Brad Shankle belted his 2nd home run of the season on Monday night
Victoria Generals' starting pitcher Tyler Smith got off to a rocky start on Monday night, walking two batters in the first inning and allowing an RBI single to Matt Milligan of the Brazos Valley Bombers to put the Generals in a 1-0 hole. But the Generals offense had Smith's back as they broke out for six runs in the bottom of the frame off of Bombers' starter Andrew Massey.
Cody Abraham and Chad Kruse had back-to-back singles to get the inning started. With one out, Ryan Dalton walked to load the bases. Trent Wagner followed with a two-run single to centerfield for his league-leading 32nd and 33rd RBIs of the season. Michael McGraw then stepped to the plate and singled home another run before Brad Shankle drilled a three-run home run over the left field fence. It was Shankle's second home run of the season.
The Bombers added a single run in the second, but the Generals' offense answered right back with two more runs of their own in the bottom half of the inning to make the score 8-2. Kruse scored on a sacrifice fly by Dalton and Freddy Villalobos scored on an RBI single by McGraw.
The scoring continued in the third as the Bombers added two more runs and the Generals added one to make the score 9-4. Jake Runte reached on an error by the Bombers left fielder and scored on an error by Massey on a sacrifice bunt attempt by Abraham.
The Generals added a run in the sixth on an RBI single by Dalton to score Kruse.
The Bombers would add a run in the eighth to make the final score 10-5.
Chad Kruse led the Generals at the plate with three hits and three runs scored. Dalton, McGraw, and Shankle each had two hits on the night.
Smith picked up the win for the Generals, his fourth of the season.
The Generals improved to 24-26 overall and 12-9 in the second-half. The Bombers fell to 23-27 overall and 8-13 in the second-half.
The Generals are now in sole possession of fourth place in the overall TCL standings and second place overall in the second-half standings. The Bombers are now in fifth place in both standings.
The Generals and Bombers will meet again on Tuesday night in Victoria at Riverside Stadium at 7:05pm for game two of the two-game series. Tuesday night is Ladies Night at the Generals game. All women will receive $2 off reserved seating tickets and $1 off general admission tickets.
Box Score:
http://tcl-generals.bbstats.pointstreak.com/boxscore.html?gameid=48478
Video:
http://crossroadstoday.com/Shorty-Cook-Talks-About-The-Generals-Season-so-Far/10492716
Video:
http://crossroadstoday.com/The-Generals-Blast-the-Bombers/10505781
