Anyone want to be a Sussex fan?

The Sussex Skyhawks are already planning ahead with improvements for the upcoming 2008 season. The Skyhawks acquired four new players from the North Shore Spirit. Matt Bishop, Dennis Robinson, Gary Galvez, and Chad Gabriel will all be a part of the 2008 roster.

"I'm excited about the new players that we have added to the team and how the 2008 Skyhawks are coming together," said Director of Ticket Operations, Seth Bettan. "Our main focus is improving the quality of play on the field and the strength of the squad. With these guys, we are taking a step in the right direction."

Me either. We have 11 players left, by the way, for those of you who are counting.

Spirit lose game three

So, the Skyhawks salvaged game three of the series today with a 6-5, 10 inning win. Derek Drage took the loss for the Spirit.

No biggie - we won 2 out of 3 on the weekend, so mission accomplished.

Off to Brockton now to start a big series. Well, who am I kidding - they are ALL big series from here on out. It's crunch time, baby. Gotta love pennant races...even if they leave you lacking for fingernails from time to time.

Sorry for the sparse updates this weekend - I've been out and about and away from the computer.

Among other things, I attended a mind-blowingly awesome concert on Saturday night in Boston by the one and only Muse:

I'm not a big concert guy, but Muse kicks ASS... I will always make sure to get tickets whenever they are in town.

I also took the T back home to Revere to attend our annual neighborhood block party.... it's a municipal election year, so needless to say, every politician in the universe was there gladhanding. It was kind of sad. You can always count on the local politicos to turn out in force at any community gathering.

Surprise, surprise.

All in all, I'm pretty glad I spent the weekend away from baseball -- the results down in Baltimore weren't good at all, and I think that if I had watched Kentucky Fried Kevin hit a walkoff home run against the Sox, and then listened the Spirit lose to Sussex in extra innings all within a short span, I would have been pretty ticked off.

Looking at it from the macro perspective, however, the Spirit got the job done this weekend. But I'm not sure you can say the same for the struggling boys in Boston.

It should be an interesting week in the world of baseball. But isn't it always?

Another Pitcher's Duel;Another Spirit Win

Joe never wrote a game recap fro last night....so,to keep the blog up-to-date, here's the game recap from the Spirit's website:

Jerson Perez belted a game winning ninth inning home run and Ryan Bicondoa pitched a superb complete game as the North Shore Spirit held off a late Sussex rally to defeat the Skyhawks 3-2 at Skylands Park in Augusta, NJ, in game two of their weekend series.

For the second straight night, the fans were treated to an outstanding pitchers duel, this time between Ryan Bicondoa (8-2) and Sussex righthander Matt Hirsh (0-2). The Spirit struck first in the second for a pair of runs. Luis Lopez led with a single to right, and after an Alex Trezza strikeout, Jerson Perez reached on a bunt single. Josue Lopez then singled to right to load up the bases. Allen Mottram then grounded to second to plate Lopez with the first run. BJ Weed then walked to re-load the bases setting the stage for Anton French, who drew another walk to force in a run and make it a 2-0 Spirit lead.

From there, the pitchers took over, with Bicondoa and Hirsh going toe to toe, tossing zeros after zeros. It remained 2-0 until the top of the ninth, when with one out Jerson Perez ripped his fifth homer of the season high over the left field wall to make it a 3-0 game. That insurance run would prove to be a critical one.

Sussex would rally in the bottom of the ninth. Bobby Gandolfo grounded one down to third, and with Luis Lopez in position to field the ball, the ball hit the third base bag and caromed into left field for a base hit. Larry Bethea then smoked a ground ball to third, at which point Luis' Lopez throw to second for the attempted force play sailed into right field for an error, putting runners on second and third with noone out. Larry Bethea then grounded out to second for an RBI, and then Jabe Bergeron did the same, scoring the second run. Scott Grimes then reached on an infield single to put the tying run on. After a conference with manager Vic Davilla, Bicondoa (8-2) convinced the skipper to allow him to stay in to pitch to Matt Ceriani, and the Spirit righthander rewarded his manager's faith, fanning Ceriani swinging to end the contest.

Bicondoa pitched his fourth complete game of the season, allowing two runs and six hits, walking noone and striking out seven.

