Can-Am New Jersey Jackals

Bennett battles Elmira for tenth win of the season

August 16, 2005 - Canadian American League (Can-Am)
New Jersey Jackals News Release


LITTLE FALLS, N.J.-New Jersey starting pitcher Joel Bennett pitched a gutsy game to pick up his tenth victory of the season in a close, 8-7 win over the Elmira Pioneers. Bennett did not have his usual sharp stuff and allowed four runs, three of them earned. Bennett did manage to strike out nine Pioneers in 6 1/3 innings of work and the Jackals offense came through with eight runs of support for Bennett. Fabricio Benitez recorded the save, his fifth of the season.

Bennett overcame two Jackals errors and his own occasional control problems to win his tenth game and improve to 10-1 on the season and 5-0 at home. An error by New Jersey in the top of the sixth inning led to an unearned run and tied the game at three but the Jackals broke through for four runs in the bottom of the sixth inning. Jose Salas had an RBI hit in the inning and Ricardo Cordova's two RBI single gave New Jersey a 7-3 lead. New Jersey capitalized on Elmira's own erratic pitching in the bottom of the seventh as reliever Bric Steed walked Francisco Lebron to leadoff the inning. Lebron later advanced on a wild pitch by Steed and then scored on Steed's second wild pitch of the inning to give New Jersey an 8-4 lead.

The Pioneers' Ryan Dorsay belted a solo shot off of Bennett in the top of the seventh inning to pull Elmira to within three runs of New Jersey. Samone Peters also blasted a solo homerun off of Jackals' reliever Isaac Pavlik to cut New Jersey's lead to 8-5. Elmira threatened again the top of the ninth inning when Dorsay led off the inning with a double against reliever Fabricio Benitez and later scored on a Trey Beamon single to cut New Jersey's lead to 8-7 but Benitez got Jeremy Booth to ground out to end the game.

Pioneers' starting pitcher Mike Howell went five innings and allowed six runs on five hits. Lebron went 2-for-2 with two RBIs and Salas went 2-for-4 with a run scored and an RBI. Howell fell to 5-8 on the season as Elmira lost its second in a row to New Jersey.

The Jackals look to complete a three-game sweep of Elmira tomorrow night when Joe Orloski takes the mound for New Jersey. Game time is 7:05 at Yogi Berra Stadium in Little Falls, N.J.

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