First-Place Fishers Trounce Thunder, Reduce Magic Number

6 'Cats wins and/or Reading losses separate New Hampshire from the postseason

TRENTON, NJ - Jordan Romano retired 14 consecutive batters to start the game and the New Hampshire Fisher Cats (Blue Jays) erupted for 15 hits to rout the Trenton Thunder (Yankees) 12-1 on Sunday at ARM & HAMMER Park. The win helped the 'Cats avoid a four-game sweep, improved their Eastern Division advantage to 2.5 games and reduced their playoff berth magic number to 6.

New Hampshire took the lead for good in the top of the second when Max Pentecost slugged a solo home run to break a scoreless tie. The 'Cats added three runs in the fifth thanks to four consecutive hits - singles from Connor Panas, Andrew Guillotte and Lourdes Gurriel (who delivered an RBI knock) and a two-run dinger courtesy of Jon Berti.

Romano was excellent to earn his team-high 11th win. The right-hander went 5.2 innings and allowed one run on three hits with one walk and six strikeouts.

Cavan Biggio tripled home a run in the eighth to make it 5-1 and New Hampshire sent 12 men to the dish in the ninth, scoring seven in the final frame to lead - and eventually win - 12-1.

Kirby Snead and Francisco Rios combined on 3.1 innings of scoreless relief.

Notable performances:

Lourdes Gurriel: 2-6, 3 RBI, R, HR

Jon Berti: 2-4, 2 RBI, 2 R, HR, HBP

Bo Bichette: 2-4, 2 R, BB

Max Pentecost: 3-5, 2 RBI, R, HR

Connor Panas: 2-4, 2 R, RBI, BB

Andrew Guillotte: 2-3, 2 RBI, 2 R, HBP

New Hampshire travels to Portland for a two-game set starting Monday night. Coverage begins at 6:45 p.m. with the Fisher Cats Pregame Show and continues with first pitch at 7:00 p.m. on the WGIR Fisher Cats Radio Network.

New Hampshire returns to Northeast Delta Dental Stadium on Wednesday, August 22 to play a twi-night doubleheader with the Portland Sea Dogs at 5:35 p.m. The Fisher Cats are closing in on a milestone five million in total attendance. The lucky fan will be rewarded with a spectacular prize package. It will also be Comic Con night and we're giving away FREE t-shirts to the first 1,000 fans presented by Consolidated Communications. For more information, and for tickets, visit www.nhfishercats.com.