Cape Fear

It's getting a little chilly in the Hagerstown Suns clubhouse. While the rest of the area is sweltering in near 100-degree temperatures, the Suns are 70 degrees off the norm. They are downright frigid. Another cold front rolled through on Saturday as Cape Fear swatted Hagerstown around for 11 runs before the Suns warmed to the task. It was a little too late though, settling for an 11-4 defeat for their season-high sixth straight loss before 4,585 fans at Municipal Stadium.

photo: RICHARD T. MEAGHER / staff photographer enlarge By BOB PARASILITI / Staff Writer It seemed like an oh-so-familiar scenario. The Hagerstown Suns battle for nine innings with Cape Fear only to end up Croc bait. But this time, just when the Suns seemed about to go down for the third time, Matt Weimer tossed in the life preserver. The right-hander is no Crocodile Dundee, but Weimer came on to shut down Cape Fear in the ninth inning - despite a two-out walk to make things exciting - to allow the Suns to swim to safety Tuesday with a 7-6 South Atlantic League victory.

Cape Fear holds off Suns, 11-6 Hopes of finishing the season with the flair went away as the Hagerstown Suns gave up five runs in the first inning and fell to the visiting Cape Fear Crocs Saturday at Municipal Stadium in a South Atlantic League game. Hagerstown (62-73 and 28-37 in the second half) had defeated Cape Fear Friday and hoped to close the season with a sweep. Instead, the Suns will hope to win the final series of the year with the final two games today and Monday.

By BOB PARASILITI / Staff Writer photo: JOE CROCETTA / staff photographer In another life, Taylor Smith might have been Nero. He proved that on Tuesday by pitching instead of fiddling around while everything seemed to be burning around him. In this scene, Smith made some beautiful music instead of going up in flames. [cont. from sports page ] Smith controlled Cape Fear on five hits through eight innings and survived one mistake to come away with a masterful 5-2 victory despite six errors by the Suns.

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. - Hagerstown's Isabel Giron pitched well enough to beat Cape Fear Tuesday night. He held the Crocs to five hits and struck out nine. But two of the five hits were solo home runs, and the Crocs beat the Suns, 3-2. Giron's record dropped to 8-9. He entered the eighth inning with the score tied 2-2. Giron retired the first two batters, then gave up a single to Kenny James, who stole second. Jaron Seabury relieved Giron, who allowed a game-winning RBI single to Henry Mateo.

Suns take bite out of Crocs for fifth straight win FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. - The Hagerstown Suns bid farewell to J.P. Riddle Stadium by using a three-run third inning Monday for a 4-2 victory over Cape Fear. The Suns used stolen bases and a Chivas Clark double to manufacture the go-ahead runs in Hagerstown's final visit to the oldest park in the league. Cape Fear will be relocating to Lakewood, N.J., next season. Hagerstown (19-24, 53-60) won its fifth straight game to offset last week's five-game losing streak.

Woody Heath was so good Monday night, he was in two zones. The strike zone and his comfort zone. And that meant Cape Fear was relegated to the Twilight Zone. Heath shut down the top hitting team in the South Atlantic League with seven innings of five-hit pitching as the Suns used a combination of creativity and power to notch a 4-1 South Atlantic League victory over the Crocs. --cont from sports -- Heath (7-2) got a handle on Cape Fear's hitters early by striking out Nate James and Scott Zech to start the game.

Marty Pevey stood in his shorts and sandals, looking like he was standing on the shoreline. "What you gonna do," the Hagerstown Suns manager said with a shrug. --cont from sports-- A Saturday full of thunderstorms turned Municipal Stadium into Municipal Lake and postponed another game for the Suns, making their come-from-behind quest for the South Atlantic League's Northern Division first-half title all the more difficult. High tide rolled in about 6:45 p.m., 20 minutes before the game's scheduled start.

by JOE CROCETTA / staff photographer enlargement Suns win title On Flag Day, it was only appropriate that the Hagerstown Suns got one of their own. --cont from front page-- Completing a remarkable comeback, the Suns swept a South Atlantic League doubleheader from the Asheville Tourists Sunday at Municipal Stadium, 8-4 and 5-3, before 3,238 fans, then found out that Northern Division-leading Cape Fear...

Despite having both ends of Tuesday night's doubleheader rained out, the Hagerstown Suns were clearly the losers. Instead of losing on the scoreboard, the Suns lost in the South Atlantic League Northern Division standings. Hagerstown trailed Cape Fear by three and a half games going into last night's scheduled action, and had an opportunity to close the gap by taking both ends of the twinbill with the first-half title on the line. If the Suns win all of their remaining six games, Cape Fear would need to lose at least four of its last six for Hagerstown (38-26)

Cape Fear holds off Suns, 11-6 Hopes of finishing the season with the flair went away as the Hagerstown Suns gave up five runs in the first inning and fell to the visiting Cape Fear Crocs Saturday at Municipal Stadium in a South Atlantic League game. Hagerstown (62-73 and 28-37 in the second half) had defeated Cape Fear Friday and hoped to close the season with a sweep. Instead, the Suns will hope to win the final series of the year with the final two games today and Monday.

