Professional baseball returned to northeastern Pennsylvania Thursday night with a sellout crowd at rebuilt PNC Field in Moosic and a traffic jam that backed up hundreds of cars trying to get to the stadium while the first pitch was being thrown.
There was still plenty of baseball left, however, for the late arrivals. The first game of the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Railriders was not decided until the defending International League champion Pawtucket Red Sox scored five runs in the top of the 10th inning of an 8-4 victory before a crowd of 8,443.
The Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees, as the franchise was known last year, played the entire 2012 season on the road while the stadium was rebuilt. In the first inning under the name RailRiders, Scranton/Wilkes-Barre scored twice to take the lead.
Corban Joseph had the first hit and run in the new stadium, scoring on a Melky Mesa single. The second run scored on a bases-loaded wild pitch by knuckleballer Steven Wright, who struggled with his control. After the PawSox took a 3-2 lead, Thomas Neal tied the game with a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the seventh. Pawtucket scored its five runs in the top of the 10th with the help of a two-run homer by Justin Henry. The RailRiders loaded the bases to start the bottom of the 10th, but only managed one run.
Scranton/Wilkes-Barre also lost Friday and Saturday, making it one of three IL teams to start 0-3.
WEEK IN REVIEW
Montrose High School graduate Rich Thompson opened the minor-league baseball season at Class AAA with the Durham Bulls of the International League.
Thompson was the first batter of the season for Durham, serving as the lead-off hitter and center fielder in the first game in Norfolk. He went 2-for-5 with a walk, a run and an RBI Friday. He was 0-for-4 Saturday.
After two games, Thompson was hitting 222. Thompson hit .311 with 22 stolen bases in 63 games with the Bulls last season. He also hit .307 with seven stolen bases in 20 games with the Lehigh Valley IronPigs and spent time in the Major Leagues, picking up his first big league hit with the Tampa Bay Rays.
Thompson will be 34 later this month.
Elsewhere, the Binghamton Mets won their Eastern League opener in Akron, beating the Aeros, 2-1, with the help of a Josh Rodriguez home run. Rafael Montero, Adam Kolarek and Jeffrey Waiters combined on a five-hitter with 10 strikeouts without walking a batter.
Montero struck out eight while allowing a run on two hits in 5 2/3 innings. Kolarek held Akron for 1 1/3 innings before Jeffrey Walters worked two scoreless innings for the save.
Binghamton was the only Eastern League team to start 3-0 after another 2-1 win Friday and a 7-5 victory Saturday.
In professional hockey, the Binghamton Senators improved to 40-23-1-6 and clinched a spot in the American Hockey League's Calder Cup playoffs. In high school sports, Mountain View won both its baseball and softball openers at Elk Lake.
Susquehanna dropped out of a share of the Lackawanna League boys’ volleyball lead with losses to Western Wayne and Abington Heights.
COLLEGE CORNER
Jackie Furch, a freshman from Blue Ridge, is starting as a pitcher and outfielder for the Penn State-Hazleton softball team.
Furch was the only pitcher to make three starts when the team went 1-7 in its first eight games. She shared the team lead with eight strikeouts.
At the plate, Furch hit .211 in the first eight games with two runs, a double and an RBI.
In the circle, she was 0-3 with a 7.76 earned run average, allowing 36 hits and five walks in 15 1/3 innings.
THE WEEK AHEAD
The Binghamton Mets play their home opener Thursday at 6:35 p.m. against New Hampshire.
The series continues with games Friday at 7:05 and Saturday and Sunday at 1:05. Portland follows New Hampshire into NYSEG Stadium for three straight
games to conclude the homestand.
In high school baseball, Susquehanna will get a chance to play at the new PNC Field in Moosic Sunday at 11 a.m. as part of the Bill Howerton Inaugural Strikeout Cancer Weekend.
The game is part of a doubleheader. Misericordia University and Cortland State are scheduled to play at 2 p.m.
Saturday and Sunday each featured a high school/college doubleheader at PNC Field. Keystone College is hosting three high school games Sunday.
The late Howerton was the University of Scranton baseball coach for 16 seasons. Money raised through the event will be donated to the American Cancer Society.
TOM ROBINSON writes a weekly local sports column for the Susquehanna County Transcript. He can be reached online at _RobbyTR@aol.com_ (mailto:RobbyTR@aol.com) or followed on Twitter at @tomjrobinson.
