EL1 New Hampshire Fisher Cats

Burns, Bibens-Dirkx Betrayed by Bullpen

Published on April 5, 2014 under Eastern League (EL1)
New Hampshire Fisher Cats News Release


TRENTON, N.J. - Austin Bibens-Dirkx threw seven innings and Andy Burns went 2-4 with a home run, but a pair of late rallies against the Fisher Cats (2-1) bullpen allowed the Trenton Thunder (1-2) to walk off with a 6-5 win on Saturday night at Arm & Hammer Park.

Bibens-Dirkx was the story of the game early on for New Hampshire. After giving up a run in the first inning, he dominated the Thunder over the course of seven strong frames. The righty allowed just three hits while walking two with two strikeouts. After the first inning, when the lead-off hitter doubled and scored, he allowed just one Thunder base runner beyond first base.

Despite that dominance, Bibens-Dirkx was on the hook for the loss because the Fisher Cats offense couldn't muster anything against Trenton starter Zach Nuding. They had just one hit until Burns struck in the sixth. With runners at first and second, Burns singled home Kenny Wilson to tie the game at 1-1.

Burns' hit seemed to set something off for the Fisher Cats because they took the lead in the seventh when Ryan Schimpf blasted his first home run of the season to right field. Three batters later, Aaron Munoz picked up his first Double-A RBI with a groundout to make it a 3-1 game.

An inning later, it was Burns again. With one out, he crushed a mammoth home run to left field to put the Fisher Cats comfortably ahead, 4-1.

The comfort soon turned to discomfort. In the bottom of the eighth, Tony Davis' Fisher Cats debut was short. The lefty hit a batter, gave up a bloop single, and a walk to load the bases. He gave way to Randy Boone, who uncorked a pair of wild pitches to cut the Fisher Cats lead to 4-3. Before he could get out of the inning, a Rob Segedin single and a Gary Sanchez triple plated two more runs to put the Thunder on top, 5-4.

As quickly as the Thunder took the lead, they lost it. Michael Crouse led off the ninth with a triple for New Hampshire. He jogged home a few pitches later when Munoz lofted a sac fly to deep left to knot the game again, 5-5.

Boone came back out in the bottom of the ninth to try to extend the game to extra innings, but he was unsuccessful. A walk and an error put two runners aboard, and, with two outs, Mason Williams single to right plate the game-winner run for Trenton's first victory of the season.

The series will now come to an end on Sunday afternoon at 1:05 p.m. RHP Scott Copeland takes the ball in his Double-A debut for the Fisher Cats. Tom Gauthier has the call beginning at 4:45 p.m. on WGIR 610 AM and www.nhfishercats.com.

The Fisher Cats will open the home portion of the schedule on Thursday night against the Binghamton Mets at 6:35 p.m. The first 2,500 fans will receive a magnet schedule courtesy of The Elliot Orthopaedics. To purchase tickets, visit www.nhfishercats.com.

Check out the New Hampshire Fisher Cats Statistics

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Eastern League Stories from April 5, 2014


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