SteepleCats Slam Worms 7-4
Worms Six Game Home Winning
Streak Over-by Paul Ofria
Dan Williams broke a 2-2
tie with a grand slam in the third inning as North Adams beat
Manchester 7-4 before a crowd of 928, the largest at Northwest
Park this season.
The Silkworms saw their six-game home winning streak snapped
Friday, and instead of pulling to within two games of the
SteepleCats for third place, the Silkworms had their hold on
fourth place loosened. Danbury (13-18) beat Newport 10-4 on the
road and now trails Manchester by just a half game for the
fourth and final playoff spot in the NECBL Southern Division.
With two-outs and the bases loaded, Williams jumped on a 3-2
pitch from Manchester starter Giuseppe Granitto (1-3) and
deposited over the fence between the light tower and the left
side of the scoreboard.
"He was patient, he shorted up and luckily he (Granitto) put it
right where he liked it and we got the good result out of it."
North Adams Manager Al Leyva said after his first win from NWP's
visiting dugout. Leyva spent the 2004 and 2005 seasons as a
coach for the Silkworms before spending the 2006 season in the
Chicago White Sox organization.
"We are all fighting for a playoff spot, we needed that, they
needed it too," Leyva said. "Finally the one I get (at Northwest
Park in his third try) is an important one for us - they are all
important, but this is nice."
Manchester still holds a 3-2 edge in the season series between
the Southern Division teams. Manchester (14-18) travels to North
Adams ((16-13) on Saturday for a crucial game as far as the
Silkworm playoff hopes are concerned.
"We have to get after it tomorrow night," Brown said. "Tomorrow
night is probably the biggest game of the year."
Granitto threw 70 pitches over three innings - including 44 in
the 'Cats five-run third inning - giving up six of the seven
North Adams runs on six hits. The lefty from the Bronx struck
out three, walked two and hit a batter.
"We made one bad pitch," Manchester Manager Trevor Brown said
"He (Granitto) wasn't sharp from the beginning and I just tried
to milk it as much as I could, but he just hung that change-up
on that 3-2 pitch to that one guy. That was the story of the
night right there."
North Adams starter Tim Adelman (eight hits, three runs) lasted
just 3 1/3 innings, leaving with a 6-2 lead after throwing 62
pitches. Winning pitcher Jon Ban (4-2) made his first relief
appearance of the season, working 2 2/3 perfect innings with
three strikeouts. Nick McCully, who threw a no-hitter against
the Silkworms in North Adams on July 2nd, held the Silkies
hitless in a 1-2-3 seventh, but gave up a pair of singles to Jay
Schillaci and Matt Nandin and an infield, yes infield, double to
Eric Nieto that scored Schillaci.
"We were planning on throwing him (Adelman) four or five
innings, but he struggled. And because of the rainouts, we had
to bring in one of other starters to get him some work," Leyva
said. "We wanted to bring Nick (McCully) in for two because he
is going to pitch in the All-Star game." North Adams is hosting
this year's game, which will be played on Sunday at Joe Wolfe
Field.
Gregory Harman worked a 1-2-3 ninth, earning his seventh save of
the season.
Four Manchester relievers kept the game within reach, allowing
just one run over the final six innings, scattering six hits
with a pair of walks and five strikeouts. Kevin Cobb pitched
three scoreless innings, striking out four, followed by Eddie
Bethke, Jacob Wiley and Jason Pizzoferrato who tossed an inning
apiece.
"We got them some work to keep them going," Brown said of the
lesser-used bullpen pitchers. "I thought they threw the ball
well Cobb did a nice job, he got that big double play."
Manchester scored a pair in the first inning on back-to-back
triples by Matt Smedberg, leading off the inning, followed by
Casey Frawley's third triple of the season. Ryan Lavarnway drove
in Frawley with a sacrifice fly, giving the Worms an early 2-1
lead. Frawley drove in Nandin with a sacrifice fly in the fifth
cutting the SteepleCat lead to 6-3.
"We had some chances, but everything seemed to be with two out,"
Brown added. "I thought we swung the bats pretty well tonight.
We hit a lot of balls hard." Manchester had 11 hits and left
nine on base.
"We won six or seven at home and it's not going to keep going
like that," Brown said. "I'm not panicking right now,"
Manchester has ten games remaining, but just three at home.
Chandler Barnard (1-3, 3.70) will face Duran Ferguson (2-2,
4.97) in the 7pm game at North Adams. Russell Luna will have the
call on Teamline.com
The Game that Doesn't Want to be Played Manchester's game
against Pittsfield on Thursday was washed out for the third
time. Originally scheduled for July 4th, the game was rained out
before the Silkworm bus departed Manchester. On July 9th, the
Silkworms made the trip to Pittsfield for the makeup, but the
game was halted in the bottom of the second inning with no
score, and was scheduled to resume on Thursday at Northwest Park
with the Dukes serving as the home team.
With the teams in their respective dugouts at 4pm waiting for
the game to be resumed on Thursday, a massive storm came through
the area, wiping out the suspended game, and then taking the
regularly scheduled game that was to follow along with it.
"It's that time of year where we have to get through this,"
Manchester General Manager Ed Slegeski said. "We have to forget
about the gates and get creative with doubleheaders. Hopefully
we won't have any more rain next week."
Prior to Thursday's postponement, the Silkworms had not been
rained out at Northwest Park this season." Last year we had 14
games affected by rain, so this year we've been," Slegeski said.
The Silkworms Wednesday night game, scheduled to be played in
Newport, was also rained out. Makeup dates have not been
announced.
Faces in the Crowd
Longtime University of New Haven Baseball Coach Frank "Porky"
Vieira was sitting in the bleachers on the third base side.
Vieira spent 44 seasons in the UNH dugout, compiling a
11,127-324-6 record in a career that ended after the 2006 season
when the Chargers finished with a 35-12 and his 26th NCAA
appearance.
Also in attendance was Glastonbury resident Joel Cooney, who the
NECBL's first Commissioner and one of the league's founders.
Notes: -North Adams grounded into three double plays, ending
threats in the first and sixth innings along with one with
nobody out and a runner on first in the ninth. -Eric Nieto was 3
for 4 with an rbi . -The game did not have a stolen base
attempted. -Anthony Russell drew a walk and was hit by a pitch
but had his 10-game hitting streak end. -Manchester have drawn
9647 fans through 18 home games for a 535 average, eclipsing
last year's average of 422 (8030 total) over 19 dates. The
Silkworms have two regular season home dates left on the
schedule - July 26th and 31st. The NECBL playoffs are scheduled
to begin on August 2nd.
