Veteran hurler Geronimo Newton threw four innings of no-hit, shutout baseball to lead the Yankees to a 13-1 shellacking of the A’s Friday night in the Raphael Jackson AA Baseball League at the D.C. Canegata Ball Park. Except for two bases on ball, Newton was in total control before turning things over to mop-up man Cruz Soto for the final two innings of the time shortened six-innings game.
Batting first the Yankees wasted little time in getting on the board. They came up with two runs on an RBI single by Mackeel Rogers and an A’s error to take a lead that they would never relinquish. The A’s meanwhile had their hands full with Newton who was his usual crafty self on the mound and they would not get on the board until the bottom of the fifth.
After Leroy Simmonds delivered an RBI single to put them up 3-0 in the third inning, the Yankees blew the game wide open in the top of the fourth, erupting for five runs. A two-run single by Nelson Buxman, a sac fly by Shackeel Newton and RBI ground outs by Dwayne Harvey and Khalil Gerard now pushed the Yankees to an 8-0 advantage after four completed innings.
After getting the A’s to go rather quietly in the bottom of the fourth, Newton would call it a night when his team came up with two more runs in the top of the fifth to extend their lead to 10-0. The yanks scored two runs on RBI singles by Simmonds and Newton. The A’s would finally get on the board in the bottom of the fifth with an unearned run against reliever Soto, but that would be all they would get.
The Yankees would add the final three runs of the game in the top of the sixth for a final score of 13-0.
A’s starting pitcher, Vernell Crooke, got the lost. Top batters for the winners were Newton (1 for 1 with three RBIs), Buxman (1 for 2 with two RBIs), and Rogers was (1 for 2 with one RBI). For the A’s Lakishe Plante was 1 for 1 and Lionel Danielson was 1 for 2.