EIGHT IS GREAT FOR JOHNSON
Jimmie Johnson
MARTINSVILLE, Vir.—Jimmie Johnson led 343 laps in Sunday’s 500-lap Sprint Cup race for his eighth win at the Martinsville track.
“We got into a rhythm and were able to drive our own race,” said Johnson. “It’s tough to get around Martinsville, but we were able to stay up front and avoid a lot of the stuff that happened behind us.”
It was his second win of the season and boosts him back into the points lead.
Johnson dominated the first half of the race and never dropped lower than fourth. Matt Kenseth was the leader during the middle stages of the race but faded near the end.
There were a total of 12 caution flags, and one red flag period, including three yellows within the last 39 laps.
Each time Johnson was the leader, and each time he got a good jump on the rest of the field.
The last caution came on lap 485 after Kurt Busch’s No. 78 hit the outside wall and caught on fire. The red flag was put out and the cars were parked on the front straightaway.
When racing resumed on lap 492, the four leading drivers were; Jimmie Johnson, Clint Bowyer, Jeff Gordon, and Kyle Busch.
Johnson got a good restart and broke away from the others. Clint Bowyer made a good try, but was not able to overtake Johnson.
“I thought we did a pretty good job,” said Bowyer. “She (his No. 15 car) was just torn up too bad to race any better. We had a good car and I’m disappointed, but that’s the way things happen.”
There was some concern prior to the race as to how clean Bowyer and Jeff Gordon, who finished third, would race each other. Each driver tagged the other at least once, but it was no more than a racing statement.
“We didn’t need all those last cautions,” said Gordon. “I made a mistake on pit road that cost us some spots. We made a ton of changes today and the car took off. It was awesome on long runs, but we came up short on the shorter runs.”
Kasey Kahne finished fourth, followed by Kyle Busch, Brad Keselowski, Jamie McMurray, Marcos Ambrose, Greg Biffle, and Mark Martin.
Martin, who was subbing for the injured Denny Hamlin was lucky to place in the top-10. He was caught up or involved in four on track skirmishes. During a routine pit stop about midway of the race, he took off before the tire man had tightened the lug nuts on the left front tire. The tire rolled off, putting him a lap down.
Brian Vickers, who finished 11th, had his share of problems also. His No. 55 Michael Waltrip Toyota looked like it had just returned from a war zone.
Danica Patrick’s day finished much better than it started. She spun out on lap 16 and went a lap down. Near the end of the race, she got into the side of Dale Earnhardt’s No. 88 and spun him around. She finished 12th, much better than her two teammates, Tony Stewart, who finished 14th, and Ryan Newman, the 31st-place finisher.
If it hadn’t been for bad luck, Kurt Busch, the 37th place finisher wouldn’t have had any luck at all. He survived three spinouts, and a mechanical problem, but on lap 487 he hit the outside wall and his car burst into flames.
“I didn’t have any brakes,” said Busch. “I could feel them fading a couple laps before that. I turned it hard to keep from running head-on into the fence.”
Top-10 leaders after 6 of 36: 1. Johnson-231, 2. Keselowski-225, 3. Earnhardt-219, 4. Kyle Busch-203, 5. Kahne-199, 6. Biffle-199, 7. Edwards-193, 8. Bowyer-179, 9. Menard-179, 10. Kenseth-172.
SAUTER GETS MARTINSVILLE TRUCK WIN
Two races into the 2013 camping world truck Series and Johnny Sauter has two wins. His last win came at Martinsville after he made a late race pass over Jeb Burton.
“We all knew today was going to be about tire management, just from the tire wear we saw (Friday in practice), more so than ever before that I can ever remember here at Martinsville,” said Sauter. “The first part of the race, we ran 80 percent, just trying to maintain and not lose too much track position, but still try to run as fast as we could.”
Sauter won the season opener at Daytona, and after a break of 43 days, won the second race of the season at the .526-mile short track. Sauter won for the eighth time in the Truck series and posted his first back-to-back victories. It was only the second time in series history that a driver has opened the season with back-to-back wins; the first was 2006 by Mark Martin.
Remaining top-10: 2. Matt Crafton, 3. Jeb Burton, 4. Timothy Peters, 5. Darrell Wallace, 6. Chase Elliott, 7. Dakoda Armstrong, 8. Ryan Sieg, 9. Erik Jones, 10. Ron Hornaday.
