jungier led the inning off with a single to right center and was followed by a Ryan Czerwinski walk. Mike Geiger then hit a shot to third that sent Jungier home. Andrew Zgoda's base hit up the gut plated Czerwinski for the final run of the game as pitching became the dominant weapon of both teams.

In the top of the fourth, the Braves loaded the bases with one out before Coulter took the mound. Coulter got Peter Moran to fly to center before striking out the final batter.

The Royals loaded the bases in their half of the fourth before Moran made his pitching appearance and struck out the side to put out the fire. Moran had five strikeouts over the final two innings.

Colin Greenway had an excellent game behind the plate for the Braves while Jake Berke, Ryan Schwartz and Brian Bookbinder played well defensively for the Royals.

Royals 12, Marlins 4

The Royals' bats came alive in the fourth inning, highlighted by Matt Jungier's inside the-park home run, to score nine runs and open up what was a tight game with The Marlins. The game was a close battle until that inning and propelled the Royals to a 12-4 win.

The Royals scored two runs in the top of the first inning as Brenden Chambers and Timmy Coulter scored. Coulter's single to right plated Chambers. The Royals added a run in the third as Ryan Schwartz singled up the middle, stole second and third, and came home on Rob Paslaqua's infield fly that landed on the edge of the outfield.

The Marlins tied it up in their half of the third as Joe Lozio led off with a single, Sam Burgett drew a walk and Matt Frazier singled home Lozio. Peter Giancarlo then drilled a shot up the middle that plated Burgett and Frazier to tie the game at 3-3.

The top of the fourth brought the Royals fireworks as they batted the lineup.

Matt Pragel and Andrew Zgoda and Tommy Weisansal drew one-out walks before Brian Bookbinder's RBI single. Michael Geiger then sent a shot to the center field fence for a two-run triple.

Richard Schwatrz knocked home Geiger with a single before Brenden Chambers double to left plated Schwartz. This set the stage for Jungier's two-run inside the park homer that went down the first base line to cap off the final runs.

The Royals survived an intense collision between starting pitcher, Rob Paslaqua and Coulter who went for an infield popup. Pragel finished on the mound to earn the save.

Giancarlo had an excellent outing on the hill for the Marlins, striking out three Royal batters.

Royals 8, Athletics 8

Adam Panfil led off the bottom of the last inning with a game-tying home run to left center field that measured 250-feet. The home run spoiled a great comeback by the Royals, who trailed the Athletics, 7-2, before they mounted their comeback in the top of the fourth. The game ended in an 8-8 tie as both teams used big innings to mount scores.

In the top of the first, the Royals' Timmy Coulter sent a deep shot to the left center field fence for a double and came home on a wild pitch. In the bottom of the first, the Athletics answered back with five runs, highlighted by Panfil's two-run double to left.

The Royals got one back in the top of the second as Matt Pragel led off with a single, moved to second on Andrew Zgoda's grounder to short, and came home on Rich Schwartz's sacrifice grounder to second base.

The A's returned their four-run lead as Alex Achenbach reached on an error and eventually came home on a passed ball. The A's picked up another run as Panfil reached on a dropped third strike and scored to give the A's a five-run lead after three innings.

The Royals battled back and batted their lineup in the top of the fourth.

Rob Paslaqua and Pragel led off with consecutive singles and Paslaqua scored on Zgoda's sacrifice grounder. Schwartz's single then plated Pragel before Ryan Czwerinski's blooper to left scored both Zgoda and Schwartz. Jake Berke then knocked in Czwerinski with his single up the gut and came home on Mike Geiger's sacrifice grounder to give the Royals an 8-7 lead. A scoreless fifth set the tone for Panfil's heroics.

Jordan Honsberger and Matt Whiting did well behind the plate for the A's.

The Royals' Rob Paslaqua had 11 strikeouts and caught three flawless innings while Coulter had six strikeouts to shut down the A's over the final three innings. In addition to his home run, Panfil scored three of the A's eight runs.

'Majors West'

Red Sox 11, Cardinals 10

The Red Sox bounced back from two straight losses to score a come-from-behind victory against the Cardinals, 11-10 on Wednesday night.

