Just two games on the slate, Burlington would fall in their playoff game and Idaho Falls won their last road game of the year. In other news Meibrys Viloria, the 19 year old catcher was named Pioneer League MVP for his outstanding seasons for Idaho Falls.
BP KC Player of the Day – Ricky Aracena 3-3 R, 2b, 3 RBI, 2 BB, SB (17), CS (8)
Playoffs
Johnson City up 1-0 in the Best of 3 series
Johnson City Cardinals 6 Burlington Royals 2
After a pair of first inning doubles helped stake the Royals to a first inning lead things turned in the Cardinals favor to take a game one win. The offense went cold, six hitters would reach from the second through ninth innings with no more than one in any inning to get shutout the rest of the way while the Cards were assisted by the Royals defense and the starter towards the win. A one out fielding error by Chris DeVito opened the scoring for Johnson City in the second inning, when that error lead to a single that scored the first run of the game for the Cardinals. A wild pitch in the 3rd pushed a runner into scoring position and another well timed single scored the run when it may not have had the wild pitch never had occurred, tying the game 2-2. The fourth inning was the back breaker for Burlington as the usually reliable Royals defense crumbled all around starter Garrett Davila. It started with another DeVito error that lead to the leadoff hitter reaching, one hitter later the Cards had pushed the lead run to third on a missed catch error by second baseman Gabriel Cancel on a force attempt. A single and a third error, this one by Emmanuel Rivera pushed three runs across before a double capped the scoring in the inning and the game, putting Johnson City up 6-2. It was four unearned runs on paper, but it could’ve easily been five as the Royals seemingly gave away the game and a 1-0 series lead.
Garrett Davila 3.1 IP 6 H 6 R 2 ER 2 BB 1 K
Vance Vizcaino 2-3
Kort Peterson 1-3 R, 2b, RBI, BB
Idaho Falls Chukars 6 Orem Owlz 5
The Chukars built a lead that the bullpen hung onto during their final road game of the season. It’s been a difficult season for Ricky Aracena, struggling defensively and at the plate, but on this night he lead the way to a Idaho Falls win. With three hits, three driven in and a run scored Aracena accounted for four of the six Chukars runs on the evening. Reliever Christian Flecha gave up three runs in the eighth, but got the final out in the inning before pitching a perfect ninth to finish off the win.
Meibrys Viloria 1-4 RBI
Joe Dudek 1-3 R, RBI, 2 BB
Luke Willis 2-4 R, RBI, 2 SB (14)