Blue Crabs close out first half this weekend

Five-game series, including a day-night twin bill, against Camden to determine division winner

Friday, July 4, 2008

The Southern Maryland Blue Crabs will close out the first half of the season with a five-game series with Camden at Regency Furniture Stadium in Waldorf for a chance to seize first place and a playoff spot in the Liberty Division.

‘‘While you try not to look ahead, we are aware of the situation,” said Blue Crabs center fielder Jeremy Owens. ‘‘We are just going to try to take it one game at a time. This is a big series, and we looking forward to the challenge.”

The odds are stacked against Southern Maryland. Entering the series, which started on Thursday night, too late for inclusion into this edition, the Blue Crabs trailed Camden by five games in the standings.

If the Blue Crabs (33-32) are to claim the first-half division crown, they would need to pull off a five-game sweep of a team they have yet to beat this season. Southern Maryland is 0-5 against the Riversharks on the year. Camden and Southern Maryland would then be tied at the top of the standings with 5-5 records against each other.

‘‘If you play baseball, you want these kind of challenges,” Owens said. ‘‘You want to go out and compete with the odds stacked against you. That is what the game is about. And when you face situations like this, there is no added pressure. You just do what has to be done.”

Camden has been the top team in the Liberty Division and the Atlantic League for essentially the entire season, despite losing a league-high seven players to major league organizations.

‘‘Their team is made up of really experienced guys, and they don’t roll over,” said Blue Crabs right fielder John Ramistella. ‘‘In the games we have played, we have put up some runs on them in the early going, and while other teams might give up and just take a loss, Camden doesn’t seem to accept losing.”

This season, Southern Maryland has played the division-leading Riversharks close in four of five games, the exception being a 10-2 shellacking in Waldorf on May 17. Three of the five losses have been by one run.

‘‘In the three games against them that I have been here for, we have shot ourselves in the foot,” said Owens, who joined the team in late May. ‘‘We have committed several errors against them, and you can’t expect to win if you play like that. If we execute this weekend, we will be in good shape.”

The Blue Crabs will enter this pivotal series on a bit of a roll. After taking two of three games from Somerset, Southern Maryland won two more in a three-game series in Bridgeport, Conn.

On Tuesday, the Blue Crabs saw starter Joe Gannon move to 4-1 on the year with a 7-1 win over the Bluefish. Gannon allowed one run on nine hits while working eight innings and striking out six. He now has a 3.53 ERA on the year, the lowest of the Blue Crabs starters.

‘‘Joe Gannon went out there and battled like he always does,” Ramistella said. ‘‘He just competes day in and day out. And we got some runs on them early, but we didn’t settle. We buried them a little, and that’s something we need to do more of.”

At the plate, second baseman Chad Ehrnsberger delivered for the Blue Crabs with a bases-clearing double in the fourth inning. Ehrnsberger went 2 for 3 on the night with the three RBIs, while left fielder Eric Crozier went 2 for 2 with two RBIs and two runs scored.

Southern Maryland tallied 10 hits on the night.

On Wednesday, Southern Maryland came within a run of matching its highest offensive output of the season with a 13-8 win over the Bluefish.

Third baseman Patrick Osborn added to his league lead in runs driven in with three RBIs on a sacrifice fly and a bases-loaded, two-run single. Osborn now has 62 RBIs on the season. Designated hitter Curtis Pride and second baseman Chris Maples also drove in three runs apiece.

Ramistella scored three runs for the Blue Crabs. Southern Maryland scored five runs in the third and three more in sixth to pull away. The team tallied 10 hits, two of which went for extra bases.

Pride hit his 16th double of the year and catcher Adam Shorsher hit his sixth. Ryan Bicondoa picked up his seventh win of the season in five innings of work. The right-hander allowed four runs on seven hits while striking out four.

Bicondoa will likely have to pitch again this weekend, as the team plays five games in four days.

The Blue Crabs continue their series with Camden at 7:05 tonight.

Saturday is scheduled to be the first doubleheader in franchise history.

It will be a day-night, separate-admission doubleheader with Game 1 scheduled for noon and the second game slated for a 6:35 p.m. start.

Both games will be nine innings and the ballpark will be cleared between games, with each game requiring a separate ticket.

Fireworks will follow the Friday contest and Game 2 of Saturday’s doubleheader. The series concludes with a 2:05 p.m. game Sunday.