This thrilling game went back and forth for all six innings as both teams flashed leather led by big defensive plays by Chris Mussachio and Drew Sember of the Red Sox. Nolan Burch, Nick Courtney and Ricky Procknal were tough on the mound for the Cardinals.

David Krasinski kept his hot bat alive with two more hits for the Cardinals. The Red Sox big bats were paced by Dante Sparcino (three hits) and Ryan Johnson and Jimmy Honsberger (two hits each).

The game came down to last innings heroics by the Red Sox as Sparcino advanced to third on a perfect drag bunt by Clay Tuyn . Johnson came to the plate and ripped a solid single into center, scoring Sparcino with the game winner.

Braves 20, Royals 7

The Braves pounded out 18 hits led by Joey Couche with three doubles, a single, three runs and three RBIs and Mark Glieco with a double, a single, three runs and seven RBIs.

Other Braves standouts were Tom Krasinski (three doubles, three runs, three RBIs), Sam Scime (two doubles, two runs, four RBIs) and David Costanzo (double, single, three runs, RBI). Adam Demer, Zach Fancher, Jeremy Zgoda, Richard Patti, and Koso Suzuki also hit safely.

Josh Barrett led the Royals with a double, a single, and a run. Jacob Huber, Dennis Gilbert, Robert McDonnell, and Billy Erdman provided the other Royal hits.

Huber, playing short stop, initiated a rare double play in the fifth that took away some of the Braves momentum.

Four Braves pitchers (Costanzo, Krasinski, Scime, and Patti) combined for a six-hitter and 11 strikeouts.

Braves 13, Red Sox 12

The Red Sox jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first, highlighted by a RBI single from Jimmy Honsberger, who also scored in that inning. The teams traded single runs in the second inning.

In the third, Red Sox threat Francisco Mc- Gowan hit a deep shot to the fence for a triple and scored on an error on the throw from the outfield. They added another on hits by Matt Macomber and Dante Sparcino.

Braves' left fielder John Carroll robbed Clayton Tuyn of a hit on fly ball, but it was good for a sacrifice fly and another run.

The Braves got four runs back in the bottom half of the inning on RBI triples by Richard Patti and David Costanzo and a RBI single from Mark Glieco. The Braves went up 12-10 after the fifth inning with a single from Costanzo, two RBIs from Joey Couche, and a double from Sam Scime.

But the Red Sox weren't finished yet. In the top of the sixth, with two outs and some slick base running by Eric Kwietniewski and Stephen Taraboletti, the Red Sox managed to tie the score at 12-12.

Scime ended the Red Sox rally by catching a fly to center off McGowan's bat that would have scored the go-ahead run. Braves' catcher Jeremy Zgoda led off the bottom of the seventh with a single and advanced to second on a throwing error. After a walk to Patti, a double steal put runners at second and third. The Red Sox moved all their fielders into the infield to try to cut down the runner at home but Tom Krasinski looped a single behind first base scoring Zgoda with the game winner.

Other offensive contributors for the Braves were Adam Demer (two singles, run, RBI), Carroll (single, run) and Zach Fancher (run, RBI).

'AAA' baseball

Cardinals 15, Royals 7

The Cardinals and Royals competed under the lights at Wehrle Field on Friday and the Cardinals came away with a hard fought 15-7 win.

Matthew Foster was the hitting star of the game for Cardinals. Foster had a grand slam home run in the first inning and a two-run home run blast in the fourth. Michael Steffan added two doubles and Nathan Berke had two hits for the Cardinals.

Key RBI hits were also contributed by John Herman, Andy Meyer and Shawn Barbalato.

The Cardinals received strong pitching from Berke, Patrick Irving, Foster, Sam Canell, and Steffan.

The Royals were led offensively with solid hits by Matthew Cohen, Nicholas Giambrone, Spencer Crist, Josh Paylan, and Zachary Hurrell. The Royals received excellent pitching from Michael Braun, Crist, Mike Poturalski, and Cohen. Cam Osalkowski played well in the field.