Newark, NJ – The Somerset Clippers defeated the New Jersey Reds 8-6 on Sunday afternoon at the world famous Riverfront Stadium. In front of a capacity crowd, Jared Fowler started the game for the Clippers, earning the win while striking out 12 batters. Zack Markle came in in relief to notch his first save of the season.

The Clippers got on the board early, scoring two runs in the bottom of the first to take a 2-0 lead. Freddie Castro led off the inning with a double down the left field line. After a walk to Jared Fowler, Jose Pinto drove the first run home for the Clippers with an RBI ground out and Rob Roman quickly followed with an RBI single to RF. The Reds bounced back in the top of the 2^nd with two unearned runs to tie the game at 2.

In the bottom of the 2^nd, George Tomasello led the inning off with a walk and Mike Casiano promptly lined a ball over the centerfielders head for a triple, scoring Tomasello all the way from first base, bringing the capacity crowd to its feet. With two out, Freddie Castro made the score 4-2 with an RBI single, his 2^nd hit in as many innings.

The Reds scored a run in the top of the 5^th to cut the lead in half, 4-3. In the bottom of the 5^th, the Clippers rallied, scoring three runs to extend their lead to 7-3. Pat Darrah led the inning off with a wak and after Freddie Castro reached on an error, Zack Markle lined a single to right to load the bases with no one out. Jared Fowler lifted a fly ball to left, scoring Darrah and right behind him was Castro, who advanced on a throwing error. The Clippers rounded out their scoring in the 5^th courtesy of Jose Pinto, who singled home Zack Markle, for his 2^nd RBI of the afternoon.

Jared Fowler seemed to be coasting on the mound for the Clippers until the 8^th. The Reds started to mount a comeback and rallied. They scored three runs to cut the lead to 7-6. With one out in the 8^th, manager George Tomasello decided to go to his lefty Zack Markle to try to hold the lead. With the bases loaded and one out, Markle entered the game and got the next batter to hit a foul pop up between home plate and third base. Mike Casiano hustled into foul territory and with no regard for his personal safety made the defensive play of the game, possibly the season, leaving his feet and catching the popup right in front of the Reds dugout for out number two. Markle retired the next Reds batter on a ground out to end the threat, preserving the one run lead going into the bottom of the 8^th.

The Clippers added an insurance run in the 8^th. Rob Roman lead off the inning with a single, his second hit of the game, stole second and moved to third on a wild pitch. Jonathan Encarnacion hit a long fly ball to left field, deep enough for Roman to tag to give the Clippers a 8-6 lead going into the 9^th. Markle got into a bit of trouble in the 9^th, with runners on first and second and one out, but the tough lefty retired the next two batters to earn the save for the Clippers.

With the win, the Clippers improve to 7-9 and are still in a dog fight with 4 teams for the final two playoff spots in the Southern Division of the NJABL.

Even though the temperatures reached close to 100 degrees, The Clippers had the time of their lives playing on a professional field in front of the thousands of fans that came out to support the team. Clipper Nation was in full force on Sunday. The Clippers thank you for coming out in the heat to support the team.

Next Week, the Clippers have a double header against the Raritan Valley Indians, one of the teams that they are fighting with for one of the two remaining playoff spots. The two upcoming games are considered playoff games, so please come out to support your Somerset Clippers. Game 1 starts at 2:00PM in Bound Brook at Billian Field.

 Game Notes:

- Jonathan Encarnacion, who had two hits on the day and caught the entire game behind the plate, broke one of the oldest rules in baseball when he hit a long, high fly ball to left field, which he thought was out of the park. He stood at home plate for what seemed to be hours, only to watch the ball land short of the warning track, holding him to a single. Clipper Nation and the Clipper bench will be reminding him of that for a long time. As of press time, he will be buying two rounds next week for each of his teammates at the after party following the game.

- Freddie Castro led the Clippers offensively with 3 hits, including a double. Mike Casiano, Rob Roman, Zack Markle and Jonathan Encarnacion all had two hits for the Clippers and Jose Pinto had two RBI.

- Freddie Castro got thrown out at home plate in the 2nd, prompting the crowd to remind Castro that even though he is pushing 38 years old, the oldest guy on the team is pushing 44 and scored standing up from first base a few minutes earlier.

…and finally, I have been playing and coaching amateur baseball for 14 years and I have been on some great teams and won many championships. This season has been one of my favorites and a lot fun for me and I couldn’t have asked for a better group of men to go to war with every week. Next week, we start our run towards immorality. Win or Lose, we leave it all on the field and give it everything we got. I am proud of what we have accomplished so far but it’s not over yet.

Family on three, Family on three…one, two….