Coleton Horner and Seth Strong each drove in four runs as the Roswell Invaders defeated the Salina Stockade, 14-4. Alexander Merithew earned his first victory of the season, allowing two runs in five innings. The victory gave the Invaders 10 wins.

Roswell took the lead in the top of the first inning. Taichi Nakamura walked to start the game, and Horner followed with his fourth homerun of the season.

Salina got one of those runs back in the bottom of the second. Hudson Bilodeau doubled to start the inning and Jared Gay walked to put two on with no one out. Two batters later, Alex Nielson singled up the middle, driving home Bilodeau. Salina looked like they had something going, but Nielson was thrown out trying to steal before Khalyd Cox struck out.

The Stockade would tie the score in the bottom of the third. Blake Garrett was hit by a pitch to start the inning. He moved to third when Aaron Takacs and Ernie Geraci drew back to back walks, loading the bases with one down. Bilodeau then hit a hard grounder that Rene Moreda was able to knock down. His only play was to first, however, allowing Garrett to score.

The score did not remain tied for very long. In the top of the fourth, Ian Yetsko was hit by a pitch to start the inning. Moreda and Darryl Donerson followed with back-to-back singles, driving Yetsko home to put the Invaders back on top. Two batters later, Collins Robinson grounded a base hit into right, plating Moreda to extend the lead to two.

The lead became four in the top of the fifth. Horner singled with one down and scored when Yetsko grounded a two-out single into left. Cox misplayed the ball, allowing Horner to come around to score. Moreda followed with a double, bringing home Yetsko to give Roswell a 6-2 lead.

In the sixth, the Invaders blew this game open. Austin Marshall started the inning with a double and moved to third on a base hit by Nakamura. Horner then grounded a single into left, plating Marshall. Next up was Seth Strong, who drilled his third homerun of the season. Not to be outdone, Yetsko followed with his Pecos League leading seventh homerun of the season to extend the lead to nine.

The onslaught continued in the seventh. An RBI single by Horner and a run-scoring single by Strong brought home two more runs for Roswell. They would add one more in the eighth. Salina added two more runs in the bottom of the eighth on a two-run double by Nielson.

Horner finished 4-6 with three runs scored and four RBI. Strong was 3-6 with a run scored and four RBI. Yetsko had three hits and scored three runs. Nielson drove in three runs for Salina.

Merithew (1-2) earned the victory, allowing three hits, three walks, and two runs in five innings. He struck out eight.

Boxscore

By Robert Pannier