Former Shaker High and South Troy Dodgers star pitcher Tommy Kahnle returned to the Capital Region Friday for a three-game series against the Tri-City ValleyCats at Joseph L. Bruno Stadium. (Photos by J.S. Carras - The Record).

TROY -- Not only did Tommy Kahnle have one heck of a homecoming Friday night, he's had a great start to his professional baseball career.

Kahnle, the former Shaker High and South Troy Dodgers star flamethrowing righthander, who was drafted by the New York Yankees in the fifth round in June and signed with the club a few weeks ago, returned to the area with the Staten Island Yankees for a New York-Penn League game Friday night against the Tri-City ValleyCats at Joseph L. Bruno Stadium.

The Yankees gave Kahnle a chance to pitch in front of the home crowd and he did not disappoint. Kahnle pitched the seventh and eighth innings, striking out four.

In fact, in his short professional career, he's yet to allow a baserunner. In three appearances at the short-season Class A level (four innings), Kahnle has recorded seven strikeouts. That's it. No walks, no hits...no nothing.

In the ninth inning, the Yankees turned to Richard Martinez and the home fans got even more bang for their buck. Tri-City's Kike Hernandez hit a walk-off home run for the ValleyCats, capping a 2-1 victory.

Former South Troy Dodgers pitcher Mike Ness, who is a member of the ValleyCats, also pitched in the game. He earned the win, his first of the season, on Hernandez's blast.

Our Ed Weaver covered the game and he also spoke with Kahnle for a piece for Saturday's paper. Be sure to check out those stories on Saturday. Kahnle will also be our Sunday profile subject in Sunday's edition.

Here are some excerpts from Weaver's story:

The hard-throwing righthander hit 97 mph on the radar gun, striking out four hitters and retiring the other two on harmless popups, bringing delight to his large, vocal group of fans, which may, of course, included some plain, ole New York Yankees fans.

"I thought I threw real good," Kahnle said. "I had command of my fastball, showing them a breaking ball. I was getting strikeouts and popups. It seemed pretty good. I'm pretty happy."

And so it's been for Kahnle in his first three outings as a pro.
  
"He's the real deal," said Atlanta Braves scout John Stewart. "He throws hard."

He's retired all 12 batters he's faced in four innings, striking out seven.

"I'm trying not to," he replied when asked when he might permit a baserunner. "That's my job. I know it's not always going to be this easy."

Tommy Kahnle gets in some long-toss work prior to Friday's New York-Penn League game against the Tri-City ValleyCats.

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In other baseball news, the Albany Athletics' run in the AABC Stan Musial World Series in Houston came to an end Friday.

Canton's Phil Sabatka hit a walk-off two-run home run in the bottom of the 10th inning to lift the Stallions to a 6-4 victory over the A's.

Albany (36-10) was making its first appearance in the Stan Musial World Series. Only the 1989 Apex Printing and 1973 Sons of Italy teams were the only Twilight League teams to reach the World Series in the league's 80-year history.

The Twilight League will host an 80th anniversary celebration Sunday (Aug. 15) at Bleecker Stadium in Albany. To read a story Andrew Santillo wrote to preview the event in last Sunday's paper, click here.

A Veteran's Association game begins at 4 p.m., which will be followed by a home run derby and the 2010 All-Star game. The league has been using Bleecker Stadium since 1936.

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The Tri-City ValleyCats posted a 5-3 victory over the Vermont Lake Monsters Tuesday night at Joseph L. Bruno Stadium in New York-Penn League action.

Tri-City ValleyCats starting pitcher Alex Sogard throws a pitch during the first inning of Tuesday's game against the Vermont Lake Monsters. (Photos by J.S. Carras - The Record).

TROY -- The ValleyCats’ bus was waiting for them outside the locker room following Tuesday’s game – Tri-City begin a six-day road trip tonight in Mahoning Valley – but first, the team had Stedler Division action to take care of at home.

Tri-City batters smacked 11 hits and the bullpen spun five and one third innings of one-run relief as the ValleyCats posted a 5-3 New York-Penn League victory over the Vermont Lake Monsters at Joseph L. Bruno Stadium.

For video highlights from the game, visit www.troyrecord.com/video/sports

Tri-City pulled within five games of Stedler Division leader Vermont and is now three behind the Connecticut Tigers. In other division action, last-place Lowell defeated Connecticut 1-0 Tuesday night.

"I think we’re still just trying to go out and get better every day and play well that night," said leadoff hitter Ben Orloff, who was named Player of the Game for collecting three hits. "If we do that, at the end of the day, hopefully we’ll be where we want to be."

The ValleyCats won the final four games of the season series with Vermont, splitting the season series, 5-5.
Tri-City (20-24) jumped out to an early lead in the first inning after Ben Orloff led off the bot¬tom of the frame with a double to right field. Orloff advanced to third base on a wild pitch and scored on Kike Hernandez's single to right.

