Streak Cut Down

LYNN, MA- It wasn't going to last forever. Two streaks came to an end tonight at as the New Haven County Cutters snapped a 3-game skid while derailing the North Shore Spirit's 4 game winning streak with a 5-4 victory over North Shore in front of a loud but sparse crowd of about 1,200 at the New Fraser Field. Jake Mullis [0-1] starred in the game for North Shore, pitching 7 1/3 gutty innings, giving up just 4 runs and earning a no decision, but it was to no avail as reliever Wayne Hedden [0-1] picked up the loss for the Spirit, giving up a run in the bottom of the 9th to make it 5-4, the final score. Jordy Alexander started for the Cutters, going 7 solid innings giving up 4 runs, while Nick Rowland [1-0] scored the victory for New Haven, pitching 2 scoreless innings. New Haven improves to 3-11; the Spirit fall to 7-3.

New Haven opened up the scoring in the first inning as it appeared early like Mullis would be hit hard. Anderson led off the game with a long, loud flyout to deep centerfield; this was merely the warning shot, as the next batter, Darren Ciraco, blasted a homer to give the Cutters the early lead, 1-0. The Cutters extended the lead in the 2nd inning to 2-0 as Gibson cracked a solo home run of his own off of Jake Mullis.

Meanwhile, Jordy Alexander was well in control of the Spirit, yielding just one base runner in the first 8 men he faced. But the Spirit finally came to life in the bottom of the 3rd. Stephen Carter picked up an unconventional double as he hit a little rolling ground ball that hopped the bag and bounced over the head of the stunned third-baseman Brooks. A Marcos Agramonte line-drive RBI double toward the gap in left-center plated Carter and put Marcos on 2nd with just one down. An error by Brooks on a ground ball by Storey kept the inning pumping and put runners on the corners. The next man, Davilla, hit a sacrifice fly to deep left to plate Agramonte and tie the score at 2. Eric Storey was picked off of 1st base to end the inning.

New Haven responded quickly in the 4th. A Leadoff single by O'Keefe set up a sac bunt by Brooks. Gibson continued his hot hitting by plating O'Keefe with an RBI double. A strikeout escaped further damage but the Cutters had the 3-2 lead. The Spirit came back in the bottom of the inning to score one off of Alexander, as an RBI double play by Alex Trezza scored Travis Ogelsby, who led off the inning with a double, from 3rd base.

Things remained silent until the top of the 6th, when New Haven got to Mullis for the last time. A walk by O'Keefe followd by a double by Peavey set up runners on 2nd and 3rd w/ just one out. Brooks got an RBI ground out 6-3 to move his team back ahead. Mullis was, however, able to escape a bases loaded jam with a strikeout and keep the score 4-3 Cutters.

The Spirit knotted it up for the last time in this back and forth affair with a run in the bottom of the 7th. Trezza led off with a walk, followed by a Fischer sac bunt. Trezza moved to 3rd on a groundout by Carter. Marcos Agramonte hit an RBI single to plate Trezza with 2 out and 2 on to tie the game at 4. Agramonte was thrown out trying to extend his single to a double. In the top of the 8th, the Cutters threatened to take the lead right back, but clutch pitching helped the game stay tied. With 1 out, Darren Ciraco smashed a single off Mullis which ended Jake's night. Reliever Wayne Hedden was greeted with a single by O Keefe. Hedden struck out the next man Peavey. Then, Brooks worked a 10-pitch walk to load them up and it led to one of the most dramatic situations in all of baseball- game tied at 4 in the 8th, with the bases loaded and 2 out, with a full count to New Haven's clean up hitter, Gibson. Hedden won the battle as he got Gibson swinging to leave them loaded and keep it tied.

It was a game during which the Spirit were constantly coming from behind, and finally it bit them, as in the 9th the Cutters finally brought home the eventual winning run. Hedden came back out to pitch the 9th and began by walking Larned. With 1 out, Stegbauer pushed Larned to 2nd with a single. Anderson then stepped up for the biggest (and most controversial) at bat of the game. He laced a single in to right field and Larned was waved home. Carter's throw was well ahead of Larned, but it was somewhat off line, and as Trezza attempted the tag, he missed and Larned slid into home safely. On the play, however, the Spirit and manager John Kennedy felt that Larned missed 3rd base. They appealed to 3rd, but Joe "Slim Slow" Pascucci rejected it, called Larned safe, and upheld the run. This sparked an angry protest by Kennedy, but it was to no avail; the Cutters took the 5-4 lead.

The Spirit mounted one final rally in the 9th. A 1-out double by Rob Fischer gave the crowd hope. A groundout by pinch-hitter Garret Weir pushed Fischer to 3rd with 2 out and the game on Lynn's own Yuri Sanchez. The crowd was whipped into a frenzy was Yuri worked the count full, but Rowland bore down and got Yuri to ground out, 4-3, to end the game and give New Haven one win in the 3 game series at Fraser.

One positive sign tonight was that the crowd, although sparse, was very much into the game, and really rallied behind the Spirit's comeback bid. It felt like the place was really rocking as Yuri Sanchez was trying to plate the tying run. It was indeed a very refreshing atmosphere.

The Spirit next will welcome the Can Am Grays, who come in to the game with a very decent 8-6 mark, good for 3rd in the North so far, 4 games back of Quebec, 1 back of the Spirit, and 1 ahead of the oh-so-fancy-and-famous-but-cellar-dwelling-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha Brockton Rox. First pitch is at 7:05. The Spirit will be the "road team" in this series, which has three games- two at night on Friday and Saturday, and one on Sunday afternoon at 2, before the Spirit finally hit the road.. briefly.

SPIRITFANS.BLOGSPOT.COM PLAYER OF THE GAME: Jake Mullis (1)

AROUND THE LEAGUE.
The only other game tonight was the Grays and the Pioneers. The Grays continued their solid start by picking up the 6-4 victory, picking up the series victory over Elmira taking 2 of 3 at Dunn Field. 789 people witnessed Brad Esarey, 1-0, win it for the Grays , while the Pios' veteran Saul Solveson fell to 0-3 with the loss. Elmira next heads up to Quebec for three rounds with the reigning heavyweight champion Capitales, while the Grays head to Lynn to "host" the Spirit.

The other teams were off tonight but a full slate is ready for tomorrow night:
Elmira at Quebec
North Shore "at" Grays (at Fraser Field in Lynn, MA)
New Jersey at Worcester
New Haven at Brockton

STANDINGS
QUE 12-2
NSR 7-3
GRY 8-6
BKN 7-7

WOR 6-4
NJJ 5-9
ELM 4-10
NHC 3-11