Patriots Complete Comeback in Thriller: Game Recap 6/24

NEW JERSEY -- It didn’t come pretty, but it came nonetheless.

DH Corey Smith continued his hot hitting at the right time, supplying the Somerset Patriots (39-20) with a walk-off double in the bottom of the ninth to provide a sweep of the Bridgeport Bluefish, 6-5. Tuesday night positively ends the team's five-game series at TD Bank Ballpark in New Jersey.

The Patriots, who trailed 5-0 entering the bottom of the sixth, needed a spark as their offense had gone cold. It was 3B Brian Barden that started the Patriots’ rally by driving both Smith and CF Luis Montanez on an error. 1B Ty Wright then returned the favor by scoring Barden on a single to center field, to slim the lead to 5-3, giving Somerset a slight glimmer of hope.

Then, down 5-4 in the bottom of the 9th, Aharon Eggleston walked on four pitches, stole second, and saw Mike Wilson advanced to first. With one out, hot-hitting Smith stepped to the plate, entering the situation with game-winning hits in the Patriots' last two victories against the Bluefish. Smith was poised to deliver yet again.

The Patriots celebrate on-field after their 6-5 victory against the Bridgeport Bluefish. CREDITS: Facebok.com/SomersetPatriots.

The 32-year-old drilled an 1-0 pitch to deep centerfield, allowing both Eggleston and Wilson to score, and completed off a frantic comeback with more clutch heroics.

Starting pitcher Erik Arnesen (7-3, 4.08 ERA) gave the Patriots a solid complete game – 9 innings, 6 hits, 5 runs on 95 pitches and 65 strikes. Arnesen let up the 5 quick runs, but settled down as the innings elapsed. At one point in the game, Arnesen had retired the last 15 batters he faced with an efficient 70 pitches through 7 innings. (source)

Arnesen was forced to be on top of his game, as Bridgeport starter Matt Iannazzo was putting on a show of his own. Iannazzo (1-2, 2.32 ERA) stifled the Patriots for 6 innings, allowing just 3 runs on 8 hits.

Bridgeport jumped out to an early lead after a 2-run homerun from Denny Almonte in the 2nd inning, and a 3-run barrage in the 3rd inning. The Patriots’ defense looked shaky to start, committing 3 fielding errors that led to Bluefish tallies. The offense didn’t help the cause, either, finishing the game by stranding 9 runners on base compared to Bridgeport’s 2.

But, for the 23rd time in the 2014 season, the Patriots came back and won. The victory also represents the team’s ninth win in their final at-bat.

For Somerset, it completes a successful home stand against the Bluefish, sweeping the five game series, including two 5-1 games. The teams next meet on July 4th in New Jersey. Somerset now travels to Texas for a four-game set against the Sugar Land Skeeters.

Official game recap graphic from SomersetPatriots.com

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TIDBITS FROM THE GAME NOTES:

- In the Liberty Division Race, Somerset leads the Long Island Ducks, who were idle on Tuesday, by 5 games. Somerset’s magic number is now shrunk to 7 – the combination of Patriots wins and Ducks losses needed for Somerset to win the first half of the Atlantic League two-half season.

- The Patriots have won three walk-off games in 2014.

- Corey Smith finished the Bridgeport series with 8 RBI. Of his five home runs this season, four have come against Bridgeport.

QUOTES:

- Patriots manager Brett Jodie before the game: “I feel good about where we are [as a team], but I still think there’s a lot of room for improvement. … I think we’re all kind of coming together and doing those little things necessary to win a lot of ball games. … I still think we haven’t gotten everyone clicking on all cylinders all the time. … Obviously I’m happy where we are, but there’s still room for improvement.”

- DH Corey Smith before the game: “As a whole, the team is starting to come together real well. We’re starting to hit more consistently as a lineup, our pitching has been pretty much great all year … so for us, I think the main thing is to get our bats going consistently, keep having good at-bats and putting pressure on the other team’s defense, and we’ll be just fine.”

Responding to whether there is panic when bats aren’t hot (like start of the season): “In this game, if you panic, that’s when stuff really gets bad. … The main thing you want to do is stay consistent with your work. … With this kind of a lineup, we’re definitely more of a glass-half-full than glass-half-empty team.”

- Starting pitcher Matt Zielinski before the game about the pitching staff: “As a whole, as a group, overall this season, we’ve done a good job.”

Zielinski on if he’d wear MLB’s padded cap: “As long as you’re safe out there, that’s all that matters … I don’t know if I would, it’s a good question. I guess I’d have to try it on a few times and see how it feels.”

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Minor League Team Succeeds On and Off the Field

NEW JERSEY -- The Somerset Patriots were founded in 1998, and over 16 years later, the minor league organization is still going strong.

Somerset has been in existence for over 16 years, and the team was one of the firsts to join the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball, which was also founded in 1998. The team has also defined consistency with an organizational career win percentage of .537%. The Patriots' first manager, Sparky Lyle (who retired in 2012 after a 14 year run), won five championships and has over 1,000 career wins on his ledger.

The Patriots have had roster success as well. Although the ALPB is not affiliated with Major League Baseball teams, players for the Patriots (and other ALPB teams) can be signed onto MLB rosters. For manager Brett Jodie, that is the ultimate ambition.

The crowd at TD Bank Ballpark during a recent game against the Bridgeport Bluefish. (Click to open full screen)

“I’m very happy when we get guys back to affiliated ball,” said Jodie in May. “There’s nothing like coming off the field at night after our game, turning on the TV, and seeing one of our former Patriots pitching.” But, Jodie added: “We’re also trying to win a lot of games, here.”

The players, many of whom have professional aspirations, enjoy their time at Somerset, citing the family-like demeanor around the team and organization.