Vermont (25-19) responded in the second when designated hitter Justin Miller hit a solo home run over the left center field fence to even the score at 1-1.

Hernandez scored for the ValleyCats in the third on Ben Heath's sacrifice fly.

In the fourth inning, Adam Bailey led off with a double down the left field line. Jacke Healey laid down a sacrifice bunt attempt, which Vermont pitcher Chris McKenzie fielded and fired toward third base. On an errant throw, the ball got away, allowing Bailey to score and Healey to take second base.

"We think we’ve been playing well the last couple weeks here," said Orloff. "We’ve been getting good pitching still and we’ve started to come around with the bats. We’ve played a lot of really good games."



Tyler Burnett capped Tri-City's scoring with a booming solo home run over the Vermont bullpen in right field.
Tri-City starting pitcher Alex Sogard pitched into the fourth inning but was lifted after facing three batters.

Vermont's David Freitas – the sec¬ond-leading hitter in the New York-Penn League with a .357 batting average coming into Tuesday's game – led off the fourth with a dou¬ble and Ronnie LeBrie followed with an RBI sin¬gle. Wade Moore laid down a successful sacri¬fice bunt, moving LaBrie to second, and out came Tri-City manager Joel Pankovits to remove Sogard.

The ValleyCats' bullpen came to the rescue.

Murillo Gouyea pitched two and two thirds innings of relief, allowing one run on three hits. Blake Blankenship recorded the first two outs in the seventh inning before turning things over to Brandt Walker, who tossed an inning and a third of scoreless ball.

In the fifth inning, Gouyea went after Freitas with runners on second and third and first base open and one man out. The decision paid off, as Freitas grounded into an RBI fielder’s choice and the ValleyCats escaped further damage.

"(Freitas) hadn’t been swinging the bat as well as the guy behind him (LaBrie) over the last five days," said Tri-City manager Joel Pankovits. "He was only hitting .150 or .160 the last five days and the other guy was over .400.

Tri-City's Daniel Adamson, at right, watches a fly ball during his first inning at-bat against Vermont.

"They’re a tough lineup, especially the middle of the order," Pankovits continued. "You have to pick and choose your guys you have to go after and it worked out tonight."

Jorge De Leon took over in the ninth inning and earned his fourth save of the year. Gouvea earned his first win of the season. His ERA was 8.76 in 24 and two thirds innings pitched prior to Tuesday’s outing.

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Local roundup:

Athletics advance to Twilight League championship series

ALBANY - The Albany Athletics held the Blue Slate Bluehawks scoreless over two games and 14 innings of baseball Tuesday night, earning a spot in the Albany Twilight League championship series for the fifth consecutive season.

Albany posted 1-0 and 3-0 victories over Blue Slate at Bleecker Stadium in the best two-of-three Twilight League semifinals.

All Stars Academy is ahead one game to none over Waterford in the other semifinal series. The championship series begins after the North Atlantic Regional tournament, which is set to be played this weekend.

In Tuesday’s first game, Jim Shook threw a complete game one-hitter, striking out 14 and winning his ninth straight game. Craig Mastroianni scored the game’s only run on a wild pitch in the fourth inning.

Al Barbato hit a two-run home run for the A’s in the 3-0 victory over Blue Slate.

Albany (31-7-1) has not lost a game in the Twilight League semifinals since the 2005 season and is 19-3 in all postseason games sine 2006.

Game One
Albany 1, Blue Slate 0
Blue Slate 000 000 0 - 0 2 0
Albany 000 100 x - 1 7 0
Kline and Pollard; Shook and S.Weber

Game Two
Albany 3, Blue Slate 0
Albany 003 000 0 - 3 4 1
Blue Slate 000 000 0 - 0 4 1
Montross, Smith (3), Lawton (5), Walsh (6) and Mastroianni; DeMidio and Pollard.



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Tri-City ValleyCats right fielder Michael Kvasnicka meets the press after beginning his professional baseball career with two hits on two pitches Friday night at Joe Bruno Stadium. Tri-City defeated the Connecticut Tigers, 4-3, on a walk-off hit by Oscar Figueroa. (Vidcap by Will Montgomery).

Well, the live chat idea was a disaster tonight, since the ValleyCats don't have adequate accommodations for busy press events like opening day, but it wound up being a great game for the 'Cats.

I'll have a brief story on right fielder Michael Kvasnicka in Saturday's paper. He hit a home run on the first pitch he saw in the first inning - it was the first pitch he saw in professional baseball.

In his second at-bat, he also hit the first pitch for a double to left field. Kvasnicka, the No. 33 overall pick in the 2010 First Year Player Draft by the Houston Astros out of the University of Minnesota, will be relied on to provide some pop for the 'Cats in 2010.



Ed Weaver will have the game story in Saturday's paper, and the rest of the Cats' home games this season, so be sure to look for that, too.

I most likely won't be covering the 'Cats again this season, but it's always an entertaining evening for Capital Region sports fans in a pretty great venue.

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