Tornadoes Game Notes August 13th: The Race For Fourth Place

By Seth Orensky

After sweeping their second doubleheader in as many tries at home Saturday, Worcester will take on the Newark Bears for the first of 10 games between the two teams to end the season. The two teams will play for the first time since late June when the Tornadoes took two of three from the Bears here at the HIP.

Tornadoes Daily Tidbits:

1. We know it’s late in the season but we’re always looking for ways to improve our Game Notes. Check out page eight of the game notes to see how your Tornadoes rank amongst the league leaders. We catalogued each Tornado who stands amongst the top 10 and weren’t surprised to see that Jerod Edmondson leads the league with 23 doubles.

2. Saturday’s doubleheader sweep included big contributions from designated hitter/backup catcher Jimmy Best. The George Washington graduate finished 2-for-6 with a two-run extra-base hit in each contest as Worcester won both games easily by identical 8-1 scores. Best was playing in his first two professional games after being signed by the team Saturday morning to replace the injured Mike Samela. He had previously played under bench coach Steve Mrowka and was Brendon Kelliher’s college roomate.

3. While the Bears have been sitting in last place for most of the season, they enter tonight’s game with a game and a half lead over the Tornadoes thanks to a recent hot streak. Since appointing Chuck Stewart as manager on August 1st the Bears are 6-5 including winning their series against the T-Bones. Stewart replaced former St. Louis Cardinal great Ken Oberkfell who stepped down because of health issues.

August 13th Game Notes

Tornadoes Game Notes July 10th: Tornadoes Look To Rebound

By Seth Orensky

The Tornadoes returned home Thursday but it wasn’t enough to break them out of their losing funk, as Worcester dropped an 11-4 contest to the Kansas City T-Bones. Connor Hulse looked strong over the first four innings but couldn’t shut down one of the top offenses in the American Association in the fifth and sixth. Kanas City scored four runs apiece in the fifth and sixth innings to blow open the game and hand Worcester their 15th loss in interleague play.

Here are your Tornadoes Tidbits:

1. Unlikely Help In Relief: Bryan Leigh came on for two scoreless innings of relief last night to help keep the score where it was and save the rest of the Tornadoes exhausted bullpen. With the two shutout frames, Leigh extended his streak of appearances without giving an earned run to five and his streak of innings without an earned run to seven and a-thirds innings. The right hander who allowed two or more earned runs in five of his first six appearances, has allowed just four runs and one earned run since July 14 in lowering his ERA to 9.69.

2. Pitchers Can’t Hit: Mike Gedman has been busy proving his worth as a solid starter for the Tornadoes but he’s been also been a big bat in limited opportunities for the team. Last night Gedman went 2-for-4 with a double and a run scored in the cleanup spot to give him four extra-base hits in just 22 at bats this season. The lefty is hitting .409 and slugging .636 for the season in the 10 games he’s had an at bat. Gedman will trade his bat for a glove tonight, as he makes his eighth start of the season.

Tornadoes Game Notes August 10th

Get To Know The Opponent: Kansas City T-Bones Edition

 By Seth Orensky

1. The franchise is in it’s 10^th season as the T-Bones, after originally playing in Minnesota as the Duluth-Superior Dukes. Up until 2011, the T-Bones played in the Northern League where they won the championship in 2008.

2. Kansas City is in it’s second season in the American Association and right in the thick of the playoff race. The T-Bones sit just 3.5 games behind the Central Division leading Wichita Wignuts and four games out of the Wildcard. With only four playoff spots available, the T-Bones are trying to make the playoffs a year after finishing in fifth in their division.

3. Pitching has been the key to Kansas City’s success this season with four of their starters in the top 13 in ERA on the American Association leaderboard. As a team Kansas City leads the league in ERA at 4.02 and sit near the top of the league in strikeouts, walks allowed and hits allowed. The staff’s biggest flaw has been giving up home runs, as they’ve given up the second most home runs of any team in the American Association with 64.

4. This weekend the Tornadoes will have to deal with a trio of righties who all own sub 4.4 ERAs. Thursday night Brian Grening, a former Cleveland Indians AAA prospect (2009), will take the mound. Grening is fifth in the American Association with 81 strikeouts in his first season as a starting pitcher. Friday night the T-Bones will throw Shaun Garceau and his 2.93 ERA-third best in the American Association. Garceau began the season with the York Freedom of the Atlantic League before putting together a 7-3 record in 11 starts with the T-Bones. Last but not least, Josh Rainwater a former fourth round pick of the Detroit Tigers will pitch Saturday. The big righty is in his 10^th professional season which includes two stops with the Toledo Mud Hens, the Tigers AAA affiliate.

