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Cutters Take First Game of Second Half in Dramatic Fashion

July 15, 2005 - Canadian American League (Can-Am)
New Haven County Cutters News Release


The New Haven County Cutters began the second half of their season immeasurably better than their first half, coming back from a five-run deficit and leaving the New Jersey Jackals on the field with a 7-6 victory on Friday night.

Down 6-5 heading into the bottom of the ninth, the Cutters sent Orlando Encarnacion to the plate to pinch hit for Mike LaRosa. He might not have hit it hard, but Encarnacion placed the ball perfectly right under the glove of second baseman Ricardo Cordova. Down by one with the tying run on first, the Jackals anticipated the sacrifice bunt by Keto Anderson and were in position to play it perfectly. But the bunt trickled under the glove of pitcher Fabricio Benitez for a base hit. Again the Jackals anticipated bunt and again they failed to field it cleanly as Mike O?Keefe popped up his bunt right in between the pitcher?s mound and third base and reached safely without a throw. Suddenly the bases were loaded with no outs.

A rarity ensued. Derrick Gibson, who has been the Cutters' most consistent batter all year, failed to come through in the clutch, striking out on a Benitez high fast ball. His long-ball partner Bill Peavey had his back though and laced a ball underneath the glove of Cordova that brought home the tying and winning run.

The Jackals must have felt they had put the Cutters away long before New Haven County batted in the eighth. Up 6-1, New Jersey had done most of their damage in the third inning when they scored five runs, due largely in part to poor Cutters fielding and a three-run triple by Joe Jiannetti that Gibson attempted to dive for but came up short. New Haven County's starter Brad Whitworth would rebound after that difficult inning and pitched one-run ball for the next three and two third innings.

On the other side of the ball the Jackals' starter Aaron Myers was making the Cutters look foolish at the plate. After giving up a leadoff home run to Anderson, his first of the year, he shut out the Cutters batters for the next six innings, striking out nine in the process.

The Cutters probably let out a collective sigh of relief when Myers did not come out to pitch the bottom of the eighth. Instead, Alan Webb was assigned the task of closing out the game. LaRosa greeted Webb rudely, registering a single that would prove to be the catalyst for a four run rally that set up the ninth inning dramatics. What followed was an opportunistic batting attack. With runners on first and second, the Cutters' heavy hitters, Gibson, Peavey and Jeff Brooks, all hit singles, the result of which scored two runs and left runners on second and third with one out. After a Chas Terni strike out, the Jackals appeared to be out of the inning when Benitez induced Andy Larned to hit a routine grounder to shortstop Chris Rowan. The ball was not fielded cleanly and both runners scored, bringing the score to 6-5 and giving the Cutters the belief that this game was theirs to win.

Game two of the series features Courtney Hall (2-2) on the mound for the Cutters against New Jersey's Joe Orloski (4-2).

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