Can-Am Brockton Rox

Wearne's Walk-Off Slam Gives Rox Two Wins In One Day

Published on July 11, 2010 under Canadian American League (Can-Am)
Brockton Rox News Release


Brockton, Mass. - Rox 2B Scott Wearne blasted an 11th-inning grand slam to give Brockton a thrilling 9-5 victory over the Pittsfield Colonials in Can-Am League action at Campanelli Stadium on Sunday evening.

The Colonials got on the board first with CF Jerod Edmondson doubling, moving to third on a groundout, and scoring on a sacrifice fly by 2B Danny Bomback.

Brockton regained the lead in the second inning on CF Chris Valencia's RBI triple and LF Mike Conroy's sacrifice fly, making it 2-1. Pittsfield then took a 5-2 lead in the third off an uncharacteristically wild inning from Rox starter Mike Wlodarczyk, who allowed three walks and hit a batter before giving up a bases-clearing triple to LF Rafael Cabreja.

Both Wlodarczyk and Pittsfield starter Miguel Cabrera then settled down, with neither club scoring another run over the next five innings. Brockton finally engineered its third run of the game in the eighth, when Wearne led off the inning with a double, went to third on SS Dominic Ramos' groundout, and scored on an single by 1B Melvin Falu.

The Rox tied the game at five in the ninth when C Chris Grossman blasted his fourth home run of the season, bringing in DH Clyde Williams, who had singled to lead off the inning.

Both teams went down quietly in the tenth. In the eleventh, Pittsfield was unable to record an out before Wearne's slam; Grossman walked, Valencia was hit by a pitch by Giuseppe Granitto, and Conroy reached first on a muffed sacrifice bunt to load the bases before the Australian sent his second dinger of the season into the Brockton night.

Wlodarczyk recovered from his early struggles and threw eight serviceable innings for the Rox, giving up six hits and striking out eight hitters. The eight K's put his league-leading total at 61, 12 more than the second-place Can-Am pitcher. Colin Lynch and Hunter Davis combined for three good innings of relief work, allowing no runs on two hits. Davis (1-1) picked up his first victory with the club.

Flores also put together a quality start, allowing three runs on six hits in seven and one-third, but was done in by shaky Pittsfield relief pitching, which gave up six runs on five hits in two and two-thirds innings of work.

The Rox put together eleven hits on the day, three apiece from Wearne and Falu, and two each from Grossman and Valencia. For Pittsfield, Cabreja and Edmondson led the way with 2-for-5 evenings.

Prior to the regularly-scheduled game, the Rox also picked up a 15-9 victory in a completion of a suspended game from June 23 at Pittsfield.

The game had been suspended with one out in the top of the ninth inning, with Brockton ahead, 13-9. Once the game was resumed, the Rox tacked on another two runs on RF Keith Brachold's league-leading ninth home run of the season.

Eight of Brockton's nine starters had hits, with Brachold, 3B Phillip Cuadrado, Grossman and Ramos each getting three apiece to add to the team total of 18. Cabreja went 3-for-3 with a pair of runs scored for the Colonials.

While he did not appear in the resumed portion of the game on Sunday, Mike Smith (5-3) earned his fifth victory of the year, having given up six runs on eight hits in five innings of work on June 23.

With the pair of victories, the Rox (25-17) stay alive in the Can-Am League first-half race, and are currently five games behind first-place Quebec. The Rox have five games left to play; the Capitales, six.

The two teams meet in the second complete game of the series on Monday evening, with Freddy Flores (5-0) facing Patrick Moran (0-1) of Pittsfield (15-26) at 6:05 p.m. on Kids Eat Free Monday at Campanelli Stadium.

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Canadian American League Stories from July 11, 2010


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