USRT excursions have been few and far between lately, so we take what we can get, and a quick hop to Frontier Field in Rochester to see the Bisons play the Red Wings is always a real treat. Tonight we invited our bud Drew Smeltzer to join us and made the trek 70 miles east for a night of baseball.

It was just about a packed house in Roch-cha-cha tonight, with a perfect weather evening, the Zooperstars entertaining the fans, and the beginning of the Fourth of July holidays underway.

For the Bisons and their fans who made the trip, it was a great outcome - a 4-1 win which put them up three games in the IL North Division standings. Aaron Laffey pitched a real gem, allowing just 6 hits and striking out 9 in 8 1/3 innings of work. He tried to pitch the entire game but labored a bit in the ninth, throwing a lot of pitches and allowing two baserunners before finally being pulled. Mike Koplove came on to finish and earn the save. Ryan Mulhern had two RBI’s, including a solo shot in the third, his 12th home run of the season.

After the game, Manager Torey Lovullo praised his pitcher, mentioning especially the final two outs in the eighth, where Laffey made acrobatic leaps on the mound to snare the ball and get the put outs to first. “Plays like that tend to lift the entire bench and Aaron has shown again and again that he’s a gamer” Lovullo said.

While we have made the visit to Rochester many and many a time, this was Drew’s first trip ever to Frontier Field, so being the big sports fans that he is, we asked him for his objective impressions of the ballpark experience there. Said Drew “It really is an amazing place, very clean and such a great atmosphere. But the truly great thing there is the food. Most ballparks have one unique or distinct signature food item; this place has like… ten.”

To top things off, we took Drew down to the Bisons clubhouse after the game so he could see the set up for himself and also got him in on the postgame interview with Torey. See? These are the cool things you experience when you kick with the USRT!

Peter, Drew and Andrew checking out the ballpark

Harry Canary of the Zooperstars sings the 7th inning stretch

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