SOMERSET, N.J. – The New Hampshire Fisher Cats were given a baseball game they could not refuse on Wednesday, defeating the Somerset Patriots, 3-1.
Offense was at a premium, with the two teams trading runs over the first two innings. New Hampshire’s run was set up by singles from Tanner Morris and Orelvis Martinez, with Morris coming home on a wild pitch from Patriots pitcher Sean Boyle. The Somerset run came from Derek Dietrich’s fourth home run of the year.
There the score stood until Luis De Los Santos singled home Martinez in the eighth, followed by a double steal with De Los Santos taking second base and Spencer Horwitz taking home. De Los Santos advanced to third on a throwing error.
New Hampshire had just five hits on the night, with Ryan Gold collecting a double.
Nick Fraze pitched 5 2/3 innings for New Hampshire and gave up just three hits, but the lack of offensive support meant he could not pick up the win. Instead, Sean Mellen was the winner (1-0), recording four outs immediately after Fraze left the game in the sixth.
Jake Elliott earned his first save thanks to a spotless ninth, two of the three batters he faced retired by strikeout.
