Yard Goats Blanked by Fisher Cats on Opening Day

Yard Goats right-fielder Sam Hillard is introduced to the delight of the
Opening Day sell-out crowd at Dunkin' Donuts Park. Sadly, intros
were the highlight of the evening for the Goats,who were routed by the
New Hampshire Fisher Cats, 6-0.

HARTFORD—On an evening far more suited for the NHL Outdoor Classic than baseball, the New
Hampshire Fisher Cats spoiled the Hartford Yard Goats season opener Thursday night with a 6-0 victory before a sellout crowd of 6,518 at Dunkin' Donuts Park. The Yard Goats played before 41 sellout crowds in 2017, during the Capitol City’s inaugural season in the Eastern League.

(Editor’s note: The Yard Goats came to Connecticut in 2016, but played their home games at Dodd Stadium in Norwich that season due to construction delays at The Dunk.)

New Hampshire scored the only run it needed in the third inning, when high-touted Toronto Blue Jays prospect Vladimir Guerrero Jr. doubled and came in on an RBI double by Lourdes Gurriel, and the Fisher Cats never looked back.

The Goats’ two best scoring chances came in the second and third innings, but they left runners stranded at the corners in both frames. Yonathan Daza led the Hartford attack with two hits.
Gurriel and Cavan Biggio, son of Houston Astros' legend and Hall of Famer Craig Biggio, each had two hits and two RBIs for New Hampshire.

Game two of the four game series is Friday night at 7:05 p.m. It will be a battle of right handed pitchers, as Ryan Castellani pitches for the Yard Goats and Jordan Romano hurls for the Fisher Cats, The game can be heard on News Radio 1410 AM and on the iHeart Radio app. The game will be televised by Vantage SportsNet and video stream of the game can be viewed on MiLB.tv.
                                                                                                                                          —Staff Reports