Jonathan Jaspe and Adam Calderone each belted fifth-inning grand
slam home runs, and Bobby Bell notched eight strikeouts over five
one-hit innings to earn the win as the New Hampshire Fisher Cats
defeated the Rivier College Raiders 14-0 in a Tuesday night
exhibition game at Merchantsauto.com Stadium.
The Fisher Cats broke a scoreless tie in the bottom of the third
inning against losing pitcher Ford Coates (Raymond,
NH) when Darin Mastroianni (2-for-4, 3B, BB, R, SB)
tripled to the right-centerfield wall and scored on David Cooper's
line single to left for a 1-0 lead.
It remained that way until the floodgates opened in the bottom
of the fifth. The Fisher Cats erupted for 12 runs, highlighted by
the two grand slams. That was plenty of support for Bell, who
allowed only a fourth-inning single to Aramis Velez
(Lowell, MA) in his final tune-up before his first
scheduled regular season start Sunday afternoon in New Britain.
Rivier starting pitcher Shaun Hanson (Lee,
NH) worked around a lead-off single to Mastroianni in
the first inning and a lead-off double to Eric Thames (1-for-3, 2B,
BB, SF, RBI, 2 R) in the second inning to hold the Fisher Cats
scoreless through his two frames of work. The right-hander fanned
three and left with the game tied 0-0.
The Rivier College Raiders will travel to Henniker, NH to take
on New England College on Wednesday evening for a non-conference
regular season game and then take on two conference opponents in
Johnson & Wales University and Norwich University on
Saturday and Sunday at Holman Stadium in Nashua, NH.
The Fisher Cats open the 2010 regular season with a four-game
series against the New Britain Rock Cats, Double-A affiliate of the
Minnesota Twins, beginning Thursday night, April 8, at New Britain
Stadium. New Hampshire right-hander Kyle Drabek gets the Opening
Night nod against New Britain right-hander Carlos Gutierrez in a
6:05pm game. Radio coverage gets underway at 5:45pm Thursday night
on the WGIR Fisher Cats Radio Network with Mike Murphy.
United Way Opening Day at Merchantsauto.com Stadium is scheduled
for Thursday, April 15, when the Fisher Cats host the Binghamton
Mets at 6:35pm. For tickets and information, visit
www.nhfishercats.com or call (603) 641-2005.
Story courtesy of NH Fisher Cats media relations.
