NAPA, CALIF. – The phrase “war of attrition” has been thrown around by pundits to describe recent World Cup action, but the phrase also applied to today’s Pacific Association contest between Vallejo and Napa. The game at Napa Valley College featured a dozen pitchers, typically high winds for the venue, and poor air quality because of the region’s wildfires and car fumes. The Silverados ultimately defeated the Admirals 14-11 in a three-hour, 47-minute skirmish.
Back-to-back doubles by Jordan Anderson and DeAndre Asbury-Heath sealed the deal for Napa in its final turn at bat. Anderson also homered for the Silverados, and he, Ray Jones, and Drake Yoshioka each drove in three runs.
Regarding said attrition, Napa starter Billy Felo yielded nine Vallejo runs in his five innings of work, while Admirals starter Eli Garcia only lasted one inning and his replacement Dalton Bernardi also only stuck around for one frame. d’Aundray Van Slyke, the Admirals’ seventh pitcher of the afternoon, surrendered the game-winning doubles and two more runs after he had finished the seventh for Tim Holmes, who only managed to record one out. Chris Butcher recorded the victory by pitching a scoreless eighth and ninth.
Nick Akins Sr. homered again to run his league-leading total to 13, putting him alone in fourth place on the Admirals’ all-time homer list for a single season. Akins’ next round-tripper will tie him for third in club single-season history with Nicholas Boggan, who hit 14 in 2014, and Akins’ 15th will equal his own mark of a year ago. Chris Fornaci, second to Akins on the PacPro 2018 homer list, kept pace with Akins by blasting his 10th home run, and Mike Blanke racked up his first long ball of the season.
With a San Rafael victory, the Admirals are now five games out of first with 12 games remaining in the first half. The Admirals return to action on Tuesday in Martinez.
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