The series concludes on Sunday, as Joey Siak takes the ball for the Spirit against the Skyhawks' Vince Davis . You can hear the game live right here on www.northshorespirit.com beginning at 2 PM, and the game will be aired on 1510 the Zone immediately following the NASCAR race at approximately 6 PM.


SCORES FROM LAST NIGHT
New Haven County 3, New Jersey 0 (Game 1 – 7 innings)
New Haven County 8, New Jersey 7 (Game 2 – 7 innings)
Brockton 6, Quebec 2
Nashua 7, Atlantic City 2
Grays 13, Worcester 3

SUSSEX PULLS A SUSSEX

Anton French, making his Spirit debut in a pinch-hitting role, lined an RBI single into right-center to score Gilbert Gil and give the Spirit a 1-0 lead in the 8th inning. That would be all the scoring the Spirit would need as Dennis Robinson pitched a complete game shutout (!!!) to give North Shore the victory.

The game had been an epic pitcher's duel between Dennis Robinson and Jamie Merchant. Merchant retired 12 Spirit batters in a row from the 4th to the 7th. He had given up no runs on just 3 hits.

So, naturally, the Skyhawks took him out in the 8th in favor of Dayle Campbell. Campbell served up a pair of hits in the 8th, including the RBI single by French, to break the game's long deadlock.

Spirit @ Sussex

The Spirit open up a 3-game series tonight at woeful Sussex.

A game against Sussex isn't nearly significant enough for me to listen to the whole thing and live-blog it. But I will be bringing my radio with me on my travels tonight and I'll listen to as much as I can. I'll check in with a postgame wrap later on tonight.

Nine-hit wonder

Chris Farley had some not-so-savory moments in this game (two hit batsmen, two horrendous wild pitches, and nine hits), but he pitched through them all and tossed a complete game shutout to lead the Spirit to a 4-0 victory tonight over Sussex, giving North Shore the series victory over the hapless Skyhawks.

The Spirit were being no-hit by Ryan Lobban until the 4th inning, when Gary Roche and Jerson Perez led off the inning with a pair of singles. Roche moved to 3rd on a wild pitch then came home to score on a sac fly by Luis Lopez. BJ Weed's RBI single brought home Perez to give the Spirit a 2-0 lead.

Farley and Lobban traded goose eggs from there on out. Then, in the 8th inning, Jamie Merchant came in to pitch for the Skyhawks and proceeded to let the game get away. Luis Lopez blasted a 2 RBI double to the left field wall to increase the Spirit's lead to 4-0, which would be the final score.

Chris Farley retired the Skyhawks in order in the 9th to nail down the complete game, 9-hit shutout. The generally quiet crowd somewhat came to life w/ 2 strikes and 2 outs in the 9th, cheering on Farley to a game ending strikeout of Larry "Once a Pride, Always a Pride" Bethea. (This was probably because there was a large enough clot of us standing and raising a ruckus that it caught on with others throughout the park.)

Final
SUS 0 9 0
NSS 4 8 0

Now: on to Brockton to end the first half.

Elsewhere in the league, the Jackals clinched the first half title with an 8-0 win over Worcester. Nashua was off, so the Spirit are now 1 game behind the Pride for 3rd.

Spirit win a Suckfest

Something about the Sussex Skyhawks brings out the worst in everyone. Matt Bishop gave up three runs in the first inning to Sussex, but in typical Skyhawk fashion they choked away the early 3-0 lead and the Spirit won 7-3. It was a long, dragging affair under a hot sun, played in front of no more than 1,000 dead-silent people.

The Spirit started their rally in hilarious fashion in the bottom of the first off of Suckass starter Rene Barreas. He threw 13 (count 'em, 13) balls in a row and loaded the bases w/ walks. With 1 out, Alex Trezza ripped a 2 RBI single to make it a 3-2 game.

In the 3rd inning, Mike Torres singled and came around to score on an infied hit by Carlos Rodriguez, tying the game at 3. One inning later, Jared Mcguire and BJ Weed knocked singles to chase Barreas after just 3+ innings. The new Sussex pitcher Trey Stephens fared no better, however. Mike Torres greeted him with a go-ahead RBI single to plate Mcguire. Luis Lopez's RBI single stretched the lead to 5-3 before Carlos Rodriguezz hammered a 2RBI triple to put the game out of reach at 7-3.

