EL1 New Hampshire Fisher Cats

Smith Jr. Bashes Tuesday Night Home Run

Published on August 11, 2015 under Eastern League (EL1)
New Hampshire Fisher Cats News Release


MANCHESTER, N.H. - Dwight Smith Jr's fifth home run was the lone highlight for the Fisher Cats on Tuesday night as they dropped a 10-3 decision to the Akron RubberDucks to open a six-game homestand at Northeast Delta Dental Stadium. The defeat leaves them 5.0 games out of the playoff chase with 29 games to go in the season.

Akron (62-54) wasted little time in grabbing the lead as they loaded the bases up in the top of the first inning. With two outs, Nellie Rodriguez made his first Double-A at-bat count by bashing a grand slam off the Samuel Adams Bar & Grill for a 4-0 Ducks lead.

New Hampshire would rally in the third when Smith, Jr.'s, home run capped off a two-out rally. It started with one out as Matt Newman and Shane Opitz singled. After Jorge Flores flied to right, Smith, Jr., lined the first pitch he saw over the right field wall to cut the deficit to one run at 4-3.

That was as close as the Fisher Cats (57-55) would get in the game. While the RubberDucks tallies six times over the fifth, sixth, and seventh innings, the Fisher Cats managed just one hit during that same time frame.

Bibens-Dirkx (L; 4-6) took the loss allowing four runs on 9 hits in his five innings of work. Dustin Antolin (two runs) and Danny Barnes (three runs) allowed Akron to extend the lead over the sixth and seventh innings.

Adam Plutko (W; 7-4) won his second game against the Fisher Cats with a quality start of three runs in six innings of work.

Smith, Jr., led the Fisher Cats offensive attack with two hits. Melky Mesa and Flores also reached base twice with a hit and a walk each.

The teams meet on Wednesday afternoon for the middle game of the series at 12:05 p.m. It's the final Splash Day presented by Whale's Tale Waterpark. Tickets are available at www.nhfishercats.com, by calling 603-641-2005, and by visiting the stadium box office.

The pitching match-up has righty Taylor Cole looking for his sixth win against Akron lefty Shawn Morimando. Tom Gauthier and Bob Lipman have the radio call beginning at 12:15 p.m. on the WGIR Fisher Cats Radio Network and www.nhfishercats.com.

Check out the New Hampshire Fisher Cats Statistics

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



Eastern League Stories from August 11, 2015


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