MANCHESTER, N.H. – The New Hampshire Fisher Cats survived a late Hartford Yard Goats rally, winning 5-4 on Saturday.
Paxton Schultz held the Yard Goats at bay early, lasting 5 2/3 innings in his start for the ‘Cats, allowing just one hit and one walk. Unfortunately for Schultz that walk and hit both came in the sixth, with Daniel Montano’s RBI double one at-bat after Schultz left the game, providing the only blemish on what was a near perfect day.
Schultz got offensive help from home runs by Zac Cook in the first and Ryan Gold in the third, and Chris Bec homered again for the Fisher Cats again in the seventh.
Hartford couldn’t make any further dents in New Hampshire’s lead until they had one out left to burn, with five straight batters reaching base with two outs in the ninth. That gave Hartford three more runs, but Sean Rackoski managed to strike out Isaac Collins to finish off the game.
Schultz is now 5-4 on the year, Rackoski earned his third save of the year with that final out.
The series concludes at 1:35 p.m. on Sunday, with Adam Kloffenstein (0-3, 6.75 ERA) taking the mound for New Hampshire.