Claws

LAKEWOOD, N.J. — Hagerstown didn’t tear the cover off the baseball, but the Suns bunched together what they needed at the right time to pull out a 4-3 win over Lakewood on Tuesday.å The Suns (8-5) rallied back from a 3-1 deficit with a three-run eighth inning to remain in first place in the South Atlantic League second-half standings. å Hagerstown’s rally began with a single by Cole Leonida, who went to third on a double by Chris Curran. Blake Kelso walked to load the bases and Adrian Sanchez then drove in Leonida with a sacrifice fly to cut the deficit to 3-2. Curran moved to third on the fly and Kelso then stole second, setting up a two-run double by Kevin Keyes for a 4-3 Suns lead.

The Lakewood BlueClaws ordered a round of doubles on Monday to turn back the Hagerstown Suns. Lakewood used three doubles to produce its first two runs and held on for a 3-1 victory that dented Hagerstown’s drive to win the first-half title in the South Atlantic League Northern Division. The loss, coupled with Greensboro’s 5-0 win over West Virginia, cuts Hagerstown’s lead to one game. Lakewood took a 1-0 lead over Suns starter Taylor Jordan (6-3)  in the third inning on doubles by Alan Schoenberger and Zach Collier.

If Mike Ramsey had ever written a master plan for the 2004 baseball season, the Hagerstown Suns might finally be getting around to reading it. The Cliff's Notes version goes something like, "If the pitching can keep it close, there will always be a chance to win in the end. " Everyone did their part Sunday as the pitching was good enough to allow Hagerstown to use Tim Hutting's ninth-inning sacrifice fly to knock off Lakewood 5-4 for a...

Paul Miller, executive director of the Humane Society of Washington County, holds Muffin Tuesday. Muffin is a 2-year-old spayed and declawed cat that an owner surrendered to the Humane Society.

My green-eyed artist's Lips curl into a smile As she erases   Like a she-panther The dark brilliance of art Covers her like fur   She hunches in thought Pencils scattered like her kill Inspiration draped   Across her shoulders Down her hands, her pretty claws Still unknown to her

Yin and his sister Fauna were abandoned by their family when the family moved out of state. A neighbor found the two cats and brought them to the Humane Society of Washington County. Yin is a male with beige and chocolate hair. Fauna is a female and has cream and gray hair. Both are Siamese with blue eyes. They both like to snuggle. For more infomration about Yin or Fauna, visit the Humane Society of Washington County at 13011 Maugansville Road near Hagerstown, or call 301-733-2060.

Brandon Miller had a surge of power on Tuesday. So did the Hagerstown Suns. Miller, Hagerstown's right fielder, hit a grand slam in the seventh inning to complete the Suns' three home run night, which paved the way to a runaway 11-2 win over the Lakewood BlueClaws before 512 fans at Municipal Stadium. It was a direct turnaround for the Suns (7-6), who struggled to get five hits in Monday's 5-1 loss and showed little diversity in the offense. On Tuesday, they rolled out the power with all three of the team's heaviest hitters connecting.

Sometimes when the margin for error is razor thin, there's no way to avoid being cut. On Monday, the Hagerstown Suns were sharp. The Lakewood BlueClaws were just sharper. Lakewood took advantage of two Hagerstown mistakes in the late innings to break a 1-1 tie and pull away to a 5-1 victory on Monday before a sparse crowd at Municipal Stadium. The Suns played well, but it wasn't crisp enough to win. The difference was a pitch that missed location and an errant throw, both of which took away the chances for Hagerstown to pull out a win in the ninth.

Cats kill things. Pretty sure I knew that already. But it took a study from the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute and the Fish and Wildlife Service to confirm the notion. The news is that U.S. cats kill more wildlife than people thought: 2.4 billion birds and 12.3 billion mammals a year. According to the New York Times, that makes them “one of the single greatest human-linked threats to wildlife in the nation.” (So why do I still have mice in my chicken coop? Since my cats can't be bothered, I got one of those plastic “happy traps,” and they didn't work, so I used a medium-sized spring trap, whose bail wasn't large enough to take down the beast once and for all. Finally I went with the Farm and Warehouse Industrial Rodent Trap that killed the rat all right, but went off with such a concussive force it about brought down the whole shed.)

The Hagerstown-Washington County Chamber of Commerce raised money Saturday with an Old Line State delicacy. “Nothing says Maryland in the summer time like good crabs, cold beer, a little bit of music and good friends,” chamber President Brien J. Poffenberger said. Part of the proceeds of the event, called Krab and Karaoke, went to the Community Free Clinic of Washington County and Children In Need. Tickets for the fundraiser, held at Hager Hall Conference and Event Center in Hagerstown, cost $50 apiece.

Matthew Skole's two-out single to right scored Caleb Ramsey with the winning run in the 10th inning, and the Hagerstown Suns won their third straight game, 5-4, over the Lakewood BlueClaws on Monday at Municipal Stadium. The Suns (60-40, 18-13) won the first game of the four-game series to remain tied with Hickory atop the Northern Division second-half standings. The BlueClaws (43-57, 17-14) fell a game back. Facing Lakewood reliever Austin Brough (0-1), Ramsey led off the 10th with a single.

Maikel Franco's grand slam capped Lakewood's five-run eighth-inning rally that broke a 1-1 tie as the BlueClaws snapped the Hagerstown Suns' four-game winning streak with a 6-1 victory Friday night in the South Atlantic League. Suns reliever Josh Smoker (0-1) entered to start the eighth and walked leadoff hitter Tim Carver. He took second on a sacrifice bunt and third on a flyout. Brock Stassi walked before Christopher Duffy's RBI single to center scored Carver for a 2-1 BlueClaws lead.

The Hagerstown Suns know how to perform in character. While dressed in dark blue Union Army jerseys, Hagerstown conquered with a Hill to claim victory in a Civil War themed night. Taylor Hill came on in relief in the second inning and pitched seven strong innings to lead the Suns to a 5-1 victory over Lakewood before 1,506 fans at Municipal Stadium. Hill, who was scheduled to start, replaced Washington Nationals pitcher Cole Kimball after a one-inning rehabilitation start and took total control of Lakewood's offense.

Like New Year's Eve, the second half of a minor league baseball season is a clean slate. Everyone starts the middle of June at 0-0 and the Hagerstown Suns and Lakewood BlueClaws switched places … at least for one day. Christopher Duffy had three hits and two RBIs and Lakewood used a three-run fourth inning to build a 5-3 victory over the Suns to open the second half of the South Atlantic League season before 1,632 fans at Municipal Stadium....

The Hagerstown Suns wrapped up a highly successful six-game series at Lakewood with Sunday's 7-6 victory over the BlueClaws in the South Atlantic League The Suns (29-20), who won five of six in the series, took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first when Brian Goodwin hit a leadoff double and later scored on a wild pitch. The BlueClaws (19-30) answered in the bottom half when Aaron Altherr doubled and scored on right fielder Caleb Ramsey's error to tie the game at 1. Hagerstown took a 3-1 lead in the second.