Newark Bears ~ Defeat Kansas City T-Bones in Matinee

From the desk of:   THE BRICK CITY NINE

NEWARK BEARS:  Outlast Kansas City Pitching for Tenth Inning Win in Series Finale.  Next Stop on the American Association Tour; the Grand Prairie Air Dogs.


Bears Drop Opening Game to Kansas City T-Bones


Wednesday Final:  10 innings
Newark   2
Kansas City  1


The Brick City Grizzlies salvaged the final game of a three game series in Kansas City with an extra inning effort in Wednesday's matinee game against the T-Bones.

Kansas City's Josh Rainwater pitched nine superb full innings.  He allowed eight hits, and one earned run.  He walked none and struck out eight.  Newark scored first in the opening inning.  Alex Bardeguez led off the game with a triple and scored the Bears first run when Juan Martinez bounced into a 4-3 put-out.  Rainwater then kept the Bears quiet over his next eight innings of work.  The T-Bones got Rainwater off the losing side of the ledger when they scored in the sixth inning to tie the game at one each.

Mike Ness made the start for Newark, and pitched six full innings.  Ness was on the winning side of this game until he surrendered a lead-off home run to Trevor Coleman in the sixth.  Mike Ness walked two and struck out five before giving way to Matt Lyons and the bullpen.

Both starters wound up pitching no-decisions.

Matt Lyons and Anthony Pluta turned in two innings of scoreless relief.  While Jorge Vasquez kept the T-Bones off the board in the ninth.  Then into the tenth inning they went.

Kansas City turned the ball over to the bullpen, calling upon Jacob Wiley.  An E-6 allowed Billy Alvino to reach safely.  Three batters later, Juan Martinez drove him in with a go-ahead single.  In the bottom of the ninth, Jorge Vasquez retired the T-Bones in order, striking out the last two batters swinging to earn the win.



Tuesday Final:
Kansas City  8
Newark         1


In the middle game of the series against Kansas City, the T-Bones' Shaun Garceau held Newark scoreless over six innings, while allowing three scattered hits.  The bullpen covered the rest and allowed the Bears their only run in the ninth inning.

Offensively, the T-Bones tenderized Newark's pitching with eleven hits, and eight runs.  In his fifth start, the Bears' Pedro Rivera pitched six innings and allowed three earned runs en route to suffering his third loss of the season.  Most of Kansas City's damage however, came against reliever Luis Garcia.  In only one inning pitched, he allowed five earned runs on three hits and two walks.


The Bears will continue their American Association tour against the 2011 American Association defending champions; the Grand Prairie Air Dogs; starting with a double-header on Thursday.




Mike.BTB

Newark Bears ~ Drop Opening Game to Kansas City T-Bones

From the desk of:   THE BRICK CITY NINE

NEWARK BEARS:  American Association Territory Proving Hazardous For Bears.


In Sunday's series finale, the Gary SouthShore RailCats outlasted Bears' starter, Brian Parker.  The home team rallied in the sixth inning to score the tying, and go ahead runs.  Gary starter, Kyle Wilson was strong over seven innings, and could have benefited from better defensive play.  Three of the four runs he allowed came unearned.  The RailCats' bullpen kept the Bears quiet the rest of the way.  The game ended in a 5-4 final score.  The Bears wound up dropping three of four games in their first trip to Gary, Indiana.

Next stop - Kansas City..., "Kansas City, Here I Come...,"  - to take on the T-Bones.

NEWARK BEARS

vs.

Kansas City T-Bones

From

Community America Ballpark

Gary, Indiana

T-Bones Baseball

American Association of Independent Professional Baseball

Caleb Cuevas was making his second start for the Bears, and Brian Grening was on the hill for BBQ Nation.  And Kansas City waisted no time putting Newark on the grill.  After scoring two quick runs in the first, the T-Bones slow cooked and smoked the Bears; adding another run in the fourth for taste.


Brian Grening was excellent through six innings, allowing three hits, no runs, no walks, and striking out six.  For Newark, as has been Coach Oberkfell's desire this season, he's determined to make his starting pitchers be accountable for six innings, no matter the situation.  And so he let Cuevas struggle through seven walks, and three runs on four hits, in 5.2 innings, before finally getting lifted for Matt Lyons.  To his credit, Cuevas struck out five.

Thanks to three unearned runs, Newark finally posted a total four runs in the seventh to take a 4-3 lead.  But Matt Lyons gave two back in the bottom of the seventh, and Anthony Pluta gave Kansas City two more in the eighth for an 7-4 final score.

Kansas City's Brian Grening pitched eight full ininngs for the win.  Jacob Wiley picked up the save

The Bears have now lost four of five games during this swing through the American Association.




Mike.BTB

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