The Trenton Thunder started their second consecutive series at home against the Williamsport Crosscutters for a three game set beginning on Friday, June 5th. On Friday night, the first game of the series, the Trenton Thunder defeated the Crosscutters 2-1. Alex Kranzler, the right handed starting pitcher out of Vanderbilt made his first start of the season. He was impressive as he allowed only 1 run in 4 innings pitched with 2 strikeouts. It has been a theme for the Thunder this whole season as their starting pitchers have allowed 2 runs or less on average through their first 5 games of the season despite an outlier poor performance from Holden Hering. The bullpen was impressive as well, not allowing an earned run in Friday night’s matchup against Williamsport. The first pitcher out of the bullpen was Ty Van Valkenburg. He had 3 innings pitched while allowing only 2 hits, 4 strikeouts, and no earned runs. Then, Kyle Calzadiaz, the final pitcher put into the game, completed the impressive performance from the pitching staff with 2 innings pitched, 2 hits, 3 strikeouts, and zero earned runs. The offense was not the spotlight of Friday night’s game, however, they pulled through in typical Trenton Thunder fashion. The first RBI was provided by Jake Koonin as he reached on a fielding error, scoring Joek Rivera. In the 7th inning, Joek Rivera hit a double, scoring Ny’Zaiah Thompson who has been a spark plug at the bottom of the lineup for the Thunder. Thunder improved to 4-0 on the season with a 2-1 victory over the Williamsport Crosscutters.
After Saturday night’s rainout and game cancellation, the Thunder returned to action on Sunday afternoon against the Crosscutters looking to win the series. Holden Hering had a disappointing performance on Sunday with 3 innings pitched, 5 hits allowed, 4 strikeouts, and 6 earned runs. This was the worst performance by a Thunder starting pitcher through the first 5 games. For example, the stats show that Holden Herring has allowed the highest batting average of .370 against opponents so far this season. This proves that the starting pitching and the relievers have performed well to start the year. However, the offense would spark the team to an 8-6 victory over Williamsport on Boomer, the Trenton Thunder mascot’s birthday. The offense has not provided 1 home run yet this season, but it has not slowed down the contact-oriented type of offense that the Thunder have. Ny’Zaiah Thompson, who is leading the way with a .333 batting average, has become a staple at the leadoff spot for Trenton. He has a .982 OPS and has stolen 4 bases this season. I asked Trenton Thunder Manager Shawn Chacon about his thought process of constructing different lineups throughout the first 5 games of the season, which included Ny’Zaiah Thompson at leadoff for the second straight game. He explained how he constructs the lineup depending on the individual players’ comfortability and how they feel the team matches up that day. Ny’Zaiah has certainly sparked the team and the rallies that they have put together all season long. The final game against the Crosscutters was a microcosm of the entire season for the Thunder as everyone in the lineup has stepped up and played very productive baseball for the entire year so far. In this game, RBI’s were provided by 7 different players including Grant Gray hitting a sacrifice fly, Carsten Sabathia with an RBI groundout, Jake Koonin with an RBI single, and Mark Gialluisi with an RBI single on his birthday. Everyone in the lineup has been productive and played Trenton Thunder baseball with contact, speed, and power proving their mantra as a complementary baseball team. The bullpen came up big with Elijah Foster pitching 3 ⅓ scoreless innings, Andrew Berg with 1 ⅔ scoreless innings, and Nate Bennett with 1 scoreless inning. The bullpen has been sharp all season long with 7 pitchers having a 0.00 ERA. The Trenton Thunder would win the series and improve to 5-0 on the season as they head out to West Virginia for their first road trip of the 2026 season.
0 Comments