Can-Am New Jersey Jackals

Kibler Dominates Early, But Power Surge Carries Quebec To Victory

August 11, 2011 - Canadian American League (Can-Am)
New Jersey Jackals News Release


Quebec City, QC - Jackals' starter Jon Kibler took a perfect game into the sixth inning, but the Quebec Capitales set a Can-Am League record with five home runs in the bottom of the seventh to salvage the finale of a three-game series against New Jersey, 11-0, on Thursday night at Stade Municipal.

Quebec starter Matthew Rusch struck out a career-high 13 batters in a complete-game, three-hit shutout as the Jackals were held scoreless for just the second time this season.

Leading 2-0, the Capitales connected on back-to-back-to-back home runs to begin the bottom of the seventh inning with Rene Leveret, Bobby Wagner, and Seth Henry going deep in succession. Kibler fired the next pitch over the head of Quebec catcher Patrick D'Aoust and the benches cleared before D'Aoust homered later in the at-bat to chase the New Jersey starter from the contest. The Capitales tacked on five more runs against reliever Mike Petrowski to extend their lead to 11-0 thanks in large part to a two-run single by Sebastien Boucher and Wagner's second blast of the inning.

Kibler and Rusch combined to retire the game's first 24 batters before New Jersey catcher Myron Leslie led off the top of the sixth inning with a single to become the contest's first baserunner. Mike Jones walked later in the inning, but Rusch struck out the side to strand both runners and keep the game scoreless.

In the bottom of the sixth, Patrick D'Aoust led off with a walk to break up Kibler's bid for a perfect game. The next batter, Jeff Helps, pushed a bunt past Kibler and New Jersey second baseman D'Angelo Jimenez threw the ball wide of first base to allow both runners to advance on what went down as the first hit of the day against the Jackals' southpaw. New Jersey skipper Joe Calfapietra was ejected after arguing his case for interference on the play. Two batters later, Goefrey Tomlinson singled to center to plate the game's first run before an RBI groundout off the bat of Josh Colafemina made it 2-0 in favor of Quebec.

Kibler (0-5) allowed six runs (five earned) on six hits over six innings, striking out four batters and walking one.

The Jackals return home to Yogi Berra Stadium to open up a seven-game homestand on Friday night at 7:05 p.m. when they welcome the Worcester Tornadoes to Little Falls for a three-game series. In the series opener, New Jersey will send southpaw A.J. Wideman (3-2, 4.32 ERA) to the mound against Worcester left-hander Ryan Lobban (4-0, 4.81 ERA). Cody Chrusciel and Matt Sutor have the call on the live webcast beginning 15 minutes prior to first pitch at www.jackals.com.

JACKAL BITES: Joe Calfapietra was ejected by third base umpire Sean Hicks in the bottom of the sixth inning... Bobby Wagner became just the second player in Can-Am League history to homer twice in an inning with the other being former Capitale and current New York Federal Eddie Lantigua... With their victory, the Capitales avoided being swept at home. The last team to sweep the Capitales in Quebec City was the Jackals when they accomplished the feat from July 22-24, 2009 as part of a team-record 14-game winning streak... On a seven-game New Jersey road trip that featured five games that took at least three hours, 12 minutes to complete, Thursday night's contest clocked in at just two hours, 18 minutes... Matthew Rusch fell one strikeout shy of tying the Can-Am League record.

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. 2011 single-game tickets, season tickets, mini-plans and group outings are available by calling 973-746-7434. Visit the Jackals online at www.jackals.com.

Check out the New Jersey Jackals Statistics



Canadian American League Stories from August 11, 2011


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.

OurSports Central