Defenders Fall 5-4
April 14, 2008 - Eastern League (EL1)
Connecticut Defenders News Release
Portland, ME- It was long, it was tough, and it ended in the Sea Dogs favor as the Defenders dropped the first game of the series, 5-4 in eleven innings.
Portland jumped out in front in the first inning as Defender's starter Adam Cowart finally showed he was human. The Sea Dogs scored two runs on back-to-back RBI singles to claim a 2-0 lead.
Connecticut stormed back in the second with a two-spot of their own as Dave Maroul laced a double down the line to score Simon Klink and Eddy Martinez-Esteve tapped a grounder to shortstop to bring in Carlos Sosa from third. After one and half, the game was knotted, 2-2.
The Sea Dogs wasted no time as they put two more on the board in the bottom of the third on a sacrifice fly and run-scoring single to re-take a two-run advantage, 4-2.
The Defenders bullpen was lights out. Steve Palazollo, Kelvin Pichardo, and Osiris Matos combined to throw seven scoreless innings, allowed only one base hit, struck out seven and walked only two to preserve the shallow deficit.
Connecticut would get back on the scoreboard in the eighth inning as Martinez-Esteve connected on another RBI groundout to score Sosa and Olmo Rosario cracked a broken bat single into right to bring home Dayton Buller. For the second straight night, the Defenders had tied a ballgame up late, to force their opposition to score.
With the game at a standstill, tied at 4-4, the game drifted into extra innings. The bullpen continued to perform until the bottom of the eleventh.
The half-inning started out beautifully as Justin Hedrick struck out the first two batters he saw. Then, he gave up a single, and then another. With runners on first and second, Hedrick walked Ryan Khoury as the bases were juiced in a drastic situation. With Iggy Suarez at the plate and a 1-0 count, Hedrick threw a wild pitch in the dirt to score the winning run as the Defenders fell, 5-4.
The Defenders will take on the same Sea Dogs in Portland Tuesday night at 6:00pm. The AT&T Real Yellow Pages pre-game show starts at 5:45pm locally on WICH 1310AM or at ctdefenders.com. The team will travel home Thursday to face the Reading Phillies at 6:35pm. For tickets call the box office at (860) 887-7962.
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