5. Hitting isn’t exactly a problem for the T-Bones either, as Kansas City sits third in the league in runs and leads the entire American Association with 80 home runs. On the flipside, the T-Bones rely on the long ball as they lead the league with 524 strikeouts (6.72 per game) and are second to last with with 15 sacrifices.

6.  Former Braves number four prospect Brandon Jones is the team’s leading hitter at .330 with 59 RBI. The leftfielder played in 51 games over three seasons (2007-09) for the Braves amassing 38 hits, 22 RBI and a .257 average before bouncing around the minors with the Pirates, Tigers and Brewers organization.

7.  Kansas City’s other big basher is Ray Sadler a 13-year perennial minor-leaguer who has feasted on American Association pitching the past two years. After hitting .315 with 22 home runs and 100 RBI last year, Sadler is hitting .274 with a team-high 14 home runs and 50 RBI this year. Sadler briefly made a major league appearance with the Pirates in 2005, with eight plate appearances and two hits, including a home run. But since then, he’s bounced around AA and AAA within the Houston Astros and Tampa Bay Rays organizations before settling with the T-Bones in 2010.

Tornadoes Game Notes August 9th: Tornadoes Take On T-Bones For First Time

By Seth Orensky

After a 1-5 roadtrip, the Tornadoes return home for their second to last homestand of 2012. Worcester will take on the Kansas City T-Bones and the Newark Bears for three games each in a six-game, seven-day homestand. The T-Bones series signifies the end of the Tornadoes interleague slate, as Worcester looks to end their first year of interleague play on a positive note.

Here are your Tornadoes Tidbits:

1. Marathon Men: Yesterday’s 15-inning epic between the Tornadoes and Jackals was the second-longest in team history. Worcester traded zero’s with the Jackals from the ninth through fourteenth behind six scoreless innings from Sean Keeler, who extended his scoreless streak to nine games. The Tornadoes and Jackals also played in the longest game in CanAm League history on June 6, 2008 when the teams played for 20 innings.

2. Kneeland’s Theatrics: Cam Kneeland continued his flare for the theatrics in the Jackals series with his third game-winning home run in 23 games. Kneeland bashed his third home of the season Monday with a grand-slam in the sixth inning off the Jackals Dustin Birosak to put the Tornadoes ahead 5-4. The former UMass Lowell Riverhawks third baseman is fourth on the Worcester roster with 14 RBI.

3. Interleague Domination:  In the first year of interleague play between the American Association and the CanAm League, American Association teams hold a 49-31 lead with about 15 games left to play. The Tornadoes have gone 4-14 in interleague play thus far, while the T-Bones are 6-7 after a 3-3 road trip thus far against Rockland and Newark.

August 8th Tornadoes Game Notes

Tornadoes Game Notes August 6th: Tornadoes Take On Jackals (Again)

Worcester begins their fourth series against the Jackals in the past month Monday when Dan Sausville takes the mound against Dustin Birosak. The Tornadoes will look to win their first series against New Jersey after losing the first four (2-11).

Tornadoes Game Notes August 6th

The Story of the Five Mile Fans

Davis VanOpdorp

What were you doing on Tuesday afternoon? I’ll tell you what Jack Snyder and Kevin Murphy were doing.

The two Tornadoes fans were in Shrewsbury with tickets to Tuesday night’s Tornadoes game against the New Jersey Jackals. However, they couldn’t get a ride. So what did they do? Travel the old fashioned way.

The two teenagers walked five miles, a two hour journey, from Shrewsbury to Hanover Insurance Park at Fitton Field in southern Worcester. They also decided to document their entire adventure on twitter, taking pictures and tweeting them along the way.

Murphy said the toughest battle of their journey was against their stomachs. The two attempted to go to the Connie Island hotdog stand, but to their dismay, the Worcester attraction was closed.

Weary and hungry, they finally arrived on the HIP concourse. Tornadoes broadcaster Nick Gagalis caught them and did this interview:

Luckily, the two didn’t have to make the same trek back, for their parents came to the rescue by car. The Tornadoes made the adventure all worth it, too, with Cam Kneeland hitting a walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth to help the Tornadoes win 5-4.

Tornadoes Game Notes August 2nd: Tornadoes Look For First Winning Homestand

The Tornadoes will go for their first winning homestand in 2012 tonight when Kevin Cooper takes the mound for Worcester. After a disappointing 8-1 loss Wednesday night, Worcester will look to earn a 4-3 homestand and just their third win of the year against the New Jersey Jackals.

