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Jackals Win Third Straight to Take Northeast League Title

September 20, 2004 - Canadian American League (Can-Am)
North Shore Spirit News Release


Lynn, MA – The New Jersey Jackals completed an improbable yet impressive comeback Monday night, beating the North Shore Spirit, 5-3, at the New Fraser Field in Lynn to capture the Northeast League championship.

After losing the first two games of the series by one run at home, the Jackals faced a monumental task as they headed to Lynn for Game 3. They looked to be all done as the Spirit took a 4-1 lead in Game 3 Friday night, but they rallied to tie it in the eighth and went on to win in 13 innings, 7-4.

It was more of the same Sunday as the Spirit took a 2-1 lead into the ninth, only to see the Jackals tie it, then win in 11 innings, 4-2.

Monday night, New Jersey, which has won three of the last four league titles, jumped out to a 4-1 lead after three innings and held on for the title-clinching win before a crowd of 1,336.

The Jackals touched up Spirit starter Klae Calvert early with two runs in the second and third innings. Craig Conway (double) and Jay Laflair (single) drove in runs in the second, after Calvert had struck out the first two batters.

The Spirit got one back in the bottom of the inning on a Travis Oglesby solo home run.

New Jersey extended the lead to 4-1 in the third on Wilton Veras' RBI double and Chris Rowan's seeing-eye by shortstop.

The Spirit got to within a run in the fifth when Brian Macchi doubled and scored on an RBI single by Vic Davilla, who was making his first appearance in the series after injuring his arm vs. Quebec in the Division Series. Davilla moved to third on an Erick Mejias double and scored on a wild pitch.

That was as close as the Spirit would get as the Jackals manufactured an insurance run in the seventh when John Anderson reached on an error, moved up on a sacrifice, stole third and scored on a groundout.

The Spirit have advanced to the Championship Series in the two years they have been in the Northeast League. Last year, they were swept by the Brockton Rox in the finals.

After drawing 90,000 fans in their inaugural season, the Spirit improved on that by more than a third with almost 122,000 fans coming out this year. The entire North Shore Spirit organization would like to thank the fans for their continued support throughout the 2004 season.

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The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

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