Holyoke, MA - The Valley Blue Sox hosted the Bristol Blues at Mackenzie Stadium on Springfield Thunderbirds Appreciation Night. The Blues (19-10) held down the fort and won in convincing fashion 6-2. Blue Sox (13-14) Head Coach Endy Morales shared his thoughts about the tough loss. 

“One impolison, [Bristol] had six runs on one hit,” Morales said. “I’m very proud of the guys for what followed suit. We threw seven scoreless innings after that to give ourselves a chance.” 

Bristol got the bats going quickly in the top of the second inning, scoring an incredible six runs. The first three runs were scored off of walks by Blue Sox’s starting pitcher Christopher Batuyios with the bases loaded. 

Relief pitcher Conor Wolf entered the game with two outs. With the bases loaded, Blues’ first baseman Jack Hopko demolished the ball off of the left center field wall, scoring three runs before getting out at home plate for the third out. The score was now 6-0. Valley found some momentum in the bottom of the inning thanks to Hayden Perry’s RBI single that scored Andrew Loikits. The score remained 6-1 until the bottom of the fifth. 

Valley’s Kai Cunningham was hit by a pitch to give the Blue Sox a base runner. Chris Carson then singled to advance Cunningham to second. The designated hitter Sebastian Mexico stayed hot at the plate, ripping a single past the Bristols to then score Cunningham to cut the lead to 6-2. 

In the bottom of the sixth Valley was able to put three runners on base thanks to a pair of walks and Andrew Loikits being hit by a pitch. Wyatt Hunt smacked a line drive to Blues’ shortstop Luke Nomura who made an incredible diving catch and then flipped the ball to second base for out No.2. Catcher Hayden Perry had a chance to score the runners on the corners but ultimately hit a flyout to end the inning. 

No more runs scored after the bottom of the fifth inning and Bristol won 6-2. Coach Morales gave his insight on tomorrow’s upcoming games against the Ocean State Waves. “We’re getting to that point of the season where a double header against a divisional team is huge. It could definitely dictate how the last week of the season goes.” 

Valley will host the Ocean State Waves tomorrow in a double header. Game one kicks off at 3:00 p.m. and game two begins at 6:35 p.m. at Mackenzie Stadium.