ValleyCats Rally Late, Get 2 Web Gems from Whitley, Fall to Sussex County
The Tri-City ValleyCats scored five times in the bottom of the eighth and ninth, but came up just short in a 9-8 loss to the Sussex County Miners in front of 3,735 boisterous students on the final Education Day of the 2026 season on June 4.
Even with the scoring, two spectacular defensive catches by Aaron Whitley were the highlight of the afternoon. Whitley crashed into the wall to take extra bases from Sussex County's Will Zimmerman in the top of the third and then dove full out extension toward the fence to snag a Keenan O’Brien liner in the top of the fourth.
Ranko Stevanovic hit a grand slam in the bottom of the eighth for his third homer of the year, and Jake Reinisch had a solo homer in the bottom of the ninth to pace the late rally for Tri-City (7-15). It was Reinisch's second of the season.
Brayden Jobert was 2-for-3 with a run and an RBI on a sac fly. Kai Moody was 3-for-5for the ValleyCats.
On the mound, Luke Delongchamp went 4.2 innings before Mason Martinez came on for 3.1 innings of relief. Arlo Marynczak had a scoreless ninth.
Kiko Romero had a solo homer in the third and a 3-for-5 day, while Keenan Taylor had a 2-for-3 day, including a two-run home run in the fifth for the Miners (8-14). Dean Ferrara had a two-run homer in the fifth during his 3-for-5 day.
Tri-City opens up a three-game series against Ottawa on Friday's Youth Baseball Night and the first Los Puentes de Tri-City game of the season that will be followed by postgame fireworks provided by Upstate New York Toyota.