Thursday, July 3, 2008

Eighth Inning Defines Silkworms Win

Anarumo Makes A Pitch; Grosso (3 for 4) Starts Winning Rally

by Paul Ofria/Silkworm Sports Information Dept

MANCHESTER –  Mike Anarumo threw one pitch, recorded two outs and came away the winning pitcher as Manchester beat North Adams 6-5 . It was a defining moment at Northwest Park on a drizzly Thursday night that had several.

North Adams had loaded the bases with one out in the top of the eighth inning when Silkworm manager Al Leyva called down to the bullpen for the 6’5” lefty from LeMoyne College by way of Levittown, N.J.

Ryan McGrath (Wake Forrest/Newtown, CT) had loaded the bases innocently enough - an infield single, a hit batsman and a walk found the Worms with a mess on their hands. So it was up to Anarumo’s to clean it up. North Adams leadoff hitter John Malloy (2 for 4, 2R) squared to bunt and Ryan Semeniuk charged toward the plate as Anarumo delivered the lone pitch, a rising fastball. Malloy popped it up to the third base side of the mound; Anarumo waited for it to come down, squeezed his glove on it and jogged to a vacant third base for the double play.

Matt Grosso Marlborough, CT/Notre Dame) led off the Silkworm half of the eighth with a double and slid home safely with the go-ahead, and eventual game winning run when Chris Affinito’s (Seton Hall/East Brunswick, NJ) pop to shallow right field found it’s way between the second baseman and right fielder.

The drama was far from over. J. J. Potrikus (Cortland State/Freehold, NJ) came on to close the game out, but had to catch the potential tying run between third and home with one out. Potrikus retired the first batter he faced on a foul pop in front of the third base dugout, but slipped on wet grass attempting to field a come backer by Kevin Carby, who was safe at first. Carby (2 for 5, 3R triple) went to third when Paul Hoilman (2 for 4, 2 rbi) crushed a double to right field.

Mike Donato followed with another come backer, but this time Potrikus snared it, and caught Carby between third and home, then flipped to Sean O’Hara (Harvard/ Gloucester) for the second out. Brian Adams flied to Joe Cotter (Villanova/Bryn Mawr, PA) in left field for the final out.

“It’s a fun one to watch if you know the outcome,” Leyva said. “It’s nerve-wracking – you hope you make the right decisions and you put the right people in the right spot and they did that tonight.”

Cotter was involved in another defining moment that may have been overlooked as the game unfolded.  Silkworm starter Matt O’Brien  (Holy Cross/Boston College/Hingham, MA) hadn’t allowed a hit and was nursing a 3-0 lead through four innings. But things started to unravel in the fifth when he threw 31 pitches and gave up a three-run triple to Carby. With Carby on third and Hoilman (walk, stolen base on second, Donato hit a line drive down the left field line that Cotter chased down and caught diving toward the line.

“We do talk about defining moments of a baseball game and that right there was a defining moment because that is two more runs for them easily,” Leyva said of Cotter’s catch that kept he game tied at 3-3. “We talk about not giving at-bats away because you never know when that defining moment might be.”

O’Brien, making his fifth start and sixth appearance (oddly, all at home) threw 110 pitches (66 strikes) and faced one batter in the seventh. He struck out eight and walked two, but was the pitcher of record on the losing side when North Adams took a 5-3 lead in the seventh. The Silkworm bats took O’Brien off the hook with when they scored two unearned runs without the benefit of a hit in their half of the seventh.

The Silkworms may have found a power source in Affinito (2 for 3, HR, 2R, 3RBI) who homered for the second consecutive night. The Silkworms, who went 17 homer-less games, have now hit three round trippers during their modest two-game winning streak after beating Danbury 10-1 Wednesday night.

“We did a lot of things well tonight and it paid off for us,” Leyva said.

Grosso’s third hit of the night, a double pulled down the right field line was by far his biggest. “His stuff is really tricky,” said Grosso of losing pitcher Tim Norton, who struck out four over two innings. “The first pitch I missed by a foot, and the second one, he left it a little over the plate and I was able to get the barrel on it. His change-up was nasty, I could see it from second base when he was throwing it to other kids,” said Grosso, who continued his torrid run through the NECBL. The 2004 State Champion and All-State player from RHAM High is now hitting .350 with 27 hits in 74 at-bats and a team high six doubles.

Manchester’s first run came on a Zach Hudson  (Middle Tennessee State/Nashville, TN) sacrifice fly in the first inning, scoring Mike Gallic (Marist College/Tolland, CT) who hit a one-out double in the first.

North Adams (6-13) has lost four in a row and Manchester (9-10) has won three of four.

National Champion Shutting Down for the Summer

 Jeremiah Bayer (Trinity College/Greenfield, MA) has left the team and will be replaced by Trinity College teammate and Ellington, CT native Andrew Janiga, who was 1-0 0.82 in five appearances (all relief) for the 2008 Division III National Champions. Bayer, who was 1-2 with a 3.93 ERA for the Silkworms, is going to rest his arm after the long college season and his month (5 games, 18 1/3 innings) in the NECBL.

Time Warp

If you think Silkworm games are longer than they were five years ago, it’s not your imagination.

Former Silkworm broadcaster Kyle Dorau (2003-06) who is in his second season as the voice of the Vermont Mountaineers, had a numbers crunching party on his off-night and confirmed what we have suspected all along. The games are longer. In 2003, Manchester’s average nine-inning game was played in 2:24 while the first 18 Silkworm games in 2008 took an average of 2:48. Vermont games this season have been averaging 2:41. Tuesday’s 6-5 win practically split the difference, checking in at 2:45, not including a seven minute rain delay after O’Brien shut down the Steplecats in order in a three minute first inning..

Probable Starting Pitchers

Friday in Pittsfield ; James Kukucka (1-0, 5.91)
Saturday in North Adams : Nick Noblit (2-1, 1.93)
Sunday in Danbury : Tyler Hyde (0-1, 1.14)
Monday in Newport: Brian Pendergast (1-3, 3.15)