Tri-city opens its season with a win

Valleycats hit three home runs vs. Florence to start Frontier season

The Tri-city Valleycats opened their second Frontier League season with a bang Thursday with three home runs in a 7-4 win over the Florence Y’alls in Florence, Ky.

The ’Cats picked up where they left off last season, hitting home runs in bunches. Tri-city topped the Frontier League with 114 home runs in its inaugural season after 18 seasons in the New York-penn League.

Denis Phipps hit a two-run shot off Jonaiker Villalobos and Brad Zunica followed with a solo bomb as the ’Cats sent eight men to the plate and scored four runs. Phipps led the team with 21 home runs last season.

Juan Silverio also homered and knocked in three runs in the win.

Tri-city starter Joey Gonzalez allowed one earned run over four innings to earn the win. He struck out seven and walked two batters. Villalobos allowed five earned runs over 31⁄3 innings, walking two and striking out four in a losing effort.

Harrison Dinicola had three hits, drove in a run and scored a run to pace the Y’alls.