Steamers Clinch First-Half East Division Title
June 28, 2012 - Coastal Plain League (Coastal Plain)
Edenton Steamers News Release
EDENTON, NC - The Edenton Steamers (18-7) clinched the Coastal Plain Leagues first half East Division title Thursday with their 10-9 win over the Fayetteville SwampDogs (17-10) at Historic Hicks Field.
Left-handed pitcher Matt Adams (Southern Polytechnic State University) got the nod in the potential clincher for Edenton. On the other side of the diamond was Gary Ashcraft, making his fifth start for the SwampDogs.
Fayetteville jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning when Adams hit Zach Gawrych. He moved to second on a one-out groundout and scored on Sal Giardina's RBI single to make it 1-0 SwampDogs. Two batters later with the bases loaded, Adams issued a walk to Blake Beemer and the lead was 2-0.
Edenton got two solo home runs in the bottom of the first to tie the ball game at 2-2. Jason Kanzler (University at Buffalo) and Koby Kraemer (Indiana State University) went back-to-back to begin the ball game.
In the bottom of the second Edenton took their first lead of the night. Blaise Fernandez (George Mason University) singled and moved to second on an error by the pitcher on a pick-off attempt. He scored on Wilbur Nevarez's (Lubbock Christian University) RBI single to make it 3-2 Steamers. Three batters later and after a Kanzler single, Kraemer hit an RBI single to push the lead to 4-2 Steamers.
Spencer Branigan hit a solo home run in the bottom of the third to make it a 5-2 Steamer lead.
Fayetteville scored three times in the top of the fourth against Adams when John Howell doubled. A ground out moved Howell to third and he came home on Zach Gawrych's RBI double to cut the lead to 5-3 Steamers. Three batters later Giardina hit a two-run single to tie the game at 5-5.
Kanzler, in the bottom of the fourth hit his second home run of the game and fourth of the season. A two-run homer that gave Edenton a 7-5 lead.
The 'Dogs got a solo home run from Andrew Parker to make it 7-6 and after a Howell single and a two base error by Kanzler in center field allowed him to move to third base Adams was lifted for David Teasley (Mercer University) Connor Obrochta singled home Howell and once again the game was tied 7-7.
Fayetteville took an 8-7 lead in the top of the sixth when Michael Tauchman homered against Teasley.
Edenton reclaimed the lead in the bottom of the seventh inning when Madison Beaird (Arkansas Tech University) was hit by a pitch. Michael Camporeale (University of Washington) then doubled and Spencer Branigan hit a sacrifice fly to tie the game at 8-8. Blaise Fernandez singled through the pulled in infield to score Camporeale and make it 9-8 Steamers and Nevarez hit an RBI double to score Fernandez from first base and the lead was 10-8.
Fayetteville scrapped for a run in the top of the eighth off of right-handed pitcher Travis Huber (University of Nebraska). Tauchman reached on an infield single and stole second base. He moved to third on a ground out by Giardina and scored on Reed Harpers ground out to make it 10-9 Steamers.
Right-handed Jordan Egan came on in the ninth and retired the SwampDogs one, two, three to earn his CPL leading tenth save. The win went to Matt Duncan, who pitched 1.2 innings of scoreless relief, allowing only one walk and striking out two batters. Keith Picht took the loss in relief for Fayetteville. He pitched 1.1 innings and allowed three this and three runs.
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