Here are your Tornadoes Tidbits:

1. Setting Some History: It’s a day late, but Alex Nunez’s triple Tuesday night had a little bit more significance than just starting a thrilling come-from-behind victory. With his third triple of the season, Nunez tied the Can-Am League career record for triples with 17. Nunez tied former Quebec Capitales Goefrey Tomlinson (2004-11) and Rockland Boulder Chris Valencia for the career mark. He is also just 89 hits shy of tying the CanAm League mark for hits in a career set by former Tornado Chris Colabello (699).

2. Aiming For 20-20: Jerod Edmondson is setting his sights on a career record of his own, as the Tornadoes center fielder looks for his first 20-20 season. After recording a steal and a home run last night, Edmondson has 13 home runs and 14 stolen bases. The sixth-year player is on pace for 19 home runs and 20 stolen bases with 30 games to play. If Edmondson can reach the 20-20 mark, he would become the first player in the eight years of league play to reach the mark.

3. A Night Of Firsts: Despite only recording one run and six hits in Wednesday’s 8-1 loss, a few Tornadoes set some person records. First-year player Matt Jacobs recorded his first career steal (second inning) and first career extra-base hit with a double in the seventh inning. Jacobs finished second in the UMass Lowell record books with 74 career steals. Brendon Kelliher also had a first of his own, recording his first hit since July 10th, when he singled leading off the sixth inning. Kelliher missed 15 games while on the disabled list due to a shoulder injury.

Tornadoes Game Notes August 2nd vs. NJ 

Tornadoes Game Notes August 1st: Tornadoes Look For Fourth Win In Five Days

Worcester turned things around in a big way on Tuesday night, earning a walk-off 5-4 win behind a two-run homer from third baseman Cam Kneeland. The win was the Tornadoes third in three days and gives the team a shot at winning four out of five games for the first time all year.

Here’s your Tornadoes Daily Dose:

1. Cam Kneeland’s walk-off homer was the Tornadoes second walk-off hit in three days and fourth on the season. That’s a ton with 30 games to play, considering the Tornadoes had just two in 2011: a Mark Minicozzi walk-off single on June 24th against Pittsfield in Game One of a doubleheader and a Chris Colabello walk-off home run in the 12th inning of a win over the New Jersey Jackals on July 28th. Kneeland now has two home runs and 10 RBI in just 15 games for Worcester.

2. Mike Gedman finished off his fantastic July campaign with a pitching-duel against one of the top three pitchers in the CanAm League. Gedman allowed four runs on just seven hits and induced two ground balls to keep the Jackals high-powered offense in check, a day after they finished with season-highs in runs (18) and hits (21). The southpaw finished the month of July with a 1-2 record and a 3.86 ERA, to lower his season ERA from the mid fives.

3. We’ve added a new aspect to our standings (on page three of the Game Notes) with a column for Magic Number. Magic number is a combination of wins and one opponent’s losses a team needs to clinch a playoff spot and with anywhere between 30 and 31 games left for every team we could have a tight race to the finish between the top three teams (Quebec, New Jersey and Rockland). As an aside, the Tornadoes elimination number (the combination of losses and an opponent’s wins) is 13.

August 1st Game Notes vs New Jersey Jackals

Jerod Edmondson, Nick Serino Players of the Week

The Tornadoes shined over the weekend, sweeping a double header against the Rockland Boulders to move out of last place in the Canadian American Professional Baseball League. None shined brighter though, than Jerod Edmondson and Nick Serino, two critical pieces in the twin-bill broom job.

When the Tornadoes were in a tight spot and needed a run last week, Jerod Edmondson was the one that came to the rescue. Not only did he have two runs and four RBI in the three game series against the Rockland Boulders, but also hit the go ahead RBI in the bottom of the seventh in Game 2 of the series. He finished the week with a .273 average as the tornadoes went 2-4 for the week.

If there is anyone that skipper Chip Plante has depended on the most for the Tornadoes, it would definitely be Nick Serino. The Snipe pitched in four of the six games last week, and got the results to show for it. Serino recorded a win in Game 1 of the double header on Sunday, as well as a save in Game 2. He is also on a streak of 22 consecutive appearances with a strikeout.

Nick Serino Interview 7/29 | Worcester Tornadoes Baseball

Catching Up With Johnny Welch

We caught up with Johnny Welch last Friday to talk to him about his five-game hitting and RBI streak during the Tornadoes most recent road trip. Welch unfortunately went down with a hand injury Friday night after being hit by a pitch and is currently on the disabled list.

The tall third baseman leads the Tornadoes in home runs with 15 and is second place on the team with 42 RBI.