Mackeel Rogers allowed just three hits and struck out six Dominicanos defending the champions Yankees to an 8-2 victory Saturday night in the Raphael Jackson AA Baseball League played at D.C. Canegata ballpark.
The Dominicanos also had a good pitching effort from their starter, Aneudi Mercedes, who gave up five hits and struck out six in the loss.
The Yankees have now won five in a row after dropping their season opener.
Batting in the top of the first inning, the Yankees got on the board with four runs on a three-run homerun by Leroy Simmonds and a Dominicanos error. The Dominicanos answered the hard throwing Rogers with two runs on an RBI single by Tony Cruz and a pass ball to trail 4-2 at the end of one.
Unfortunately for the Dominicanos, Rogers would settle down and they would not score again.
The Yankees, however, plated two more runs in the top of the second on Lakishe Plante’s RBI single and Steve Simmonds’ sac fly to extend the lead to 6-2.
The Yankees scored two more runs in the top of the fifth on Steve Simmonds’ RBI double and Leroy Simmonds’ sac fly for a final score of 8-2.
Pitching would dominate the final innings of play.
Top batters for the Yankees were Leroy Simmonds (1 for 3 with a homerun and three RBI), Steve Simmonds (1 for 3 with two RBIs), and Plante (1 for 3 with one RBI).
For the Dominicanos Cruz was 1 for 2 with one RBI, Andre Poche, 1 for 2, and Yonatan Garcia was 1 for 3.
