Can-Am New Jersey Jackals

Jackals 2012 Season in Review

Published on September 19, 2012 under Canadian American League (Can-Am)
New Jersey Jackals News Release


Little Falls, NJ - New Jersey's 2011 season ended when the Quebec Capitales defeated New Jersey three games to one in the '11 Can-Am Championship Series. Quebec had won their third straight title, and increased New Jersey's championship drought to eight years.

The Jackals' first big news of their 15th anniversary season came later in 2011 when the Can-Am League announced all teams would play 20 games with the Midwest's American Association. By luck of the draw, New Jersey played its first 10 games in Kansas City, KS, Wichita, KS, and Lincoln, NE.

The Jackals split their Midwest road trip with the help of their loudest acquisition, 2003 AL Rookie of the Year Angel Berroa. Signed April 3rd, Berroa was .422 with four home runs and 10 RBIs in those 10 games, including a 5-5, 4 RBI, opening-night performance in New Jersey's 17-7 victory over the Kansas City T-Bones.

Berroa's three-run home run that day would be New Jersey's first of a Can-Am record-breaking 108 they would hit in 2012.

New Jersey and Quebec faced off for the first time June 8th. The 13-7 Jackals found themselves down 7-5 in the ninth inning, a two-run rally started by former AAA Yankees farmhand Matt Cusick, who signed with New Jersey a day earlier, helped his new team to an 8-7 victory in 11 innings, one of only 14 losses Quebec would suffer at home during the regular season.

One of only six Jackals' returnee's from 2011 was eight-year Jackal Isaac Pavlik, who entered the season 27 strikeouts and five wins behind New Jersey's all-time marks.

In the second inning June 16th at home against Quebec, Pavlik struck out rookie Normand Gosselin, giving him 633 strikeouts in a Jackals uniform, passing Joel Bennett for the most in the team's 15-year history.

Two weeks later in Newark July 2nd, Pavlik earned his 60th Jackals win, once again knocking Bennett down to number two on a Jackals all-time list.

New Jersey's most thrilling victory of the season sandwiched Pavlik's two landmark performances. New Jersey came back three times on June 22nd in an interleague matchup against the Grand Prairie AirHogs. Down two runs in the fourth, two in the 13th, and one in the 16th, future League MVP Nick Giarraputo's two-run, 16th-inning home run gave New Jersey a 10-9 victory in the Can-Am League's longest game of 2012.

28-22 and five games back of Quebec July 12th, New Jersey made arguably their best two acquisitions of the year. Four-year Can-Am veteran Matt Nandin, who a week earlier dropped down a walk-off suicide squeeze for the Rockland Boulders against the Jackals, was now New Jersey's starting shortstop. He would hit .312 with 14 doubles the rest of the way.

Also scooped up that day was former Worcester Tornadoes first baseman Nick Salotti, who was released a day earlier.

Salotti hit five home runs for the Jackals in 2012. Four either tied the game or gave the Jackals a lead in the seventh inning or later.

The first, and most compelling of those home runs, came against his former team only a week following his acquisition. Down one run with two outs in the ninth inning, Salotti's two-run home run against the Tornadoes gave New Jersey a shocking 8-7 victory.

Two weeks later, the Jackals would win their 40th game, in Worcester, scoring a season-high 18 runs in their 18-5 win. Giarraputo was 3-6 with a grand slam and a Jackals 2012-high six RBIs.

The Jackals got exciting news August 10th, when the New York Yankees announced they had purchased RHP Zach Woods' contract. 2-1 with a 3.38 ERA in 31 relief appearances for New Jersey in 2012, the 24-year old with a tight curveball and hard fastball became the Can-Am League's first player in 2012 to bump up to affiliated baseball. Woods recorded a save in four appearances with the Low-A Staten Island Yankees to finish the season.

Woods was the only Can-Am player to be called up to affiliated baseball since Worcester's Chris Colabello was called up to to a AA Minnesota Twins affiliate February 6th this year.

The Can-Am League's turning point came in a Jackals victory August 13th against the Rockland Boulders. After starting the season 4-11, Boulders worked to just 2 1/2 games behind New Jersey for the league's final playoff spot.

Down a run in the eighth, Berroa's two-run, two-out home run down the left-field line briefly put New Jersey up 5-4. But crew chief Lance Shoenwald summoned manager Joe Calfapietra with his left index finger to inform him the umpires now ruled the home run a foul ball, taking those two runs off the board.

Following Calfapietra's ejection, Bryan Sabatella's three-run home run two batters later put New Jersey up 6-4 en route to their 6-5 victory.

It was the start of 13 straight Rockland losses, gift wrapping New Jersey the final spot in the championship series to set up a 2011 rematch with the Quebec Capitales.

Before The Series, New Jersey had one more milestone to step to. Calfapietra, who in his 10th season is the longest tenured Can-Am coach and fourth longest in independent baseball, won his 500th Jackals game on August 30th in New Jersey's' 10-3 win over the Newark Bears. He is the winningest coach in Can-Am history.

After a win in game one of the 2012 Can-Am Championship Series behind veteran ace Pavlik, the Capitales reeled off four straight wins, holding New Jersey to only six runs in their four losses. The Capitales were handed their fourth straight title, once again at the hands of the New Jersey Jackals.

Will Isaac Pavlik return for another season? How will Zach Woods do in his first full season of affiliated baseball? Can Joe Calfapietra finally overtake the powerhouse Quebec has become?

Can the once-dominant New Jersey Jackals snap their near decade-long championship slump in 2013? The season begins in May.

The New Jersey Jackals, proud members of the Canadian-American Association of Professional Baseball, play their home games at Yogi Berra Stadium located on the campus of Montclair State University in Little Falls, NJ. Visit the Jackals online at Jackals.com. You can follow us on Twitter @JackalsBaseball.

Notes

New Jersey was never swept in 2012, but swept an opponent five series... NJ was 21-0 during the regular season when Isaac Pavlik or Steve Fox started after a Jackals loss, much of the reason why New Jersey suffered only one three-game losing streak during the regular season... On August 28th, Bryan Sabatella swiped his 41st bag, eclipsing Zach Smithlin for the all-time Jackals record...

Check out the New Jersey Jackals Statistics

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Canadian American League Stories from September 19, 2012


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