VISALIA, Calif. – Another two-homer night for Owen Carapellotti helped power the Ports past the Rawide on Thursday night, as Stockton’s 8-5 win got them to .500 on the season and gave them a 2-1 lead in the series.
Sam Stuhr came up just one out short of qualifying for the win, going 4.2 innings and allowing just two earned runs (three total) on four hits and two walks with five strikeouts over 83 pitches. Corey Braun would get the win in four innings of relief, allowing two runs as well on four hits with one walk to six strikeouts.
Stockton (15-15) trailed 1-0 going into the third inning where Cesar Gonzalez worked a leadoff walk and as did Gavin Turley with two outs. Bobby Blandford followed that with a home run (3) that he blasted 373 feet to right field to put the Ports ahead 3-1. Visalia answered back with a run of their own in the bottom of the inning to cut it to 3-2, but Stockton did a great job of limiting the Rawhide (9-21) to one run when they would score, preventing them from putting up any crooked numbers in a frame on the night.
The Ports extended their lead to 4-2 when Michael Brooks laced a single into center to score Carapellotti in the top of the fourth. After Daniel Bucciero walked with two out in the fifth, Carapellotti mashed his first home run (6) of the night 385 feet off the scoreboard in right center for a 6-2 Stockton advantage. Visalia got an unearned run across in the bottom of the inning after Itsuki Takemoto allowed an RBI single, but got a pop up to finish the fifth.
The Rawhide got another run across in the bottom of the sixth to cut it to a two-run game at 6-4. But Carapellotti led off the eighth with his second long ball of the night, this time a solo shot (7) launched 425 feet out to the right of the batter’s eye in center to go ahead 8-4. Braun allowed a run in the bottom of the eighth that made it an 8-5 game, but he got a strikeout to leave the bases loaded. The lefty then got around a leadoff walk to retire three straight in the ninth and earn the win.
INSIDE THE NUMBERS: Carapellotti is tied for the league lead in home runs now with seven in just 11 games and 43 at bats, homering in just over every six at bats. The two players he’s tied with in San Jose’s Cam Maldonado and Visalia’s Carlos Virahonda have each played in 23 games with 92 and 96 ABs respectively.
Michael Brooks hit his first triple of the season and recorded his second two-hit game, and Turley walked three times on the night along with a base hit. Stockton is now 8-4 when they hit a home run and 5-1 when they have an equal number of hits as their opponent.
UP NEXT: Game four is set for a 6:35 PM first pitch, with RHP Mervin Fell (0-3, 6.87) starting for Visalia versus RHP Cole Miller (1-2, 4.98) for Stockton.
Single game tickets, mini plans, and group outings are all on sale for the 2026 season. For more information, call the Ports front office at 209-644-1400 or email at info@stocktonports.com.