Black Bears Prevail In 16 Inning Marathon
August 20, 2003 - Canadian American League (Can-Am)
Berkshire Black Bears News Release
Nine innings was not enough to decide a winner of the tonight game at Wahconah Park; instead the Black Bears ended the game in the bottom of the 16th inning beating Elmira 2-1 final.
The Black Bears scored quickly in the first inning. As Manny Crespo grounded out to the shortstop, Jose Mateo scored from the third to give the Pittsfield Nine a 1-0 lead. Berkshire starter, Tony Harden dominated the Elmira hitters with pinpoint control, shutting out the Pioneers through 7 innings of work. However in the eighth, Elmira third baseman Dennis Abreu crushed a solo homerun over the center field fence off reliever Shane Waroff , tying the game at one. Then the pitchers duel continued and went back and forth as both teams threatened but failed to strike the knockout blow. In the bottom 16th, as the game was already tied for the longest game in Northeast League history, Shane Hopper led off with a double and Crespo came up to the plate. The clean-up hitter for the Black Bears dropped a single between the center fielder and the second baseman, scoring Hopper from the second to end the longest game the Black Bears franchise has ever experienced, winning tonight, 2-1.
The Black Bears starter Harden threw seven shutout innings to earn a no-decision, allowing four hits and striking out six batters. The Daktronics Northeast League Player of the Week has now thrown 16 consecutive shutout innings, preceding tonight's outing with a complete game 2-hit shutout performance against Bangor. The right-hand reliever Orlando Encarnacion (1-0) picked up the win, allowing no runs and two hits over three innings. The Pioneers starter Ryo "Bamboo" Takeuchi threw five and 2/3 innings, allowing one run and seven hits. Jeffrey Perez fell to 0-2 with the loss, giving up the final runs, throwing two and 2/3 innings.
A fatigued duel of South Division rivals will commence in the rubber game of the series, Wednesday night at 7:05 pm, Rick Guttormson (6-8) vs Hatuey Mendoza (5-6).
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