MANCHESTER, N.H. – The New Hampshire Fisher Cats couldn’t recapture the late magic they found on Tuesday, falling 5-3 against the Somerset Patriots.
The result spoiled an outstanding start by Zach Logue, who had the first Fisher Cats start this year that went into the sixth inning. He recorded two outs there, striking out eight batters for the second straight start and recording 58 of his 88 pitches for strikes en route to taking a no-hitter into the fifth.
Logue was on the hook for a pair of runs in the sixth, a Matt Pita RBI double that scored Max Burt and an RBI single by Oswaldo Cabrera that brought Pita home to give the Patriots a 2-1 lead.
Samad Taylor evened things up in the sixth after being hit by a pitch with the bases loaded and Nick Podkul gave New Hampshire the lead back with a sacrifice fly to right on the next play.
That lead was ultimately squandered by New Hampshire reliever Mike Ellenbest, who began his appearance with a home run to Cabrera that tied things up again, followed by a two-run homer to Dermis Garcia that gave Somerset a lead they would not relinquish.
The Fisher Cats struck out 18 times on the evening, one short of their franchise record, with every Fisher Cat with a plate appearance striking out except for Austin Martin, whose single in the fifth was responsible for New Hampshire’s other run, bringing home Podkul in the fifth.
Martin went 2-for-3, marking his first multi-hit day since Opening Day in Portland last week. Otto Lopez also recorded two hits, his third straight multi-hit game and his ninth game with a hit.
Ellenbest (0-1) was the loser for New Hampshire while Michael Gomez (2-0) was the winner, blowing a save but also the fortunate recipient of the two Somerset home runs, retiring the ‘Cats in the sixth and seventh.
