Tri-City ValleyCats get Opening Night win

The Tri-City ValleyCats began the defense of their New York-Penn League Championship tonight in Troy, New York. The ValleyCats got off to a nice start with a 3-2 win over Connecticut.

The team unveiled the 2013 Championship banner prior to the game at Joseph L. Bruno Stadium (A.K.A. “The Joe”).

Austin Chrismon got the start for Tri-City. The 21-year old righty from Newport News, VA went five innings and was credited with the victory. Chrismon allowed one run and only two hits. He struck out four.

Three ValleyCat relievers combined with Chrismon for a 4-hitter with a total of two walks and 10 strikeouts. Chris Munnelly got the final four outs for the save.

Tri-City got RBIs from Nick Tanielu, Mott Hyde, and Ravel Santana. Tanielu and Hyde are products of the 2014 Draft and were making their professional debuts. Tanielu, a 14th rounder who played 3B at Washington State is making the transition to 2B. The third-round pick in this year’s draft, J.D. Davis, is slated to be the ValleyCats everyday third-baseman this season.

Mott Hyde (gotta love the name), is a 26th round pick from this year’s draft. The Georgia Tech product went 2 for 3 and also laid down a sacrifice bunt.

Santana is a product of the Dominican Republic and a former member of the Yankees organization. The 22-year old outfielder was making his organizational debut for the Astros.

Other notable members of the ValleyCats roster are second round pick A.J. Reed and 20-year old outfielder Ariel Ovando. Here’s the rest of the ValleyCats Opening Day Roster.

Pitchers: Randall Fant, Kevin Ferguson, Jay Gause, Krishawn Holley, Sebastian Kessay, Brandon McNitt, Jordan Mills, Joe Musgrove, Luis Ordosgoitti, Bryan Radziewski, Francis Ramirez, Raul Rivera, Troy Scribner, Blaine Sims, Ryan

Catchers: Ricky Gingras, Alfredo Gonzalez, Jamie Ritchie

Infielders: Alex Hernandez and Adam Nelubowich

Outfielders: Ryan Bottger, Terrell Joyce, Marc Wik