Crocs

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.

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.

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.

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.

FAYETTEVILLE, N.C. - Danny Bravo ripped a two-out RBI triple to score Karl Chatman from first base and break a 5-5 tie in the sixth Saturday, lifting the Cape Fear Crocs to a 9-5 win over the Hagerstown Suns. Hagerstown (27-22) scored four runs in the first inning and got a 4-for-4 game from Tony Peters, but failed to hold off the Crocs. Cape Fear opened an 8 1/2-game lead over the Suns in the South Atlantic League's Northern Division. The Suns held a 5-2 lead heading into the third until Talmadge Nunnari drove in a run and Noah Hall drove in two with singles to tie the game off Hagerstown starter Isabel Giron (2-4)

The Hagerstown Suns played one of those games on Sunday that they should have mailed in. And even at that, it would have been air mailed. --cont. from front page-- That's because the Suns literally just threw the ball around the field with very little purpose. Hagerstown committed three costly errors in innings that accounted for seven Cape Fear runs in an uncharacteristically sloppy 8-3 loss at Municipal Stadium. "Today was ugly," Hagerstown manager Marty Pevey said.

Bobby Cripps didn't seem to mind at all that Randy Albaral stole his thunder.

by Richard T. Meagher / staff photographer see the enlargement Coaches and mothers warned the Hagerstown Suns. There's going to be days like these. Days like Thursday when three Cape Fear pitchers combining on a seven-hitter in shutting out the Suns 9-0 in the opening game of an early-season, four-game showdown between the top to teams in South Atlantic League's Northern Division at Municipal Stadium.