The Rockland Boulders fell into an 0-2 Championship Series deficit after losing 7-2 to the Quebec Capitales. Justin Topa (15-4) gave up five runs in as many innings to take the loss. Meanwhile, Quebec’s starter Brett Lee (5-3) struck out 12 batters and gave up just two runs in his 8.2 innings of work.
After three scoreless innings by both teams, the Capitales started the scoring in the fourth. Yurisbel Gracial led off the inning with a single and Kalian Sams homered for the first two runs of the game. Maxx Tissenbaum then singled to set up James McOwen. He tripled and scored on an error by Dylan Tice to double Quebec’s lead to 4-0.
In the fifth, Philippe Craig-St-Louis and Gracial both singled for the dangerous Sams. An RBI single by the center fielder extended his team’s lead. However, the Boulders did quickly get the run back in the bottom of the inning with a towering home run from Mike Montville.
Sams continued to hurt the Boulders in the eighth with another two-run homer off of reliever Tommy Lawrence giving Quebec a 7-1 advantage. In the ninth, Tice doubled for Rockland and Joe Maloney’s single put runners on the corners. A wild pitch brought home a run but that was all the home team could manage. The series now moves to Quebec where the Boulders will have to win all three games.