Matt Bishop settled down after his early struggles and went 5 2/3 innings giving up just 3 runs to earn another win. Donny Langdon (player of the game) was excellent from there for the Spirit, tossing 2 1/3 shutout innings. Billy Simon pitched a 1-2-3 9th to nail it down.

The Spirit go for the series victory tomorrow night at 7:05 and I believe Chris Fahhhhley will be on the hill. The Spirit are now 3-3 in their last 6. 4-3 against Sussex and New Haven = not good, but acceptable. 3-4: not so much.

BC Guy saves Spirit from more Sussex embarassment

...McGuire is a solid pickup, y'all. He was SICK in the Big East hitting over .400 his sophomore season, and tore it up in the Cape League too. He struggled in the ACC this year but I think he'll be fine at this level. He has decent speed and fielding ability.

---from northshorespirit.com---:

Mike Torres singled home Jared McGuire in the bottom of the tenth inning as the Spirit leave the Skyhawks on the field with a 4-3 walkoff win Saturday night at Fraser Field.

It was BC graduate Jared McGuire’s first game with the Spirit and he came through in a big way by singling and stealing second base to set-up the opposite field hit by Torres to give the Spirit the victory.

The Skyhawks struck first in the contest in the top of the fifth inning on a two-run home run by Steve Friend that plated Matt Ceriani to make the score 2-0. The home run was Friend’s second in as many games versus the Spirit and two total on the season.

Sussex tacked on another run the following inning on consecutive doubles to lead off the frame by Rob Gandolfo and Jabe Bergeron, upping the score to 3-0.

The Spirit closed in on the Skyhawks in the sixth. Gary Roche blooped a single to center and moved to third on a double by Mike Torres. Cleanup hitter Luis Lopez ripped a single to left and collected his first two RBIs in a Spirit uniform by plating Roche and Torres to cut the lead 3-2.

The Spirit evened the score in the seventh on a sacrifice fly by BJ Weed that scored Jerson Perez from third on a close play at the plate which Skyhawks backstop Ceriani dropped the ball and just like that the score was tied at three a piece.

The Skyhawks squandered a great chance to take the lead in the top of the tenth inning. With the bases loaded and one out, Spirit closer Derek Drage struck out Larry Bethea and Scott Grimes to get out of the jam.

Drage would pick up the win in relief, his second of the season, striking out five hitters in his two innings of work, including the two Ks that ended the threat in the tenth.

Torres continued his torrid hitting pace this season, going 2-for-4 in the ballgame while picking up his 30 RBI of the season on the walkoff single off Sussex hurler Bart Braun.

The Spirit look to take the series lead tomorrow afternoon with the first pitch slated for 1:05. Matthew Bishop will oppose Rene Barreras in game three of the series.

New Haven leads the Can-Am "CrapPot"

Just like Boston's famed "Beanpot," every year, the CanAm League gives us a delicious series that we can call the "CrapPot." This year, it's between the Sussex Skyhawks and the New Haven County Cutters.

It seemed like destiny that all the other games in the Can-Am League were rained out tonight, putting the entire focus of all 5 Can-Am League fans on the epic showdown brewing in that amazing baseball town of Augusta, NJ.

In a true test of grit, guts, and determination, the slight favorite New Haven County Cutters eeked out a 2-0 win on the road -- a score that proves that, on this night at least, bad pitching beats bad hitting.

Sussex, now 1-10 on the season, has lost 8 in a row --- an outstanding accomplishment of course, but a far cry from their historic exploits of last year. One can only dream of a repeat of the "glory days" of 2006.

New Haven leads the CrapPot series 1-0--- we will follow this dramatic tale as it unfolds.

Marcos gone

Sussex continued its masterful rebuilding plan today, releasing old friend Marcos Agramonte and stifftacular OF Josh Ury. I hope Marcos lands with another team, maybe the Grays.

Wow

Sussex just signed Aaron Myers. The guy's a damn good pitcher. Are they moving toward (gulp) respectibility?

At least we'll have the Grays to make fun of