The Indians scored a run in the first with the aid of a David Purcey throwing error. The Sky Chiefs came back with a run in the 3rd on a Mike Mahoney single, a Wayne Lydon double and a Luis Figueroa sacrifice fly, and then went ahead in the 4th on John-Ford Griffin's second homer of the season, a solo job. With 2 outs in the bottom of the 4th, Purcey walked a batter and then gave up two successive doubles. That completed the scoring, although the Sky Chiefs went deep into counts late in the game, with a fighting 10 pitch at-bat from Rob Cosby especially notable. Purcey went 5 innings, and allowed 3 runs, 2 earned on 3 hits and 4 walks with 6 strikeouts. Brandon League again was impressive, going 3 innings and allowing 3 hits, but with no walks and 4 strikeouts. His line for the season- 8.2 innings, 7 hits, no homers, 1 walk, 8 strikeouts. That is somewhat surprising, but excellent news.
New Britain 14-0 @ New Hampshire 5-1
In the opener, the Rock Cats tonged on Mike MacDonald for 9 earned runs in 1.2 innings. Ouch. Danny Hill and Rodney Ormond finished up the 7 inning game, but did not distinguish themselves. After the game was well out of hand, Chip Cannon hit his 2nd homer of the season, and Adam Lind hit 2 homers. Lind went 4-4 in the game. In the nightcap, Jamie Vermilyea was brilliant, throwing 6 shutout innings with 13 ground outs and 3 strikeouts. He allowed 3 hits and no walks, but the game was scoreless until the 7th. Jim Bullard allowed 2 baserunners in the top of the 7th, but got out of the jam, and with one out in the bottom of the inning, David Smith hit a walk-off homer to win it. Curtis Thigpen and Eric Arnold had the other 2 Fisher Cat base hits in the game.
The D'Jays rolled a 6 spot in the first inning and coasted to the easy victory. The inning started innocently enough when a walk and an error had 2 runners on with 2 outs. The inning went from there: Josh Kreuzer double, Ryan Klosterman double, Scott Dragicevich single, Jason Armstrong double and David Corrente single. Orlando Trias had his 2nd successive fine start, allowing 1 unearned run in 6 innings on 4 hits and 4 walks with 5 strikeouts. Justin James and Milton Tavarez had some nervous moments in the 7th and 9th innings, but emerged relatively unscathed.
The Lugnut home faithful were given an Easter treat of a game. Trailing 2-0 after 5 innings, the Lugnuts rallied with single runs in the 6th and 8th innings. Each time, Sean Shoffit led off and reached base and was driven in by Brian Pettway, with a single and a sacrifice fly. In the bottom of the ninth, with the game tied 2-2, Josh Bell led off with a walk-off homer, his second of the season. Aaron Wideman started and went 4 innings, allowing both South Bend runs on 4 hits and 1 walk while striking out 5. Po-Hsuan Keng followed with 3 scoreless frames; Keng gave up a solitary hit and no walks, and punched 2 tickets. Keng's line for the season: 10.2 innings, 5 hits, 0 runs, 2 walks, 8 strikeouts. Nice. Paul Phillips allowed 5 baserunners in the last 2 innings, but got out of the jams for the win. Shoffit was 1-2 on the day with 2 walks. Shortstop Chris Gutierrez went 2-3 with a walk, while Big City Metropoulos and Bell each reached base twice.
3 star selection
3rd star-Sean Shoffit
2nd star-Jamie Vermilyea
1st star-David Smith, Josh Bell
