Newark Bears ~ Pick Up First Win on American Association Grounds

From the desk of:   THE BRICK CITY NINE

NEWARK BEARS:  Brick City Wins First Game Against Gary SouthShore RailCats.  Play For a Split in Series Sunday.

Game One; The Bears Great Western Migration


FRIDAY'S FINAL ~ GAME TWO
Railcats   20
Bears       11

Let's just say Friday night's game got out of hand.  Because Pedro Rivera only lasted an inning in Thursday's game, and the bullpen had to pick up the next eight, Coach Oberkfell was forced into some sacrificial managing with regards to Friday's game two starting pitcher, Mike Ness.

Mike Ness was making his fifth start of the season.  He never had good stuff, and never was going to get some.  Not this game.  But with a taxed bullpen, Ken Oberkfell left his starter on the mound through five innings, despite surrendering thirteen hits, and twelve earned runs.  Ken Oberfell then relied on just one pitcher out of the bullpen to pitch the final three innings.  Luis Garcia gave up six hits and allowed another seven runs.

The game ended in a 20-11 final.  Offensively for the RailCats Adam Klein, Mike Massaro, and Rico Washington combine to bat 10 for 13, with nine runs scored, and eleven RBI.

For Newark, Alex Bardeguez scored four runs from the lead-off spot.  He went 4 for 6 with an RBI.  Daryle Ward hit his fifth home run.  He batted 3 for 6, with three RBI.  Eric McGee hit his third home run.  He went 3 for 5 with three runs scored, and two RBI.  And Billy Alvino was 4 for 5, with two RBI.




SATURDAY FINAL ~ GAME THREE
Bears        6
RailCats   4

This pitching match-up featured Newark's usual reliever, Matt Fitton, making his first start of the season after seven relief appearances.  And on the hill for the RailCats, was Stephen Hiscock.

The two teams exchanged a run in the first inning.  Newark's sizzling hot Juan Martinez homered for the fourth time this season.  And for Gary SouthShore, Mike Coles reciprocated with his own solo home run for the tie.

In the second, the RailCats busted Matt Fitton for three more runs.  Adam Klein had an RBI single. Mike Massaro tripled home another run.  And David Cooper singled home Massaro with Gary's fourth run of the game.

Stephen Hiscock cruised through the first five innings.  In the sixth inning he ran into a little trouble.  After securing the first two outs, he allowed a single to Juan Martinez, a single to Daryle Ward, and walked Eric McGee to load the bases.  Hiscock then walked the next batter, Bryce Lane, to force in the Bears' second run of the game.  That ended a good night of pitching for the RailCats' starter.  In 5.2 innings, he only allowed four hits, two earned runs, walked two, and struck out eight Bears.  T.J. Wohlever took over for Hiscock and struck out the next batter to end Newark's threat, and keep it a 4-2 game.

After a rough start over the first two innings, Matt Fitton settled down over the next four and left the game after six innings of work.  He finished allowing six hits and four earned runs.  He struggled with four walks, and struck out three.  Coach Ken Oberkfell summoned Kyle Morrison to pitch the seventh.  He picked up the first two outs, the second with a strikeout.  Coach Oberkfell then called upon Matt Lyons, who secured the third out of the Railcats' home seventh.

In the eighth inning, the Bears finally clawed-up Gary's bullpen for four runs.  Nick Santomauro singled home Daryle Ward.  Courtney Billingslea then singled home two more runs.  Matt Tomczyk's RBI single topped off the eighth, and gave the Bears a 6-4 lead.

Matt Lyons returned to the hill for the bottom of the eighth and combined with Jorge Vasquez to keep Gary SouthShore quiet for another inning.  And into the ninth they went.  Juan Martinez' lead off single was wiped out when Daryle Ward grounded into a double play.  Eric McGee then grounded out to short to set up a save situation for the Bear's bullpen.

Jorge Vasquez came back out in the ninth to face the top of the line-up.  Vasquez struck out his first batter swinging.  The second batter he faced popped to right.  Mike Coles, who has been giving Bears' pitching fits, extended the game with a double.  Jorge Vasquez then walked David Cooper to put the tying run on base, and bring the winning run to the plate.  But the Bears' closer composed himself, and struck out the number five hitter, Mike Rohde, swinging for the final out of the game.

That was Jorge Vasquez' seventh save of the season.  Matt Lyons gets credit for the win.  In a spot start, Matt Fitton pitched rather efficiently.  The Railcats' Chris Allen was tagged with the loss in relief.

In their third try, the Newark Bears finally have their first victory on this road trip through American Association territory.  Brick City will try and earn a series split against the Gary SouthShore RailCats tomorrow, Sunday, before moving on to Kansas City and taking on the T-Bones baseball club.




Mike.BTB

Newark Bears ~ Ninth Inning Rally Equals Win Number Four

From the desk of:   THE BRICK CITY NINE

NEWARK BEARS:  Brick City Busts Some Rocks for Ninth Inning Win.

Series Tied 1-1

I - Boulders 8; Bears 4

II - Bears 6; Boulders 4

Game Three ~ Thursday

The Bears took their first ride up to Rockland Tuesday night where they dropped the first game of their series against the Boulders by an 8-4 final.  Pedro Rivera was making his first start for Newark, and quite frankly, could have used a little more help.  Two errors in the second inning led to Rockland's first two unearned runs.  Another error led to Ryan Mollica's three run home run off Rivera in the third inning, bringing the number of unearned Boulder runs to five.  Then in the sixth, Ryan Mollica sent Pedro Rivera off to the showers with his second home run of the game.


In the seventh inning, Newark committed yet another error; their fourth of the game; which opened the door for Rockland second baseman, Cole Kraft's 2-run home run off Damian Sequen, who pitched the seventh and eighth innings for Newark.


Newark's scoring came in the top of the second inning, and in the seventh.  Eric McGee doubled home Burt Reynolds, and scored when Billy Alvino grounded into a double play.  And in the seventh, Bryce Lane hit a solo run home run; his second.


Wednesday games mean morning games.  And so the teams convened in Rockland at 10:30am for Game Two of this three game set.  Making his second start, Mike Ness, pitched six full innings and left on the winning side of a 4-3 game.  He gave up three earned runs on seven hits, and two walks.  He struck out two.


Quentin Davis doubled and scored in the first inning.  Courtney Billingslea hit a solo home run in the second.  And after singling in the third, Quentin Davis scored again to give the Bears a 3-0 lead after two and a half innings of play.


Rockland got a run back in the bottom of the third.  And picked up two more runs against Mike Ness in the fourth to tie the game.  But the Bears picked up their pitcher with a go ahead run in the sixth.  Once again, Quentin Davis factored in the scoring when he singled home Bryce Lane.


The Boulders remained stout and scored against Matt Fitton in the home seventh to tie the game at four.  But then came back the Bears in the top of the ninth.  Bryce Lane drew a bases loaded walk for the go ahead run.  And for insurance, Daryle Ward scored on Courtney Billingslea's sac-fly.


Anthony Pluta was the beneficiary of those two runs and earned the win.  Jorge Vasquez pitched the bottom of the ninth to close out the Bears' fourth win of the season.


Final Score - Bears 6; Rockland 4


Newark and Rockland will play the rubber game of this series Thursday evening.


So far this season, the Newark Bears, and last season's three-peat CanAm Champs, the Quebec Capitales, are first to four wins, and sit atop the five team circuit.  Remember, there is no split season this year.  The top two teams in the division after 100 games played will make the playoffs.  So that's six down and ninety four to go.  After the Bears wrap up this series with Rockland, they will host the defending champions for three games.


Go Bears.





Mike.BTB