Suns take bite out of Crocs for fifth straight win FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. - The Hagerstown Suns bid farewell to J.P. Riddle Stadium by using a three-run third inning Monday for a 4-2 victory over Cape Fear. The Suns used stolen bases and a Chivas Clark double to manufacture the go-ahead runs in Hagerstown's final visit to the oldest park in the league. Cape Fear will be relocating to Lakewood, N.J., next season. Hagerstown (19-24, 53-60) won its fifth straight game to offset last week's five-game losing streak.

Aaron Dean pitched like he had to be somewhere. He did. "I have to go to pick up my girlfriend," the Hagerstown Suns pitcher said. "She's flying into Dulles from California tonight. " That wasn't the reason for Dean's effectiveness, but it was as good of an incentive as any. Especially since he mowed through the Cape Fear lineup with a five-hitter through eight innings Tuesday to lift the Suns to a 4-1 victory over the Crocs at Municipal Stadium. Dean pitched like he was already on cruise control heading down I-270 with the way he handled the Cape Fear batting order.

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. - Cape Fear scored the first tug in the war for the South Atlantic League Northern Division's second-half title, using a four-run second inning Wednesday for a 4-2 victory over the Hagerstown Suns. Derick Urquhart broke the game open with a bases-loaded triple to give the Crocs all the runs they needed to top Hagerstown starter Scott Cassidy (13-7). The win gives Cape Fear a one-game advantage over the Suns for the second-half title, a berth in next week's playoffs and a date with the Suns in Hagerstown for the first game of a best-of-3 divisional series.

By BOB PARASILITI / Staff Writer photo: JOE CROCETTA / staff photographer In another life, Taylor Smith might have been Nero. He proved that on Tuesday by pitching instead of fiddling around while everything seemed to be burning around him. In this scene, Smith made some beautiful music instead of going up in flames. [cont. from sports page ] Smith controlled Cape Fear on five hits through eight innings and survived one mistake to come away with a masterful 5-2 victory despite six errors by the Suns.

By BOB PARASILITI / Staff Writer photo: JOE CROCETTA / staff photographer What started out as a possible clinching party ended up as a lynching party. The stage was set for the Hagerstown Suns to close out the South Atlantic League Northern Division's first-half title on Tuesday. Someone just forgot to tell Cape Fear. [cont. from sports page ] Cape Fear slapped five Hagerstown pitchers around for 18 hits and 10 runs in the first five innings to put the Suns' party plans on hold for at least one more day in a 12-2 rout at Municipal Stadium.

Scott Cassidy got the chance to use the unwritten rule of the Hagerstown Suns pitching staff on Monday. "When you see all those runs on the board, you make sure you get through the fifth inning to get the win. " Cassidy said. [cont. from sports page ] It's a good philosophy, especially considering the way the Suns have been playing. Hagerstown gave Cassidy a 10-0 lead by the fifth inning, while he pitched a two-hitter through the first six innings en route to a 11-4 victory over Cape Fear.

You got to hand it to Tyler Thompson. He knew something was terribly wrong with his swing when he stepped to the plate for the Hagerstown Suns. He was getting more outs than results. [cont. from sports page ] After a lot of work and experimenting, Thompson had a big breakthrough in hitting consistency while the Suns were on the road last week. Basically, he handed it to himself. "It was just one of those kinds of weeks," Thompson said. "I just hope it continues.

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. - On most other nights, Hagerstown's Matt Logan would have been the hero. After all, the Suns first baseman went 4-for-4 with four RBIs. He had three singles, then in the ninth inning with the Suns trailing by two and down to their last out, Logan ripped a two-run home run to tie the game. Alas, Cape Fear scored in the 10th to take an 8-7 victory over the Suns and cut their lead in the South Atlantic League's Northern Division to two games. Hagerstown is 20-12, and the Crocs are 17-13.

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. - To put it simply, the Hagerstown Suns really don't like any game started in J.P. Riddle Stadium. Cape Fear won Saturday night's regularly scheduled game 6-4 against the Suns to salvage a split of a makeshift doubleheader. Hagerstown won the completion of the suspended game from July 30, 3-2. The loss in the nightcap dropped the Suns to 1-9 in games started at J.P. Riddle. But twice the Suns have been forced to complete a game there; they have won both.