Joel Bennett Out-Duels Greg Keagle as Pioneers Drop Playoff Opener
Published on September 4, 2002 under Canadian American League (Can-Am)
Elmira Pioneers News Release
New Jersey Jackals ace Joel Bennett showed why he was the top pitcher in the league this year by firing 8 inning of 3-hit ball with 12 K's as the Pioneers lost the opener of their best-of-5 playoff series in a 3-0 decision.
Greg Keagle threw equally well through most of the night but surrendered a 2-run HR to Ryan Kane in the 2nd inning followed by an unearned run a couple batters later as New Jersey got all the scoring they would need.
Bennett (14-2 in regular season) was the right-handed pitcher of the year in the Northern League East for the 2nd straight season. Greg Keagle (10-9 in regular season) finished the year with 5 straight wins. Bennett and Keagle also finished 1st and 2nd in the league in strikeouts with 141 and 119 respecitvely.
A 3rd inning single by Brandon Pernell would be the only hit the Pioneers would notch in the first 7 frames.
Elmira almost tied the game in the 8th inning when Brandon Pernell's high-towering bid for a 3-run HR hooked just foul to LF. Osmani Garcia singled up the middle to start the 8th and Rolando Bello singled to LF a couple batters later to set the stage for the potential equalizer. After Pernell just missed he went down on swinging and Ron Bush followed with a called strike-out raising Bennett's total to 12 on the night.
Former Pioneer closer Ryan Halla closed it out in the 9th inning for the save surrendering just a 1-out single to Michael Coleman before retiring Pedro Quero and Brian Jones on fly-outs to the OF.
Keagle had 9 strikeouts through the 1st 5 innings and Bennett recorded 8 in that span. Both pitchers struck-out 3 straight batters in a dominating 5th inning.
The NJ runs came in the 2nd off Keagle. David Kennedy walked on 4 straight and then Keagle offered his only mistake of the night which Ryan Kane jumped on for a 2-run HR to LF giving the Jackals a 2-0 lead. Billy Rich looped a 2-run double to shallow RF just past the reach of 2B Rolando Bello. Mikaekla Dworken hit a ground-ball to SS and Run Bush, potentially distracted by the runner breaking for 3rd, fired the ball over 1B Quero and into the dug-out allowing Rich to score and unearned run.
After the error, Keagle went on to retire 17 of the next 18 batters from the 2nd through the 7th innings. He allowed a couple of singles in the 8th but kept NJ off the board.
NJ appeared to have the all the breaks as they dropped a couple of bloops in for hits while the Pioneers hit some shots that went for outs or long foul-balls.
In the 6th inning, Pernell drilled Bennett's first pitch down the 3B line but Ryan Kane made a fine back-handed catch on the bullett for the first out. In the 7th, Brian Jones hit a high pop-up in front of the plate. Catcher Mikaela Dworken muffed the play but the ball bounced out of his glove right to a surprised Joel Bennett who was able to make the catch on the rebound.
Game 2 of the playoffs will be Thursday night in New Jersey with Jeff Andra (10-7) going up against another former big leaguer in Mike Bertotti (13-5).
Game 3 will be at Dunn Field Friday night with Jackson Crowther (6-8) going up against Aaron Myers (11-6). Great playoff ticket packages are available at the Dunn Field Box office at (607) 734-BALL. The Pioneers are also offering great 'Dollar Days' concessions discounts through the post-season with dollar hot-dogs, sodas and Friendly's sundae cups.
Canadian American League Stories from September 4, 2002
- Surf Win in 10; Magic No. at 4 - Atlantic City Surf
- Jackals Take Game One - New Jersey Jackals
- Pride Gear Up for Final Homestand - American Defenders of New Hampshire
- Joel Bennett Out-Duels Greg Keagle as Pioneers Drop Playoff Opener - Elmira Pioneers
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