Sports stats



AtL Somerset Patriots

Patriots' Battery Shuts Down Sharks

August 25, 2010 - Atlantic League (AtL)
Somerset Patriots News Release


Camden, NJ - Josh Miller threw eight innings of shutout baseball while Jason Belcher tallied the only two Patriot hits two solo homers as Somerset shutout the Camden Riversharks 2-0 on Wednesday night at Campbells Field.

In a game with just five combined hits, the two Somerset bombs were the biggest of the game. Belcher broke up Camden starter Derell McCall's no-hitter in the 5th inning, lining a pitch over the right field wall, erasing the clean sheet and the shutout in one swing. McCall (7-7) did not allow another hit until Belcher came back up with one out in the 8th, taking a 1-1 breaking ball to right field, over the glove of a leaping Richie Robnett, for his second homer of the game. For Belcher, it was his first Somerset multi-homer game and just the second of his career, the other coming on August 8, 2000 in Belcher's rookie season with Helena in the Pioneer League. McCall walked Iggy Suarez following the homer and left the game after 7.1 innings, walking a season-high four batters. Tim Bittner got a double play and retired Somerset in order in the 9thas Camden held the Patriots to a season-low two hits.

As solid of a start as McCall had, Miller the league leader in innings outdueled him in impressive fashion. Miller (11-8) took a perfect game to the 4th, retiring the first 10 men he faced before former Patriot Sean Smith doubled. Miller got two outs in the 5th when Richie Robnett tallied an infield single before being thrown out at second by Belcher trying to steal. The only other blemish against Miller was another infield single by Brian Burgamy in the 7th. Miller faced just two over the minimum, yielding three hits over 8.0 sparkling innings, striking out six batters while using just 97 pitches en route to tying his career-high in victories.

Scott Williamson relieved Miller in the 9thand after a two-out walk to pinch-hitter Estee Harris, got Chris Malec who had delivered the game-winning hit one night prior to fly out to left ending the game, locking down his fifth Patriot save.

Somerset (24-23, 60-57) looks for the series win against Camden (16-30, 55-61) on Thursday night when Jason Monti (3-6, 4.02) faces off against Mike Madsen (2-1, 3.16) with coverage beginning at 7:00 pm on 1450 WCTC-AM and online at www.wctcam.com and www.somersetpatriots.com.

NOTES: Miller last had 11 wins for Double-A Corpus Christi in 2006. He has already surpassed his career-high totals in innings and starts...In eight career starts against Camden, Miller has six quality starts with a 3-1 record...the Patriots had just two hits on August 2 against Bridgeport as well...the Patriots shut out a team for the fourth time this year...the Patriots have had four multi-homer games this year, all coming after July 30. Josh Pressley tallied his first Patriot multi-homer game on July 31 before picking up another on August 13. Jeff Nettles had two homers on August 15...three of Belcher's five homers this year have come in Camden...the Patriots and Riversharks have split their 16 meetings this year.

Check out the Somerset Patriots Statistics

• Discuss this story on the Atlantic League message board...

Atlantic League Stories from August 25, 2010


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