New Britain Rock Cats Continue their Winning Ways

Good players come through New Britain

Following up on last night's victory, the New Britain Rock Cats again defeated the New Hampshire Fisher Cats in a Saturday afternoon game. I guess it's a cat fight this weekend (pun intended, and you're welcome). They dispatched the Fisher Cats 7-6 to improve their record to an impressive 7-3. This morning, we learned that outfielder Darin Mastroianni was promoted to AAA Rochester, to take the place of injured Rene Tosoni. Today's outfield was Mark Dolenc in left, Aaron Hicks in center and Evan Bigley in right.

New Britain did its damage early in the game, scoring 3 runs in both the second and third innings. Chris Colabello contributed 3 hits, including 2 doubles, and scored 2 runs in 5 at-bats. Aaron Hicks continues to impress. He was 2-for-4 with a double, a walk and 1 RBI. He's batting .333 with an OPS of 1.112, so the power is there. Deibinson Romero looked good, as well, contributing two hits, including a double, and driving in 3. It didn't help New Hampshire's chances that their defense committed 4 errors in the first few innings.

On the mound for New Britain, Logan Darnell gave up 3 hits in 5 innings of work, walking 2 and striking out 1 along the way, and earned the win. Bobby Lanigan was just OK in relief, giving up 3 hits and 1 run in 2 innings of work, but striking out 2. Blake Martin contributed a scoreless 8th, striking out 2.

David Bromberg pitched the 9th, and that's where things got interesting. After walking the first batter and hitting the second, Kevin Howard hit a 3 run home run for New Hampshire to make it a ballgame. The next two batters singled, and Bromberg surrendered another run, before being replaced by Daniel Turpen, who worked last night, as well. Turpen allowed an inherited runner to score on a sacrifice fly before shutting the door on New Hampshire. In all, it was 3 hits and 5 earned runs for Bromberg in 1/3 of an inning. Hopefully he'll bounce back.

Interestingly, Koby Clemens, Roger Clemens' son, is a player for New Hampshire. He came on as a pinch hitter and struck out twice. He's 26 years old, is listed as a first baseman, and is hitting .167 on the year. I guess dad's pitching ability wasn't passed on to the next generation.