For the second straight year, the Gulls and Swamp Bats will battle for the NECBL championship. Click here for more coverage of the 2001 NECBL finals.
NECBL semis game 3: Keene 4, Twisters 2 TORRINGTON, Aug. 3, 2001 -- Still standing after a host of injuries, the Keene Swamp Bats finally landed a body blow that the Twisters couldn't absorb in Friday night's decisive game 3 of the NECBL semifinals. The surging Swamp Bats used a pair of home runs and a dominating nine-inning pitching performance from righthander Gabe Ribas to eliminate the Twisters, 4-2, on a rainy Friday night at Fuessenich Park. Keene 4, Torrington 2 Keene 100 021 000 -- 4-4-3 Torrington 000 000 020 -- 2-8-0 Gabe Ribas and Jon Douillard; Reuben Kerbs, Tony Stutz (5), Jeff Trzos and Brian Lentz; WP: Ribas (1-0); LP: Kerbs (0-1); 2B: Gabe Bergeron (K); HR: Myron Lesile (K), Tim Arroyo (K); Att.: 790
Newport 12, Eastern 2 NEWPORT -- The Gulls earned their second straight trip to the NECBL finals with a 12-2 win over Eastern and win the best-of-3 series, 2-1. Righthanded Jeff Lacher went the distance, allowing only one earned run, no walks and scattering 10 hits. Teammate Doug Jackson was 3-for-5 with an RBI while P.J. Johnston had a double, single and two RBI. A.J. Zickgraf had two doubles and two RBI while Greg Fater had a triple and two RBI. Eastern 100 001 000 -- 2-10-5 Newport 002 280 00x -- 12-13-2 WP: Lacher 1-0, LP: Fortin 0-1
NECBL semis, game 2: Keene 14, Twisters 4 KEENE, N.H., August 2 -- The Swamp Bats tied the best-of-3 semifinal series at 1-1 with a 14-4 win over the Twisters at Alumni Field. Keene hit a record five home runs against the Twisters including a grand slam from Kevin Melillo off Twister starter Rory Shortell.
It was the worst playoff defeat in team history and the most home runs that Torrington has allowed in a single game in franchise history. Myron Lesile, Shawn Larkin, Eric Rico and Jabe Bergeron also hit home runs for Keene. Rico and Bergeron were each 3-for-5. The Twisters had 11 hits including two home runs from Justin McClain and Adam Haley (2-4, double, HR, 2 RBI). Keene 14, Torrington 4 Torrington 001 002 010 -- 4 11 4 Keene 201 442 10x -- 14 16 1 Rory Shortell, Ben Leuthard (5), C.J. Giampaolo (5), Anthony Tranchina (7) and Brian Lentz; Justin Nywiede, Jordy Templet (9) and Jon Douillard, Anthony Medeiros (9); WP: Nyweide (1-0) LP: Shortell (0-1); 2B: Adam Haley (T); HR: Justin McClain (T); Haley (T); Kevin Melillo (K), Myron Leslie (K); Shaun Larkin (K); Erik Rico (K); Jabe Bergeron (K); Att. -- 1923
Eastern 4, Newport 3 WILLIMANTIC, Aug. 2 -- Jake Boyle's RBI double in the bottom of the ninth inning lifted host Eastern past Newport, 4-3, and the best-of-3 semifinal at 1-1. Eastern's pitching tandem of Kevin Rival and Jonas Swyer was outstanding for the Tides. Rival started and allowed only three earned runs on five hits, struck out 10 batters, and walked five in seven innings. Swyer allowed no runs, yielded one hit, walked one, and struck out two in two innings of work for the win. Newport 000 200 100 -- 3 6 1 Eastern 000 201 001 -- 4 9 2 WP: Swyer (1-0) LP: Turner (0-1)
NECBL semifinals, game 1: Twisters 3, Keene 2 TORRINGTON, Aug. 1, 2001 -- As the losses piled up for the Torrington Twisters in the final two weeks of the season, the team's confidence remained steady. The Twisters, who lost seven of its last 10 games, displayed some championship form Wednesday night taking game one of the NECBL semifinals with a gutty 3-2 victory over the defending league champion Keene Swamp Bats at Fuessenich Park.
"The fans were getting restless the last two weeks but we knew we could do it," said Twister outfielder Mike McMillian, who had a key RBI triple in the fifth inning to break up a scoreless duel. "We were collecting ourselves and working on the basics. We're a talented team." Click on this link for the full story. Torrington 3, Keene 2 Keene 000 000 002 --2-8-2 Torrington 000 010 02x -- 3-6-1 Tim Stauffer and Jon Douillard; Tim Leveque, Jeff Trzos (8) and Brian Lentz; WP: Leveque (1-0); LP: Stauffer (0-1); 3B: Mike McMillian (T) ; HR: Myron Lesile (K); Save: Trzos (T); Att.: 2487
Newport 8, Eastern 7 NEWPORT, R.I., Aug. 1 -- Newport built a five-run lead and held off a late Tides rally to take game one of their best-of-3 semifinal series. P.J. Johnston was 4-for-5 with a double for the Gulls while Kainoa Obrey had a single, double and one RBI. Newport pitcher Joel Kirsten earned the win, his seventh of the season. Brian Chapman had a single, double and one RBI for the Tides. Eastern 100 011 400 -- 7 9 1 Newport 002 312 00x -- 8 8 3 WP: Kirsten (7-0) SV: Jacobsen (7) LP: Kelly (5-4)
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