West Michigan WhiteCaps at South Bend SilverHawks
April 13th, 2004
| West Michigan |
|
|
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
0 |
0 |
0 |
|
0 |
5 |
0 |
|
|
5 |
8 |
4 |
| South Bend |
|
|
2 |
0 |
0 |
|
0 |
4 |
0 |
|
0 |
1 |
X |
|
|
7 |
10 |
2 |
E-Rodland, Sanchez, Steinborn 2, Reynolds, Vicente, LOB WM-10, SB-7, 2B-Rodland, Giarratano, Montero, SB-Giarratano, Knoedler, Cook, Garcia, CS-Cook, SACF-Frazier
WP-Coffin, Leclair, HB-Cook (Zell), McCreedy (Zell)
HP-Clinton Mahan, BS-Mark Ripperger
South Bend Tribune
Vaughn McClure
Figures that on another frigid night at Coveleski Stadium, things would get warmed by a Cook and a guy bringing some serious heat.
South Bend SilverHawks outfielder Jeff Cook provided the initial offense while pitcher Chad Scarberry, with his 95 mph fastball, pitched strong through six innings as South Bend held on for a 7-5 victory over the West Michigan WhiteCaps Tuesday night.
The SilverHawks are now 5-0 on the season, a very pleasing start for manager Tony Perezchica. "This feels good, we're on a good roll. But we know that always comes to an end. We still have 130 something games to go. We know we have a long way ahead of us."
Cook drove in his team's first two runs while going 2 for 3 on the night. He reached base three times. he also threw out a runner at first base following a fly out, stole a base and even took a ball to the helmet without even flinching.
"It was good to get up early on a team with some pretty good sticks in the lineup." Cook said of his first inning single. "It was nice to warm things up a little but for us, I'd do anything to stay warm, with as cold as it was. I'm from Mississippi and it's so cold up here in South Bend."
Not to be outdone was Scarberry, who pitched six strong innings. The only Silver Hawks' player on the field without long sleeves, the right hander didn't allow a run and gave up only three hits before giving way to reliever Ryan Coffin. "I never throw in long sleeves, never." Scarberry said "I'm from California, so I don't like anything on my arms. I didn't want to go out of the game, you never want to go out of the game. But I threw 86 pitches and we have a 90 pitch count. I felt good the way I pitched. The weather didn't bother me."
It was certainly cold, so cold that fans apparently opted to stay home rather than make the trip to the ballpark, judging by all the empty seats. Game time temperature was 43 degrees, but the wind chill factor made it feel like 20 or lower.
Even Swoop, the team mascot, had to retire to the press box to wam his tail feathers between innings. The Silver Hawks went cold too, nearly blowing the 6-0 lead they held after five innings.
They scored their first two in the first inning, off Cook's two out singled that scored Emilio Bonifacio and Tila Reynolds. Four more runs came during the wild fifth inning, where Bonifacio drove in a run and scored one on fielding and throwing errors by West Michigan starting pitcher Chris Steinborn during the same play. Alex Frazier also drove in a run in the inning on a long fly out, and the other Hawks' run came after a walk with the bases loaded.
All was looking good for the home team until Perezchica went to his bullpen. The relievers were shaky in the eighth, allowing the visiting WhiteCaps to score all of their runs. Danny Mosquea had the toughest time of the three SilverHawks' relievers to pitch in the inning, allowing three hits and three earned runs while facing just four batters.
Aric LeClair eventually ended the drama by retiring the one batter he faced with two outs in the eighth. Alex Cremidan pitched the ninth and earned his third save of the season.
"We made some mistakes today that we shouldn't have made and it almost ended up costing us." Perezchica said. "I'm not too concerned about the relief pitchers. Today was a little but rougher than usual, but they've been doing well."
The SilverHawks added a much need insurance run in the bottom of the eighth as Bonifacio singled home teammate Miguel Montero with two outs. Bonifacio went 3-5 in the game.
The teams meet again tonight. Maybe the weather will be a little warmer this time. "We're not worried about that." Perezchicva said."If it stays this colt and we're still winning, then I don't care."