EL1 New Hampshire Fisher Cats

Fisher Cats Win on Opening Night, 7-4

Published on April 8, 2009 under Eastern League (EL1)
New Hampshire Fisher Cats News Release


Manchester, NH- Brad Emaus went 3-for-4, tied a franchise record by hitting three doubles and matched a career-high with four RBIs as the New Hampshire Fisher Cats beat the New Britain Rock Cats, 7-4, before an Opening Night crowd of 6,122 at Merchantsauto.com Stadium on Wednesday night. Left-hander Marc Rzepczynski struck out nine batters over five innings of work to earn the victory in his Eastern League debut.

New Hampshire (1-0) jumped on losing pitcher Jeff Manship for four runs in the bottom of the first inning to take a 4-0 lead. Todd Donovan (1-for-2, 2B, 2 BB, 3 R) drew a leadoff walk and scored on Emaus' first double of the night. David Cooper (1-for-3, 2B, RBI, R, BB) slapped a run-scoring double, scoring Emaus, and Nick Gorneault (1-for-3, 2B, RBI, R, HBP) delivered the third RBI double of the inning, plating Cooper. Gorneault would come home with the fourth run of the inning, scoring on a throwing error by Rock Cats' third baseman Danny Valencia.

Rzepczynski (1-0) worked five innings, yielding two runs -one earned- on four hits. The left-hander struck out nine and walked four.

Emaus laced a two-run double in the bottom of the second inning, knocking in Donovan and Brian Jeroloman (1-for-4, R) for a 6-0 lead.

Manship (0-1) allowed six runs -five earned- on seven hits in four innings. The right-hander struck out five and walked two.

New Britain (0-1) trimmed the deficit to 6-2 in the top of the fourth inning on RBI fielder's choice grounders from Steve Tolleson (0-for-5, 2 RBI, R), who reached on an error, and Rene Tosoni (0-for-5, RBI).

Tolleson drove in a second run on a sixth-inning fielder's choice grounder off former Rock Cat David Shinskie, plating Juan Portes (0-for-2, 2 BB, 2 R) and reducing the Fishers' lead to 6-3.

Donovan and Emaus drilled back-to-back doubles off reliever Zach Ward in the bottom of the seventh inning, giving New Hampshire six two-base hits in its season opener.

Tolleson reached on an error and scored on a sacrifice fly from Joe Gaetti (2-for-4, 2 2B, SF, RBI) in the top of the ninth inning to cap the scoring.

The Fisher Cats and the Rock Cats meet again Thursday night at 6:35pm. New Hampshire right-hander Rei Gonzalez (0-0, 0.00) takes the mound against New Britain right-hander Jay Rainville (0-0, 0.00). Radio coverage begins at 6:15pm with Mike Murphy and Bob Lipman and the WGIR Fisher Cats Radio Network.

Thursday night is Indian Head Athletics Scholar Athlete Night at Merchantsauto.com Stadium. For tickets, call (603) 641-2005 or visit www.nhfishercats.com.

Check out the New Hampshire Fisher Cats Statistics

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Eastern League Stories from April 8, 2009


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