The Yankees continued their strong play atop the Raphael Jackson AA Baseball League with a hard-fought 5-3 victory over the surging Monarchs Saturday night at the D.C. Canegata Ballpark.
The sparse crowd at the first of the two scheduled games saw the league leaders break a 3-3 tie in fourth inning on their way to their eleventh victory of the season.
The Monarchs drew first blood in the top of the first inning, taking the early 1-0 lead on a passed ball by the Yankees catcher. But that lead did not lasted only half an inning, as the Yanks responded with three runs in the bottom of the inning on a two-run single by Eric Perez and a Monarchs error to lead 3-1 at the end of the first.
Meanwhile, Monarchs starter Richard White settled down after a shaky first inning and kept the Yankees off the board over the next two innings
The score would stay that way until the top of the third when the Monarchs were able to tie the game at three on RBI singles by Rashan Foster and Javier Encarnacion.
The Yanks then took the lead for good in the bottom of the fourth on a passed ball and then add an insurance run in the bottom of the fifth on a solo pinch hit home run by Cevron Cerauw to take a 5-3 lead that held up the rest of the way, as neither team could score before the game was called in the seventh due to time constraints.
Leroy Simmonds, the third of three pitchers utilized by the Yankees, got the win in relief, while White took the loss for the Monarchs. Top batters for the Yankees were Serauw (1 for 1 with a home run and one RBI) and Perez (1 for 1 with two home runs). For the Monarchs top batters were Foster (2 for 4 with one RBI) and Dwayne Brannigan (2 for 4.)
In the late game the Cardinals and the Vikings were deadlocked at two runs apiece through four innings. Cardinals’ pitcher Miguel Rodiguez was pitching a masterful game but his defense had let him down with some untimely errors that allowed the Vikings to tie the game at two with just one ball leaving the infield. On the other hand Vikings rookie Jahmoy Williams had also settled down and after giving up the two early runs was matching Rodriguez pitch for pitch.
