Alpharetta, GA - After a quick break the Monsters traveled to Legion Field to take on the Aviators in a midweek double header. Noah Kalarickal took the mound for Alpharetta in the first game. Noah came out of the gate strong as he sat down the first three batters he faced with ease. Dawson Campbell got the start for the Monsters. He gave up a leadoff single to Cowart, but it doesn’t matter too much as he is able to get out of the inning after throwing only 7 pitches. The Monsters applied some pressure in the second as Walker wore a pitch that was followed by a ground rule double from Harrison. With runners on second and third with no outs, it looked like the Monsters were ready to get ahead early. However, a lightly hit ball to third forces the out at home. A ground out and a fly out later leaves two stranded. The Aviators go down in order in the bottom of the second. Both teams then go three up three down in the third.
The Monsters picked up two more hits in the fourth, but they were unable to bring them in. Cowart hits his second leadoff single of the game but gets put out on a double play before a fly out to center ends the inning. The Monsters get another chance as three hit batters loads the bases with two outs. Ryan Shatte then takes over on the mound and sits down Tremain on three straight strikes. The Aviators continued to stagnate as they went three up three down again in the fifth. The Monsters go down in order in the sixth. The Aviators finally break the ice as Kloiber gets a leadoff double. He is then moved over to third by a sac bunt from Kloiber and then is finally brought home by an RBI single from Hahn to go up 1-0. Higgins and Kirk get aboard on walks for the Monsters as they find themselves down to their last out. A throwing error a first allows Higgins to score as they tie the game 1-1 to force Alpharetta to come back out. The Aviators are unable to answer back and send us to extra innings.
Both teams take advantage of the runner on second as they both score in the eighth to keep it going. The Monsters go down in order in the ninth as the Aviators find an opportunity to end it. They put their runner on third with a sac bunt. Two more runners got aboard with walks, and it looked like they were going to force the out at home, but an overthrown ball hits the backstop. This allowed Vrolijk to score as the Aviators took the first game.
The second game saw more runner cross home as Blythe Keisler took the mound for the Aviators. He gave up a leadoff single to Robinson but escapes unscathed with a pick off at first. Alpharetta then comes out swinging with back-to-back singles on two pitches, but Griff Minor settles in and strikes out two of the next three. The Monsters go down quietly in the second. The Aviators then caught fire as they start off with a leadoff triple followed by a double to go up early. Two singles and a balk brought in three more runners as they went up 4-0. The Monsters didn’t was anytime as Rashad Robinson hit a three-run homer to make it 3-4. Morgan hits a lead off ground rule double but gets left stranded in the bottom of the third.
The Monsters go three up three down. A walk and a single put runners on corners with two outs. It would end up being a passed ball that brings Kaiser in to extend their lead 5-3. The Monsters get nothing in the fifth before Alpharetta adds two more on an error and a double to go up 7-3. Choccolocco opens the flood gates in the sixth as an error followed by a walk, a single, a double, and two home runs. As the dust settles the Monsters find themselves up 9-7 with no outs. Jon Strydom then gets the nod and strikes out the next three batters. Alpharetta then completely deflates as all they get in the final two frames is a double from Guilford as the Monsters take the second game.
Alpheretta will travel to Brookhaven on Friday and Choccolocco will return home to take on the Crackers.
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