TARP COMES OUT — The Colonials' grounds crew rolls out the tarp during Thursday's rain-shortened loss to Quebec at Beloved Wahconah Park (Photo by Josh Cutler for PLANET VALENTI Sports)

By JOSH CUTLER

PLANET VALENTI Sports

(PITTSFIELD, Friday, June 24, 2011) — Rain, rain, go away, come again some other day.”

This old melody is what the Pittsfield Colonials players and staff were singing to themselves as they attempted to play a doubleheader on a soggy and gloomy Thursday morning at Wahconah Park. While conditions prevented the C’s and the Quebec Capitales from playing the second scheduled game of the day, Quebec was able to salvage an 8-2 victory in five rain-shortened innings.

Moran Struggles Against Capitales Bats

Pat Moran (3-2, 5.93 ERA) had a tough time against the Capitales lineup, allowing eight runs on thirteen hits in his outing. Colonials Manager Jamie Keefe felt that the poor conditions played a significant role in Moran’s ineffective outing: “He did make a few mistakes, and it’s tough to work on that slider when you know you can’t get out in front of it too much with the slickness of the ground.”

With two doubleheaders scheduled in two days, Keefe elected to leave Moran out on the mound to face the wrath of the Quebec bats, throwing 119 pitches in his five innings of work: “He took one for the team, but on the back side of it, if we win two tomorrow, things look a little bit better”

Quebec would jump on the board early in the first on a Rene Leveret RBI single off the center field wall, scoring Seth Henry. Quebec would add two more in the second on a Henry sacrifice fly and an RBI single to Geoffrey Tomlinson. The Capitales’ big blows came in the fourth of Moran, care of an RBI double by Leveret and a pair of two-run homers to center by Henry and Pete LaForest.

Sausville, Field Conditions Stifle C’s

Quebec starter Dan Sausville (3-1, 4.31 ERA) was effective in his outing, allowing two runs on six hits, walking four and striking out three to earn the victory. Keefe said that while Pittsfield was able to get plenty of base runners against Sausville, their inability to cash them in was the ultimate difference in the game: “We had guys on base just like they did, we just didn’t have timely hitting. If we had timely hitting, we might still be playing.”

WET BALL — Pat Moran delivers a pitch to a Capitales' batter at soggy Wahconah Park Thursday. C's lost, 8-2 (Photo by Josh Cutler for PLANET VALENTI Sports)

Also preventing Pittsfield from getting going were the conditions of the field, although it must be said, of course, that the field conditions were the same for both teams. Though a brief window of dryness opened up to begin the game, a steady downpour continued beginning in the second inning which would normally prevent a game from being played any other day.

Several times during and in between innings, Colonials players Miguel Flores and Chris Torres had to come out and assist the grounds crew in laying out drying agents on the pitcher’s mound and home plate area. Conditions grew so bad that batters who hit routine ground balls to the infield elected not to run to first base, for fear of getting hurt.

Keefe said after the game that despite the field conditions, the fact that his entire roster made it through the game intact is bonus enough for him: “Nobody wanted to get hurt between the two teams. We got the game in, and nobody’s happy that we lost, but both of us win with nobody getting hurt and everybody ready to go tomorrow.”

Henry went 3-3 with 3 RBI for Quebec, with Tomlinson, Leveret, and Robert Wagner each contributing two hits. Danny Bomback and Billy Mottram each went 2-3 for Pittsfield.

COLONIALS NOTES: David Qualben (2-1, 3.06 ERA) and Eric Katzman (0-0, 0.00 ERA) will start during tomorrow’s doubleheader in Worcester … The second scheduled game of the doubleheader will not be made up, as Quebec does not return to Pittsfield until July 17, during the second half of the Can-Am League season. Pittsfield’s next trip to Quebec City stretches from August 19-21 … Keefe said that outfielder Quentin Davis continues to struggle physically as he recovers from a calf injury. Keefe describes Davis, who has been limited to DHing duties recently, as “75%,” but as he notes, “(Davis’) 75% is better than half the league” …Keefe also said that DH/OF Rafael Cabreja (.158 average) is still feeling lingering effects from a shoulder injury which is preventing his performance from improving to the level he attained in 2010 (.307/13 HR/55 RBI) … Quebec heads back home with a league leading 20-6 record to face the Newark Bears in a three-game weekend series.

Quebec Pittsfield
	8	1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E Quebec 1 2 0 5 0 0 0 0 0 8 13 0 Pittsfield 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 2 6 0	2

Quebec
#	Pitcher	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	ERA
23	Sausville, D	5.0	6	2	2	4	3	4.31
		5	6	2	2	4	3

Pittsfield
#	Pitcher	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	ERA
44	Moran, P	5.0	13	8	8	2	2	5.93
		5	13	8	8	2	2