Danbury
Shows Life in 9-7 Win
Crawford's Three-Run Homer
Not Enough For Worms
DANBURY, CT- The playoff
race in the NECBL South tightened Saturday night when Danbury
beat Manchester 9-7 in front of 392 at Rogers Park.
Manchester (17-21) still holds a 1 ½ game lead over Danbury
(15-22) for the fourth and final playoff spot, though the
Westerners trail by just one game in the loss column. Manchester
has four games left on the schedule while Danbury has five
remaining.
Tim Mahler wiped out a 7-4 Silkworm lead with a three-run
homerun in the sixth, tying the game at 7-7 and Danbury won it
with a pair of runs in the seventh off reliever Kevin Cobb (2-
3). Bobby DiNardo drove in Eric Williams with the game winner
and Cory Underhill scored an insurance run on a Cobb wild pitch.
Manchester had the go-ahead run at the plate in Brian Kelaher
after Andrew Davis (2-2) walked Tom Nieto and Jeff Vigurs with
two outs in the ninth. John Folino relieved Davis, and after
fouling off three pitches, Kelaher (1 for 3, walk, run scored)
hit a sinking liner to right field that Underhill was able to
catch for the final out of the game, giving Folino his third
save of the season.
Steve Crawford hit a three run-blast, his first of the year, on
a 2-1 count in the Silkworms' six- run fourth inning, erasing
the 4-1 lead Danbury built with four runs in their half of the
third. Dexter Fontenot accounted for three of four Danbury runs
in the inning with the first of three, three-run homers the game
would produce.
Andrew Davis pitched four innings of one-hit relief of his
brother, Tom Davis, who gave up all six Silkworm runs in the
first 4 2/3 innings. Manchester starter Giuseppe Granitto
allowed seven runs over six innings on seven hits while striking
out six and walking three. Cobb allowed two runs on two hits in
is only inning of work. Will Musson tied teammate Rob Hallberg
with his 20th appearance, pitching a scoreless eighth inning.
Ryan Lavarnway had a two-run single in the fourth, when the
Worms sent 10 batters to the plate. Lavarnway added a two-out
double in the eighth, though became one of the 11 Manchester
runners left on base.
The Westerners play a double header on Sunday in Torrington
while the Silkworms travel to Lowell to play the All-Americans.
Manchester has three games remaining with Pittsfield - a double
header starting at 4pm Tuesday at Northwest Park and another
game home game to be played on Wednesday only if necessary to
determine playoff slots. Manchester magic number to clinch a
berth in the playoffs, which start on Thursday, is four.
