Kelly Dominates; Spirit win

LYNN, MA - It was a huge night for the North Shore Spirit tonight. There was (finally) a large and loud crowd at Fraser Field tonight, as about 2200 saw came to the game. There were scouts in attendance from the Washington Nationals. They broke a 4 game losing streak. They got a 14-strikeout, shutout performance from John Kelly and scoreless work from the bullpen. They got 6 runs out of the offense including a clutch hit by Oglesby. And they got help from out of town, as Quebec and Brockton were both downed, helping the Spirit out as we get toward crunch time in the 1st half race.

John Kelly sent a message to the Grays early. The first two men, Keith Strickland and BJ Weed, were called out on strikes. Hargreaves lined out to end the inning. In the 2nd, the Grays got a man on as with 1 out Best got a single and stole 2nd, but a strikeout swinging by King and a groundout by Gerald ended any sort of threat. In the 3rd, Garcis reached 3rd with a walk and two stolen bases, but two more strikeouts- Startari and Weed- ended the threat. On Weed's K there was controversy, as he complained the called 3rd strike call and was tossed from the game. The Grays manager came out to argue the call, and he, too, was chucked. On the way to the clubhouse, BJ Weed tossed his bat at the umpire - a move that will certainly bring him suspension.



The Grays manager argues the call at home plate.

Both teams continued to slosh along offensively through the 5th inning. Kelly racked up 4 more strikeouts between the 4th and the 5th; the Spirit went down 1-2-3 in both innings. In the 6th, John Kelly had his best inning. He struck out Keith Strickland swinging and Francisco Lebron and Brad Heargraves looking consecutively to make it a 1-2-3 inning to make it 12 strikeouts.


Another strikeout for Kelly- Startari whiffs.

The Spirit finally broke the tie in the bottom of 6. Howdeshell started it off with a walk. Davilla singled to advance Andy to 2nd. A clutch Travis Oglesby double, the play of the game, brought home both runners to give the Spirit the 2-0 lead. Macchi and Trezza followed them up with triples to make it 4-0. That was the end of the line for the loser DeCristoforo (1-2) who went 5+ giving up 5 runs on 6 hits. The new pitcher Tim Saunders was greeted with a sac-fly by Fischer to make it 5-0. That was all the Spirit would get in the inning but it was all they would need.

Kelly pitched until the 8th inning. He came out after LeBron reached on an error and Heargraves singled with 2 outs. He was lifted with 14 strikeouts and recieved a thunderous ovation from the Fraser Faithful, tipping his cap to the crowd on the way into the dugout. Kelly got the win (3-1) going 7.2, striking out 14, walking 2, and giving up 0 runs on 4 hits. Ryan McCally came in and picked up where John left off, going 1 1/3 and and surrendering 0 runs on 1 hit, lowering his ERA to 0.68.

SPIRITFANS.BLOGSPOT.COM PLAYER OF THE GAME: John Kelly (3)


John Kelly leaves the mound to a standing ovation.

AROUND THE LEAGUE
STANDINGS
Quebec 17-4 TONIGHT: LOST @ Elmira 4-2
Brockton 13-10 TONIGHT: LOST @ New Haven 6-4
N Shore 10-7 TONIGHT: WON vs. Grays 6-0
Grays 10-13 TONIGHT: LOST @ Spirit 6-0

Worcester 12-7 TONIGHT: WON @ New Jersey 4-3 in 12 innings
N Jersey 10-13 TONIGHT: LOST vs. Tornadoes 4-3 in 12 innings
Elmira 8-15 TONIGHT: WON vs. Quebec 4-2
N Haven 6-1 TONIGHT: WON vs. Brockton 6-4

Coming tomorrow.. PICTURES + LOADS of Can Am League stats.

Tomorrow night.. Spirit vs. Grays 2 PM start. BE THERE!


Fraser Field.. always the family fun place!

GO SPIRIT!