Welcome to the homepage of your 2008 Stedler Division Champions!     2009 game day tickets go on sale online Tuesday March 17th.     Thank you to all of our wonderful fans for another exciting season of baseball!!     Our sellout streak now stands at 344 games.     Opening Day 2009 is set for Friday June 19th.    There are great specials in the Spinners Souvenir Store and a chance for you to win a free Helicopter Ride for Three with NO PURCHASE NECESSARY! Stop in M-F, 10 a.m. - 4 p.m.

August 25th Game Recap

 

MEDIA RELEASE 

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

August 25, 2008

Contact: Jon Boswell (978-805-5117 / jboswell@lowellspinners.com)

 

Grandslam Helps Spinners Put Yankees on Ice

Ryan Lavarnway’s first inning grand slam leads Lowell to fourth straight win, 6-3

 

STATEN ISLAND, NY – Ryan Lavarnway took the first pitch he saw Monday afternoon over the left-field wall for a grand slam to give the Lowell Spinners a lead they would not relinquish en route to a 6-3 victory over the Staten Island Yankees, the Spinners fourth consecutive win and their 11^th win in their last 12 games.

The win lowered the Spinners magic number to claim the Stedler Divison title and the franchise’s first ever playoff berth to five games. After losing the first game of the season to the Yankees, the minor league affiliate of the dreaded “Evil Empire,” the Spinners have now won four straight over the Baby Bombers.

For the second consecutive game, Lowell (36-26) was able to jump out to an early lead on the first home run of Lavarnway’s professional career. After Ronald Bermudez reached base on another Staten Island error (their third first inning error in two games), Mitch Dening and Luis Sumoza walked to set the stage for Lavarnway, the game’s TD Banknorth Player of the Game. With two-outs, Lavarnway deposited the first pitch he saw from Nick Montgomery over the left-field wall to give the Spinners a 4-0 lead.

Staten Island (40-24), who entered the day with the league’s best record, winners of 9-of-10 games, was able to get on the board in the third inning, on back-to-back hits by David Adams and Brad Baisley, but could muster little else against Spinners starter Hunter Strickland.

The Spinners were able to get the run right back in the top of the sixth inning, when Luis Sumoza took an offering from Bedford, N.H. native Nick Asselin over the right field wall for his 11^th home run of the season, one short of the Spinners team record (12) set by Carlos Rodriguez in 1999, to give the Spinners a 5-1 lead.

The Yankees responded with two runs in the bottom of the sixth inning but the Spinners bullpen allowed Staten Island to get no closer, adding a ninth inning insurance run on an RBI single by Derrik Gibson, his first hit as a Spinner.

Hunter Strickland (5-3, 3.75) struck out six through five innings, allowing just one run on five hits. Over his last seven starts, Strickland has pitched at-least five innings and allowed one run or fewer in six of the seven appearances. Charle Rosario allowed two runs on three hits in two innings pitched, striking out two and walking none before giving way to Mitch Herold, who pitched a scoreless eighth inning. Robert Romero picked up his first save of the year with a 1-2-3 ninth inning.

The Spinners were victorious despite getting out-hit 10-to-5, with three of the five hits of the extra-base variety. A Will Middlebrooks double and singles by Ronald Bermudez and Gibson accounted for the Spinners offensive production.

Lowell goes for a three-game sweep of the Baby Bombers Tuesday in another afternoon affair. Yeiper Castillo (3-4, 3.83) gets the ball for a 1 p.m. first pitch.

######