“It’s a lot of fun here,” says starting pitcher Erik Arnesen. Arnesen has been with the team for two seasons, including a brief stint at the AA level in 2013. “It’s relaxed, and we just go out and have a good time and win ballgames.”

Left fielder Ahron Eggleston has also been with the team for two years. He said: “the atmosphere [around the team] is great.”

CREDIT: instagram.com/SomersetPatriots

It is not always easy to win and attract tremendous fan interest, but it appears that Somerset has accomplished both. The team, which plays at TD Bank Ballpark in New Jersey, a stadium that can sit 6,100, has reached up to 8,012 fans in the first half of the 2014 alone. “A lot of the people here care about the baseball itself more than other crowds,” said Mike Ashmore, a Patriots’ beat reporter that has covered the team since 2003.

But Minor League Baseball, including unaffiliated leagues like the Atlantic League, has its pitfalls. Case in point: The Newark Bears, a team in the local New Jersey area and rivals with the Patriots, folded their organization in 2014 after struggling with finances for years. The Bears were not lacking skill or on-field talent – big names like Jose Canseco and Ricky Henderson played for the team in 2001 and 2003, respectively. But, after filing for bankruptcy in 2008 and officially folding in 2014, the team never found stable ground.

Despite the ambiguity in minor league baseball, longtime Patriots’ beat reporter Mike Ashmore believes the fan attention comes for a reason. “These guys deserve the support ... I’m glad they’re getting it.”

But for Brett Jodie, there is one omnipresent goal for the organization: thriving on the field.

“Everybody’s here for the same reason – to win and get picked up.”

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Somerset Patriots Recap: Offense breaks through in 13 inning marathon

NEW JERSEY – It took 4 hours and 11 minutes, but the Somerset Patriots (18-10) eventually prevailed in a 2-1 victory over the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs (11-17) on Saturday evening.

The winning run was scored when the Patriots came up-to-bat in the bottom of the 13^th inning. Despite the fact that Blue Crabs’ closer Erik Hamren had a road stat-line of eleven strikeouts in seven innings pitched, the 6’1 hurler faced the meat of the Patriots lineup.

Leading off the inning, 2B Nate Spears doubled to right field, RF Luis Montanez laced a single up the middle, and 3B Corey Smith induced a walk to load the bases. DH Ty Wright had a 3-2 count, but showed lack-of-discipline swinging on a ball out the zone that would have sent Spears in to win the game. Fear not: with one out and bases still loaded, 1B Robbie Widlansky stepped to the plate. After fouling off the first pitch, Widlansky drilled a groundball up the middle, advancing to first with a RBI fielder’s choice that sent Spears dashing across home plate.

The offense in the 13^th inning was not representative of the previous 12. Patriots’ lefty Matt Zielinski had a solid night, throwing seven strikeouts in just as many innings; his only blemish coming in the first inning after a RBI double from 1B Cyle Hankerd scored RF Jermaine Mitchell. The Patriots gave Zielinski some run protection in the fourth, when catcher Adam Donachie scored 3B Corey Smith from second base with a RBI single. The score remained 1-1 until Spears’s winning run, setting up a pitching duel for the 5,730 in attendance at TD Bank Ballpark on a brisk night. 

To the 12th we head!

This is not unusual for either team – each has struggled offensively this season, resulting in two of the lowest team batting averages in the Atlantic League. After giving up the first inning run, Zielinski scattered four hits over the next six frames and kept Somerset in the game. Brian Baker, the Blue Crabs’ starting right-hander, countered with four strikeouts in six innings, throwing 61 of his 90 pitches for strikes.

A leaping catch from SS Edwin Maysonet saved 6’9 pitcher Jon Hunton’s impressive 1-2-3 frame for the Patriots in the top of the 12^th, and 5’11 righty Jason Lowey closed the win for the Patriots by cleanly maneuvering his way out of a two-out jam in the top of the 13^th with runners on first and second. That set up the winning frame for the Patriots offense, a group that now has 10 come from behind victories on the season.

After a tough 3-2 loss in the series opener against the Blue Crabs on Friday, the Patriots look to take the lead in a four-game series Sunday afternoon at 1:05.

NOTES: 

• Offensive opportunities were aplenty (the two sides left 25 runners on base – ten of which came in the final four innings), continuing a season-long trend for the Somerset Patriots: solid pitching but reluctant hitting. Manager Brett Jodie alluded before the game that hitting was a clear area of weakness for his team. “It’s a different guy every night coming out and contributing … which is a good thing,” Jodie said. “But, we’re gonna try to get more guys [hot].” Jodie added that he’d give the team a “B” grade on the season so far, citing that with better hitting, that grade could be improved. 

• As Jodie mentioned, the Patriots offense has gotten contributions from different guys, and it was no different against the Blue Crabs on Saturday. Robbie Widlansky, who hit the game-winning RBI in the 13th inning, is on a bit of a streak: in Widlansky’s first 16 games, he only had four RBI. In the Florida-native’s last six games, he has eight RBI.

• In a bizarre moment, with the game tied through extra innings, a thick fog began to make its way into the ballpark, engulfing the outfield. Visibility was so bad that home plate umpire JB Torres even went into the outfield to check the sight himself. The game eventually resumed, after a lengthy delay, with the top of the 12^th inning.

• Several Patriots extended hit streaks: Adam Donachie to 5 games, Luis Montanez to 4, and Robbie Widlansky to 6.

• The 13 inning game was the second longest game of the season for the Patriots (season opener lasted 17), and the match tied the longest extra-inning game of the year (4 hours and 11 minutes long on 4/25).

The Somerset Patriots and Southern Maryland Blue Crabs are a part of the Atlantic League.

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