Top-10 leaders after 2 of 22: 1. Sauter-94, 2. Burton-82, 3. Crafton- 77, 4. Hornaday-76, 5. Wallace Jr.-7272, 6. Sieg-70, 7. Bodine-67, 8. T. Dillon-66, 9. Paludo-64, 10. Blaney-64.
TIME IS ON JOHNSON’S SIDE
Jimmy Johnson is Mr. Cool. The five-time NASCAR Sprint Cup champion can afford to be, because his team usually heats up as the season progresses.
Six races into the 36-race schedule Johnson and his team have it going their way.
After winning the pole and Sunday’s race, he is back in the points lead.
“I think it’s important to stay calm and focused,” said Johnson. “I have been so fortunate to not need to worry about Richmond and making the Chase and, hopefully, it stays that way. Leaving Daytona in a hole is something we have grown accustomed to. It takes seven, eight weeks to get back up in the top-five in points. A quick start is important. It frees up the first half of the year for you.
“You can preserve the test sessions that we are allowed to have at real racetracks on the tire we’re going to race on. You can focus on inventory of your racecars, which we are all behind with the Gen-6 car. Just get your car allotment built up, which is very important to do at this stage. Instead of cutting up existing cars and rebuilding stuff, and on and on, it’s important to get off to a quick start. It helps lighten the work load for everybody.”
Johnson is eighth on NASCAR’s all-time wins list, trailing Dale Earnhardt, who is seventh with 76 wins.
He is second in total wins among active drivers behind Jeff Gordon (87).
Of the 23 tracks on which the series competes, Johnson has won Sprint Cup races at all but five – Michigan International Speedway in Brooklyn, Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet, Ill., Watkins Glen (N.Y.) International, Homestead-Miami Speedway and Kentucky Speedway in Sparta.
Johnson’s 10 wins in 2007 was the highest number recorded in a single season since Gordon posted 13 victories in 1998.
Weekend Racing: The Cup and Nationwide teams are at Texas Motor Speedway’s 1.5-mile track while the trucks race at the 1.-mile Rockingham, NC track.
Fri., Apr. 12, Nationwide Series, race 6 of 33; Starting time: 8:30 pm ET; TV: ESPN2.
Sat., Apr. 13, Sprint Cup Series, race 7 of 36; Starting time: 7:30 pm ET; TV: FOX.
Sun., Apr. 14, Camping World Trucks, race 3 of 22; Starting time: 2 pm ET; TV: SPEED.
Racing Trivia Question: Bobby Isaac is a former Sprint Cup champion that raced from 1964-1977. What year did he win the championship?
Last Week’s Question: What was the first year Kasey Kahne ran the Sprint Cup series? Answer. It was 2004.
You may contact the Racing Reporter at hodges@race500.com.
Zach Edwards
Zach Edwards moved a step closer to his goal of eventually qualifying for the Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association Wrestling Championships.
As the last wrestler standing from the county at the Class AA Northeast Regionals in Williamsport, Edwards finished fourth. For his effort, the Blue Ridge junior is the latest Susquehanna County Transcript Athlete of the Month.
Edwards suffered a pair of close losses to Williamson’s Trevor McWhorter in the 132-pound weight class. McWhorter won the quarterfinals, 6-2.
After Edwards fought back to the consolation final with a 2-1 decision over Nathan Jones of South Williamsport and a pin of Central Columbia’s Jesse Shannon in 3:58, he ran into McWhorter again with a berth in Hershey on the line.
McWhorter advanced with a 4-2 decision.
“I was two points away in that match from getting third to go to states,” Edwards said. “Hopefully, if I work a little harder next year I’ll be able to make it to states.”
Getting past Williamsport is the difficult step.
“Every year when you go down there, it’s tough,” Edwards said. “It was my third trip down there and the first time I medaled.”
Edwards knows what he plans to work on before next season.
“I need to get faster on my feet and take better shots,” Edwards said.
Edwards has made it to District 2 Class AA championship matches in each of his three high school seasons. After winning a title as a sophomore, he ran into two-time state medalist Austin Harry of Lake-Lehman this year and settled for second with a 6-3 loss in the final.
Edwards went 27-8 this season to improve to 81-20 on his career. Three of those wins, including one last season, came on the regional level.
When he completed wrestling season, Edwards moved on to practice for track and field.
A fourth-place finisher in District 2 last season in the pole vault, Edwards opened the season last week with a win in the event to help Blue Ridge defeat Mountain View. The third-year member of the track team also competes in the high jump and sprints on occasion.
Zach is the son of Zach and Donna Edwards of New Milford.
