Blood On the Streets in the Town of New Haven

The Spirit entered last night's game with some serious momentum and renewed optimism about running down Quebec to win the first half title. After last night, that is going to be very, very difficult. The Spirit let one slip, falling 5-4 to the lowly, putrid New Haven County Cutters in 10 innings at Yale Field in West Haven, CT. The Spirit led it 4-1 in the 9th but Ryan McCally was charged with 4 ER total- 3 in the 9th, 1 in the 10th- as the Spirit coughed it away and fell back to .500 at 12-12, still 6 games back of Quebec.

The Spirit struck first, in the third. With two outs, Marcos Agramonte doubled, then stole 3rd. Rob Fischer's RBI single scored Agramonte. The next man, Vic Davilla, smacked a home run, and suddenly, it was 3-0 Spirit. For the rest of the day, however, the Spirit offense was shut down by NHCC starter Tim Keinath.

Luckily for the Spirit, as good as Keinath was, Bicondoa was better. He walked men in the first and second, but other than that was mowing everyone down. In the bottom of the 6th, New Haven got its first man in scoring position. The inning led off with a strikeout, followed by a sensational diving catch by Rob Fischer to rob Keto Anderson and record an out. The next man, Stegbauer reached with a walk. Stegbauer's steal of 2nd finally got New Haven a man in scoring position- but a diving play by Yuri Sanchez to throw out the batter from his knees ended the inning and preserved both the shut out and the no-hitter.

He carried the no-hitter into the 7th inning. With 1 out, Brooks hit a double to break it up, but other than that Bicondoa remained solid. In the 8th, the Cutters finally got to him. A Keto Anderson triple with 1 out plated LaRosa who reached with a single of his own. The next pitch was a wild pitch and Anderson broke for home- but Trezza quickly scurried to the ball, fired it to Bicondoa, and then the tag was applied and Anderson was out. The next man grounded out and the inning was over.

The Spirit got what should have been a clinching run in the 9th. A Brian Macchi RBI single scored Travis Oglesby to make it 4-1 Spirit. In comes McCally to close it out.. or not..

Ryan McCally gave up a single to Gibson to start off the bottom of the 9th. With 1 out, Brooks singled to put runners on the corners. An O'Keefe walk loaded 'em up. McCally mustered up a strikeout of Larned, but it was the Spirit's last hurrah. An Encarnacion 2RBI single made it 4-3 and put the tying run at 3rd and the winning run at 1st. LaRosa stepped up, smashed a single, and tied it. When all was said and done, it was 4-4.

In the 10th, after the Spirit went down 1-2-3, McCally was inexplicably left in for another inning, which he started off by walking Stegbauer then giving up a hit to Gibson. He was finally -yanked for Mark Comolli, which is like supporting a militant right-wing dictator to overthrow a communist government in South America. With 1 out Peavey singled and brought home the winning run. 5-4 Cutters. Simply sickening.

In Quebec, Worcester knocked out Les Caps 7-6 in extra innings, tying those two teams for the top record in the CAL. The Grays beat Elmira and NJ beat Brockton, meaning that in the North, Quebec is out front, and NS, Brockton and the GRAYS are all TIED 6 games back.