ValleyCats Are Gounded By Tigers
By, John Ginder - jginder@capitalregionsports.com
TROY, NY - It wasn’t the type of game that the ValleyCats (1-3) wanted to open the 2008 season at “The Joe” on Friday night. The ‘Cats dropped the error filled game against the Oneonta Tigers(3-1) 9-1 in front of over 4,500 faithful.
The ‘Cats looked lost not only at the plate with 13 groundball outs, but in the field as well tallying 5 errors which ultimately led to their demise. “It isn’t the opening night we envisioned that’s for sure” ValleyCats manager Pete Rancont said, “We misfired every way you can misfire” he added. It was a combination of lack practice due to weather and young players learning new positions that made it impossible for the ‘Cats to come back to make this a game.
Oneonta’s starting pitcher David Stokes (1-0) went six innings to record the win, and reliever Anthony Shawler came in to finish the game off to collect his first save of the young season. “They were mixing them (pitches) up very well with speed and location” designated hitter J.B. Shuck said talking about the Tigers dominating pitching performance. The ValleyCats were only able to muster three hits with only one of them getting into the outfield.
The ValleyCats had an opportunity to score early when the deficit was 3-0 when manager Pete Rancont decided to send Marques Williams home with two outs in the third inning on a single by Shuck which led to Williams making the third out at home. “It’s a legitmate gamble I am going to take” Rancont said defending his decision, “We are going to try and score guys with two outs”. That wasn’t the only baserunning blunder the ‘Cats had. In the very next inning when the ValleyCats pushed across their only run of the game, centerfielder Thomas Steele was thrown out at third with two outs on a sacrifice fly by Ebert Rosario. As the old adage goes, you never want to make the first or last out at third base. The score was 3-1 at the time.
Tri-City’s bullpen was used early and often and did a decent job giving up just three earned runs over seven innings. One bright spot for the ‘Cats pitching was the three double plays they forced Oneonta to hit into.
The ValleyCats are back in action tomorrow night when they travel to Oneonta to take on these same Tigers as part of their home and home series, before returning back to “The Joe” on Sunday for finale of the three game set scheduled to start at 5pm. It will be interesting to see if the ValleyCats can turn this “game to be forgotten” around and win one on the road.
As for the CapitalRegionSports.com player of the game, it has been decided to hold off for this game and give the team a chance to mesh a little bit more as the season moves along.