Worcester falls short
June 4, 2008 - Canadian American League (Can-Am)
Worcester Tornadoes News Release
WORCESTER - A ninth inning rally fell one hit short as the Worcester Tornadoes left the potential tying run at third base in dropping a 7-6 decision to the Atlantic City Surf on Wednesday evening at Fitton Field.
The Tornadoes (8-4) held a 1-0 lead after one inning, but the Surf answered right back, maintaining the advantage the rest of the way. Needing three runs to tie the game, the wild ninth inning started when Justin Edwards and Alex Trezza singled to put runners at first and third. Atlantic City Rory Shortell was then ejected after arguing a close 2-2 pitch that was called a ball to B.J. Weed. Aaron Easton came in and after distributing ball four to Weed, he gave up sacrifice flies to Scott Grimes and Chris Colabello to make it 7-6. Holding Worcester's last hope, Francisco Caraballo popped up on the first pitch to end the game.
With both Trezza and Chuck Jeroloman out of the original lineup, the new-look order quickly produced a run to take the 1-0 lead after one inning. Weed led off the game with a single, advancing to second on a Grimes sacrifice bunt and to third on a wild pitch. Trezza was given the start of the night off, pushing Caraballo into the cleanup spot. He came through with a looping two-out base hit for his team-leading 11th RBI of the season.
Atlantic City responded with a pair of runs in the second to take the 2-1 advantage. With the bases loaded and no outs, it looked like the Surf could have a big inning, but Tornadoes starter Shaun McNamara came up big by enducing Brad Thomas into a 6-4-3 double play to minimize the damage. Clyde Williams scored on the play, and William Plaza followed with an RBI single to score Billy Hoggan for the 2-1 lead.
The Surf extended their lead to 3-1 in the third via a Williams double down the left field line. The bloop just eluded the dive of shortstop Mike MacMillan, scoring Joe Burke all the way from first base.
McNamara and Surf starter Adam Cox settled down until the fifth when Grimes hit a two-out solo home run to cut the deficit to 3-2.
Both teams picked up a pair of unearned runs in the sixth to make it 5-4. After two quick outs, Hogan and Eddie Kim each picked up singles to start the rally. They advanced to second and third on catcher Brett Thaler's throwing error, then scored on Omar Pena's fielding error. In the bottom of the inning, Pena reached on a two-base error by third baseman Hogan. MacMillan quickly drove him in with a single, reaching second on the throw. After advancing to third on an Edwards groundout, he scored when reliever Walker Whitley uncorked a wild pitch.
Lucas Taylor made it 6-4 in favor of Atlantic City, crushing a towering home run to left-center field leading off the seventh. The Surf made it 7-4 in the eighth when Thoma hit a double down the left field line, scoring Williams.
The Tornadoes wrap up their seven-game homestand on Thursday with an 11:00 a.m. tilt vs. Atlantic City. It is Baseball in Education Day with $4 tickets! Tom Cochran takes the hill for Worcester while Ben Thurmond starts for the Surf. For tickets, call the Tornadoes' office at 508-792-2288 or crash the web at www. worcestertornadoes.com. All 94 regular season games and all three preseason exhibition games can be heard live on NewsTalk 580 AM and 94.9 FM WTAG and online at www.wtag.com.
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