Rock Cats Rally, Fisher Cats Strike Last

NEW BRITAIN, CT - New Britain scored  three runs in the eighth to tie the game only to watch as New Hampshire's  Jake Marisnick delivered an RBI single in the ninth that gave the Fisher Cats a 6-5 victory on Tuesday night at New Britain Stadium.

It was Marisnick who opened the game with a lead-off double off of Rock Cats starter Aaron Thompson to left field. Thompson uncorked a wild pitch that allowed Marisnick to move to third before Ryan Goins delivered a sacrifice fly to center to plate Marisnick for the first run of the night.

In the bottom of the first, the Rock Cats struck back. John Stilson retired the first two New Britain batters on fly outs before Oswaldo Arcia lined a double into left field. Chris Colabello followed with a double into right to knock in Arcia to tie the game.  A wild pitch by Stilson allowed Colabello to advance to third. Joe Benson then lined a single into right to score Colabello for the go-ahead run.

New Hampshire's Mike McDade's home run to lead off the fourth inning tied the game, 2-2.

Thompson ran into trouble in the sixth inning. McDade led off and was hit by a pitch before Brad Glenn singled. That brought Fisher Cats catcher Sean Ochinko to the plate, who hammered a three-run shot over the left field wall to put the Fisher Cats on top, 5-2. Thompson managed to retire the next three-straight batters to escape the inning without further damage and went on to pitch well for the rest of his outing.

"I thought (Thompson) pitched better after he gave up that home run," said Rock Cats manager Jeff Smith.

The Rock Cats came alive in the eighth inning for a three-run inning of its own. Nate Hanson and Estarlin De Los Santos singled and Aaron Hicks drew a walk to load the bases with one out. Chris Herrmann followed with another walk to force in a run. Arcia grounded out to first but De Los Santos crossed the plate to close the gap to one run. The Fisher Cats brought in reliever Ronald Oviedo, who unleashed a wild pitch with Colabello at the plate and the speedy Hicks on third. Hicks made a break towards home, hesitated and then bolted for home while the ball bounced around home plate. Hicks slid safely between Uviedo and Ochinko to tie the game, 5-5.  

"There wasn't a whole lot of offense from us after the first inning," said Smith. "We fought there at the end."

The rally was erased in the ninth when John Talisano doubled and Marisnick dropped a single into center field to score the go-ahead run.

"You hate to give it back the next inning," said Smith.

The Rock Cats showed resilience yet again in the bottom of the ninth. Deibinson Romero dropped a one-out single into left field and Daniel Rohlfing added a two-out base hit. Uviedo (4-2) forced De Los Santos to pop out to deep short to end the game.

"We fought until that last at-bat," added Smith.

Stilson limited the Rock Cats to two runs on three hits in five innings but came away with the no-decision.

Thompson scattered 10 hits for five runs in eight innings. Edgar Ibarra (2-1) suffered the loss after surrendering the winning run in the ninth.

ALLSTATE PLAYER OF THE GAME : RF Joe Benson went 2-for-4 with an RBI for the Rock Cats.