Tuesday, June 17, 2007

by Paul Ofria/Silkworm Sports Information Dept

MANCHESTER – The Silkworms bats woke up Tuesday night, giving starting pitcher Nick Noblit (Westfield, MA/AIC) a 5-1 lead with four runs in the third inning, then cruised to an 8-4 win in front of 224 at Northwest Park.

Matt Grosso (Marlborough, CT/Notre Dame) and Zach Hudson (Nashville, TN/Middle Tennessee State) led the way with RBI doubles in the third  -- Hudson’s delivering a pair of runs. Grosso, who continued his rampage through the league, also drove in the Worms first run on a grounder to second in the first inning, then added a single in the fifth. The two-time Connecticut All-Stater leads the team with 15 hits in 32 at-bats (.469). He also has a team high five doubles and is tied for the team lead in runs and RBI with five in each category.

“If you can put away teams early it’s nice, you can get a little breathing room,” Silkworm manager Al Leyva said after his team broke a three game losing streak.

Noblit threw 85 pitches in a six-inning effort, striking out seven while scattering six hits and walking two.

“That was a good outing,” Leyva said. “Luckily with two days off in a row (Wednesday and Thursday) we had our pitching lined up. He needed to get us five and he got us six, so that was great.”

Making his second start of the season, Noblit (2-0) retired the side in order in the first inning, but stranded runners in each of his subsequent five innings, including a pair in the second when the Navigators touched him for a run with three singles. Noblit reached back with a pair of strikeouts to end that threat, and left with a 7-1 lead. Noblit lowered his ERA to 2.40 with 18 strikeouts over 15 innings.

Manchester added a pair of runs in the sixth on bases loaded walks to Ryan Piacentini (Portland,ME/Trinity College) and A. J. Rusbarsky (Freehold, NJ/Seton Hall) to take the 7-1 lead, then tacked on another in the eighth when Rusbarsky (3 for 4, run, double,2 RBI) drove in JD Broderick with a single.

Making his Silkworm debut, Jordon Wolfe (Huber Heights, OH/Wright State) was touched for three runs on three hits after retiring the first two batters he faced in the seventh, but was picked up by J. J. Potrikus (N Syracuse, NY/Cortland State), who retired all four batters he faced.

“We’ve seen it with all our pitchers already, their first out was a little shaky,” an unconcerned Leyva said. “But you can see he has a live arm and I’m expecting big things from him.”

Brandon Otto (Cicero, NY/Le Moyne College) who retired the final three North Shore batters in a non-save situation after a leadoff single by Justin Little.

“J. J. is a great set-up guy for Brandon and Brandon has shown he can be a closer for any team,” Leyva said.

Grosso was involved in a bizarre 5-2 double play in the fifth. With Rusbarsky at third and Grosso at first with one out, Hudson hit a chopper to third, which found Rusbarsky in a run down between third and home. The rundown didn’t last as long as Grosso anticipated, and he was caught going to third by Nav’s catcher Jay McConnell, seconds after McConnell applied a tag on Rusbarsky on the home plate side of the bag.

“That was a really smart play by the catcher,” Grosso said of the close play at third. “If he had made one more throw, I would have been there easily. It was close, but he got me. It was a really good play by him.”

North Shore (5-2) had played six of their first seven games at home and saw a four-game winning streak come to an end Tuesday night. Manchester (5-4) snapped a three-game losing streak – two of the losses were shutouts in Torrington – but has won three out of four home games, with a rainout sandwiched in.

“We hit a little lull in Torrington. In Newport we hit the ball good, but right at somebody, but that’s the way baseball is,” Leyva said. “Hopefully we can get on track again. Our home field is a little nicer to us.”

Game Notes: Rusbarsky’s errorless streak ended after 42 chances in nine games with a throwing error in the fourth inning…Manchester has two consecutive off-days, followed by a home game on Friday vs. Keene. Matt O’Brien (Hingham, MA/Holy Cross) (0-0, 3.60) is scheduled to make his third start of the season…After compiled nine hits over three road games, the Silkworms rapped out 11 hits for the second consecutive game at home…The Silkworms, who have yet to hit a home run, had four extra base hits – the doubles by Grosso, Hudson and Rusbarsky and a triple by Jeff Cammons  (Jamestown, RI/URI)…Chris Affinito (Nashville,TN/Middle Tennessee State) has started all eight games and all four home games behind the plate…Quote of the night: “That’s two now, what is this, the NBA finals?” - a North Shore coach in the general direction of the base umpire after an inning ending force out at second base in the top of the seventh.