Sharks Rip Bears 17-6

By Mark Krulish on June 20, 2008

NEWARK, NJ – It was long, tough night for the Newark Bears. These are the kind of games that a team occasionally has to gut its way through, but it was not the ideal start for the Bears with the Liberty Division-leading Camden Riversharks arriving at The Den. Camden took this one going away 17-6.

The Riversharks opened the scoring in the top of the first on back-to-back RBI doubles by L.J. Biernbaum and Richard Lewis.

The Bears got the bottom frame off well when Mike Just singled and stole second. He went to third on a base hit by Ramon Castro. Jose Herrera grounded into a double play, but Just was able to score to cut the lead in half.

Unfortunately for the Bears, starter Frank Gracesqui (0-1) could not settle down and was pulled after three innings. He gave up six hits, but they were all for extra bases including a Ron Davenport solo home run.

Carlos Mirabal didn’t fare any better in the fourth. He gave up six hits including back-to-back home runs by Jason Phillips and Biernbaum. The deficit was 12-1 after four innings of play.

Double plays were a large part of the problem for the Bears offense. Newark grounded into four of them on the evening, each one killing a rally that they desperately needed. Jose Herrera was a guilty party twice, grounding into 4-6-3 double plays in the first and sixth innings.

Camden had another big inning in the seventh, highlighted by Davenport’s second home run of the game, a three-run shot off Rich Scalamandre. Davenport went 5-for-5 and had seven RBIs on the night. He was a big catalyst in the Rivershark offense, igniting them at key times in the ball game.

Newark was long out of the game at this point, but they battled and picked up some runs in the late innings. Val Majewski and Castro each hit home runs to help Newark close the gap a bit to 17-6.

Majewski continues to shine bright for a Newark club that has leveled off a bit in the past couple of weeks. After dropping a tough series two-out-of-three to the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs, this was not the way the Bears intended to start their home-stand.

Despite his .365 batting average with eight home runs and 47 RBIs, he says he hasn’t heard from any major league clubs as of yet.

“I’m just playing the best I can here,” said Majewski. “You can’t decide where you go, I don’t have control over that decision, it doesn’t work like that.”

Still, it’s difficult to imagine he lasts the entire season with Newark.

Fortunately for the Bears, the Somerset Patriots blew a ninth inning lead against the Bridgeport Bluefish. This allows the Bears to stay in a tie for first place and attempt take sole possession again tomorrow. Jose Garcia will take the mound for Newark against Nate Buttenfield

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