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BURLINGTON, VT --- Vermont pitchers gave up three home runs and all seven walks they issued came around to score as the Lake Monsters dropped the first of a seven-game homestand with an 11-3 loss to the Lowell Spinners in New York-Penn League action Friday night at historic Centennial Field.

The Spinners led 2-1 when Ryan Dent hit a solo home run in the top of the fifth inning off Vermont starter Ricardo Pecina (0-3), who allowed four runs (two earned) on three hits with two walks and six strikeouts to take the loss. Lowell added three runs in the sixth and then got a three-run homer from Luis Sumoza off reliever Carlos Peralta in the seventh inning for a 9-1 lead.

Vermont got two runs back in the bottom of the seventh on a bases loaded walk to Derek Norris and an RBI groundout from Michael Guerrero, but Lowell got a two-run homer in the top of the eighth from Will Middlebrooks off of reliever Casey Whitmer for a 11-3 lead.

Lowell starter Brock Huntzinger, who entered the game 4-0 with a league-best 0.49 ERA, allowed one run on five hits over five innings for his fifth win of the season. After the Spinners had scored two unearned runs in the top of the first, Huntzinger gave up an RBI double to Guerrero in the bottom of the first. He got out of further trouble by getting Blake Stouffer to pop out and Tyler Moore to strikeout with runners on second and third.

Sumoza was 2-for-4 with two runs, his sixth home run of the season and five RBI, while Dent went 2-for-4 with one run, one double, his fifth home run and two RBI. Just like Vermont pitchers walked seven batters, three Lowell hurlers combined to walk seven Lake Monsters, but only two of the seven Vermont walks came around to score.

While walking seven Spinners, Vermont’s four pitchers also combined to strikeout 14 Lowell batters. It is the third time this season that the Lake Monsters have struckout an opponent 14 times in one game. Stouffer and Arias both went 2-for-3 for Vermont, while Guerrero had two RBI to extend his team lead to 24 for the season.

Vermont (18-17) falls into a first-place tie with Oneonta, which defeated Tri-City 1-0 on Friday. Lowell (17-18) is now just one game behind the Lake Monsters and Tigers in the Stedler Division.

Vermont and Lowell will meet again at Centennial Field on Saturday night beginning at 7:05 p.m. in the second of the four-game series. It is “Turn Back The Clock” night at Centennial and both teams will be wearing vintage uniforms from the late 19th-early 20th century.

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