Derrick Sylve went the distance, allowing two earned runs as the Houston Apollos defeated the Roswell Invaders, 3-2.  The victory snapped a five-game losing streak for Sylve. Esteban Gomez homered for the victorious Apollos and Sylve helped himself by driving in the winning run in the sixth.

After a scoreless first inning, Houston took the lead with single runs in the second and third innings. In the bottom of the second, Pat Mccray led off with a double and moved to third on a single. Dylan Sunnafrank was hit by a pitch to load the bases and Mccray came home on a sacrifice fly by Sylve.

An inning later, Gomez drilled a Stephen Keller offering for his second homer of the year. That made it 2-0.

The way Sylve was pitching early on, that small lead looked insurmountable. The Houston starter retired 12 of the first 14 batters he faced, carrying a no-hitter into the fifth. However, that streak ended when Darryl Donerson led off the inning with a single. He stole second and scored on a base hit by Logan Rycraft to cut the deficit in half.

An inning later, Roswell tied the score. Seth Strong led off the inning with his second homer of the year.

With the score tied, the Apollos responded right away in the bottom of the sixth. Tevin Brown was hit by a pitch to start the inning. Mccray followed with a single and both runners moved up on a ground out. With two down and a chance to help himself, Sylve lined a single up the middle to drive home Brown.

From there, the right-hander did the rest. He retired 12 of the next 15 batters, walking three during that span, to close out the game. Sylve (2-5) finished with four hits, five walks, and two earned runs allowed. He struck out eight, tying a season high. In addition, he drove in two.

Stephen Keller took the loss despite pitching quite well. Keller allowed four hits and two runs in four innings. He struck out seven.

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By Robert Pannier