Saturday, June 21, 2007

By: Bob Molta, Silkworms Sports Information Staff

SILKWORMS SIDESTEP NO-HITTER, BUT CAN’T AVOID LOSS

Manchester’s only hit comes in eighth inning of 8-1 loss to Sanford

SANFORD, Maine – The fact that Manchester had twice as many errors as hits Saturday night against Sanford was more of a testament to the pitching of Mainer righty Pat Lehman than it was to any fielding deficiencies on the part of the Silkworms.

Lehman, a 6-foot-4 inch 210-pounder native of Fair Lawn, NJ, continues to prove himself nearly unhittable. In his second start eight days ago, Leham pitched 7 1/3 hitless innings in a 4-3 loss to 2007 NECBL champion Vermont. Saturday night, the George Washington University senior-to-be took it one step further by hurling 7 2/3 innings of hitless baseball against the Silkworms before eventually settling for a combined one-hitter in his team’s 8-1 win over the Silkworms at Goodall  Park.

On a night when Manchester base hits were as sparse as Laker fans at Thursday’s Rolling Rally, Manchester (6-5) can take solace in the fact that Lehman will be unavailable for duty when the teams meet for the second and final time Tuesday night at Northwest Park in Manchester. In fact, since inter-divisional teams meet only once in the regular season, the only other encounter with Lehman would be in the best-of-three league championship series in early August.

Lehman won his first game of the season in his third start Saturday night, giving up only an infield single by No. 8 hitter Ryan Piacentini (Portland, ME/Trinity) with two out in the eighth before being lifted by manager Joe Brown after retiring A.J. Rusbarsky Freehold, NJ/Seton Hall) on a soft line drive to first for the first out of the ninth. Until Piacentini spoiled the no-hit bid with a squiber that eluded the grasp of both Lehman and second baseman Matt Nandin, Lehman had allowed only three baserunners – all of which got aboard via errors.

Manchester starter Jeremiah Bayer (Greenfield, MA/Trinity) matched Lehman through the first two innings, but things unraveled quickly soon thereafter, with Bayer compounding his troubles by giving up five hits, commiting an error and throwing  a wild pitch that gave Sanford a 4-1 lead after four innings.  Bayer’s fifth strikeout in three innings left three runners stranded in the third  inning, of a 1-1 game,  but three more hits, another passed ball, and a wild pitch accounted for three Sanford runs in the fourth and spelled the end of Bayer’s night.

While Lehman’s surgical precision kept Manchester’s bats sewn up, Sanford (7-5) piled on four more runs against four subsequent Silkworm pitchers over the next three innings to nail down its fourth straight win and fourth victory in five games this year at Goodall Park. Since winning its first two road games this year, travel has been torturous for the Silkworms, who have dropped their last four away from Northwest Park.

Lehman didn’t walk or hit a batter and required his outfielders to record only two putouts on leadoff fly balls in the fourth and fifth innings. Manchester scored first in the game against Lehman when Sanford sandwiched two infield errors around No. 9 hitter Joe Cotter’s (Bryn Mawr, PA/Villanova) sacrifice bunt. But an inning-ending double play ground ball spelled the beginning of the end for Manchester against Lehman, who retired 14 straight after the twin-killing until Piacentini bounced a 2-0 pitch off the plate that neither Lehman nor Nandin could corral.

 Lehman has not allowed an earned run in 20 2/3 innings over three starts this year. He has given up only six hits (five singles) while fanning 19 and walking four.

Manchester travels to Danbury Monday to face the Westerners at 7 p.m.

Notes: Either a change of scenery or a year’s experience has transformed former Silkie Matt Nandin into one of the league’s top hitters through the early season… Nandin, whose .213 average last year was the lowest among all Manchester starters, brought a .355 batting average into Saturday’s game… batting second in the order, Nandin managed only a bunt single in five at-bats against three different Silkworm pitchers… Nandin had collected a team-high 26 assists with a .917 fielding average (four errors) in his eight previous starts prior to Saturday… Manchester’s starting second baseman last year, Nandin shared the team lead with 95 assists and commited only three errors on 158 chances for a .981 fielding average… Nandin had three putouts and three assists against the Silkworms, with his leaping stab of a line drive by Chris Affinito leading off the eighth preserving the no-hitter… Sanford shortstop Brian Harris, who commited two of Sanford’s three errors on the evening, followed Nandin’s grab with a sparkling play on JD Broderick’s ground ball in the hole that kept the no-hitter intact… just when it looked like Lehman’s luck would hold out, Piacentini followed by breaking the no-hit bid… Manchester DH and leading hitter Matt Grosso has not had one hit in a game this year… against Sanford, Grosso went hitless for the second time this year. He has had multiple hits in each of the other eight games in which he has appeared… Affinito’s three passed balls were his first of the season…the fourth of five pitchers in the game, right-handed pitcher J.J. Potrikus allowed two hits and a walk in one-third of an inning against his college coach, Sanford manager Joe Brown… Potrikus had a 3-0 record and three saves in 17 relief appearances this past spring for the New York Regional champion Red Dragons… after enjoying their third day off in the last five days, the Silkies attempt to snap their four-game road losing streak Monday against Danbury, who reside in the basement of the Southern Division…  the game will be the first this year against Danbury for Manchester, which has played the other four members of the division seven times with a 4-3 record…