Spirit fall short in ninth

Published on August 11, 2003 under Canadian American League (Can-Am)
North Shore Spirit News Release


The North Shore Spirit ninth inning rally fell short Monday night at New Fraser Field; as the New Jersey Jackals held on to beat the Spirit 3-1 in the first of their three game series.

Trailing 3-0 heading into the bottom of the ninth, the Spirit mounted their comeback bid. John Schmitz started the inning off with a single off New Jersey starter and winner Aaron Myers (7-6). Carlos Sepulveda then belted a long shot to left that grazed the top of the wall, while Jackals centerfielder Darren Blakely retrieved the ball and relayed to Chris Rowan, Schmitz was sent home. Schmitz went into a hook slide and appeared safe at the plate under the tag of Carlos Pagan, but umpire Sean Francis called him out. The out call sent Spirit third-base coach Rich Gedman into a tirade and was tossed out of the game.

The Jackals made a call to the bullpen to closer Julio Perez and the Spirit quickly greeted Perez with a Frank Charles (2-4, 1 RBI) single to right scoring Sepulveda to make the score 3-1. Ed Muth then singled and Fran Riordan walked to load the bases with one out, but Perez settled down and retired the next two Spirit batters to earn his sixth save of the year.

The Jackals chipped away at Spirit starter and loser Klae Calvert (6-5), scoring single runs in the second, fifth and sixth innings.

In the second singles by Travis Bailey and Scott Samuels put runners on first and third for Pagan. Pagan hit a nubber behind the pitcher's mound which Jason Startari fielded cleanly for the out at second, while the run scored easily from third to make it 1-0.

In the fifth Samuels (3-4) doubled and scored on Chris Rowan's RBI single to make the score 2-0. The Jackals scored again in the sixth on a Darren Blakely double and Bailey RBI single to make the score 3-0.

The Spirit loss drops their record to 15-12, while New Jersey climbs back to 14-14.

The clubs play game two of their three game series tonight at New Fraser Field. John Kelly 10-2 will pitch for the Spirit and will be opposed by Trevor Marcotte 8-4.

Spirit play-off tickets are on sale now. You can purchase tickets in one of three ways, on-line, at our 365 Western Avenue Box Office or by calling 781592-0007.

As always, you can listen to Spirit baseball on flagship station WESX AM 1230 beginning with the pre-game show at 6:30.

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Canadian American League Stories from August 11, 2003


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