14-Hit Outburst Leads Patriots Past Bees 7-5

Bridgewater, NJ- The Somerset Patriots (30-35, 72-64) racked up 14 hits in a 7-5 victory over the New Britain Bees (28-37, 54-81) Wednesday night at TD Bank Ballpark.

New Britain opened up the scoring in the top of the third on a Conor Bierfeldt (22) solo home run to left-center field. Somerset responded immediately the next half-inning on an RBI single from David Vidal to level the game at 1-1. 

Kyle Roller added an RBI fielder’s choice in the fourth to give the Patriots a 2-1 lead before a three-run fifth inning extended the lead. RBI singles from Roller and Justin Trapp, along with a bases-loaded walk to Olmo Rosario, increased Somerset’s margin to 5-1.

The Bees trimmed the deficit to 5-3 in the top of the sixth on a pair of run-scoring wild pitches, but a two-out RBI double from Aharon Eggleston the next half inning pushed Somerset’s lead back to three.

Vidal added his second RBI of the evening with a sacrifice fly in the seventh inning to increase the lead to 7-3. New Britain rallied on a two-run Yusuke Kajimoto home run in the ninth to crawl within two runs, but Dustin Antonlin closed the door for the final two outs to end the ballgame.

Will Oliver (8-6) earned the win after he allowed three runs with seven strikeouts over six innings of work. Jonathan Pettibone (2-8) yielded four runs on 10 hits over four innings to suffer the loss. Antolin (3) earned the save with a scoreless two-thirds of an inning.

Somerset wraps up its 2017 home schedule with a 6:35 pm first pitch against the New Britain Bees Thursday night. Right-handed pitcher Mark Hamburger makes his Patriots debut against southpaw Greg Nappo at TD Bank Ballpark.

Tickets to the 2017 Somerset Patriots Season presented by Ford, which includes the team’s 20th Anniversary, are on sale now. For more information, stop by the ballpark, call (908) 252-0700, or visit www.somersetpatriots.com.

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