MANCHESTER, N.H. – The New Hampshire Fisher Cats now need just one more win to clinch a trip to the Eastern League Championship Series for the third time in franchise history.
New Hampshire defeated the Trenton Thunder on Thursday night, 10-4, taking a 2-0 lead down to Trenton for Game 3 on Friday.
Unlike Wednesday’s contest, this game held early run production. The first inning alone held a leadoff home run for Trenton’s Gosuke Katoh and a three-run blast by New Hampshire’s Max Pentecost.
The Thunder looked poised to strike back in the second, but Katoh left the bases loaded, striking out swinging on a 3-2 pitch. New Hampshire capitalized on that defensive stop, with Harold Ramirez bringing home Forrest Wall and Bo Bichette in the bottom of the second on a line drive triple, the first triple from either team this postseason.
In the fourth, Trenton’s Dom Thompson-Williams added another home run in almost exactly the same location as Katoh’s early dinger, chasing New Hampshire starting pitcher Hector Perez from the contest. However, the Thunder managed just two hits after the departure of Perez.
“I can’t say enough about the job (Tayler Saucedo) coming out to calm the game down,” said Fisher Cats manager John Schneider. “So when you get to the sixth, seventh inning, you can really do some things righty, lefty, with what we’ve got.”
New Hampshire added two more runs in the sixth off a Cavan Biggio line drive to right, bringing Bichette and Gunnar Heidt home. Joshua Palacio also added a three RBI triple in the eighth.
Trenton added a consolation run in the ninth, with Jeff Hendrix bringing in Jorge Saez on a sacrifice fly.
Saucedo earned the win for New Hampshire, going 3 2/3 innings in relief following Perez, while the loss went to Trenton starter Nick Green.
Green allowed five runs off six hits and a walk, recording just four outs before the end of his night.
At the plate for New Hampshire, Ramirez and Bo Bichette led the way with three hits apiece
Kyle Holder led the Thunder with two hits on the evening.
In Game 3, Jordan Romano takes the mound for New Hampshire against Trenton’s Nick Nelson.
Nelson makes his third appearance for Trenton this year while Romano makes his 26th Eastern League start, with a 2-1 record against the Thunder during the regular season.
First pitch is scheduled for 7 p.m on Friday where the Fisher Cats hope to complete the sweep.
“They’re ready to go,” said Schneider. “You get two right out of the chute like that, it’s momentum, it’s pretty cool. you don’t have to say much boys tomorrow, they’ll be ready to go.”
In Thursday’s other Eastern League playoff game, Akron defeated Altoona by a score of 2-1 to take a 2-0 lead in that series.
