Swamp Bats NECBL Champions

The Keene Swamp Bats completed an excellent season winning the Championship over Laconia in 2 games.  Winning the final game of the season 7-1 over the Muskrats, Whit Mayberry K'd 11 batters in his 6 innings of work. 

Keven Brown and Brett DeLoach led the way with their bats.  DeLoach launched 2 Home Runs and Brown added one of his own.  The entire lineup contimued its hot hitting as well with the combination of  Colby May and  Esteban Gomez producing big hits to up the Swamp Bat lead.

Not that the pitching needed much help as Mayberry kept the Muskrats to one run during his 6 innings of work and Eddie Medina finished off the last three innings putting up nothing but blanks. 

All in all this has been one of the best hitting Swamp Bat teams to pass through Keene.  Several players had batting averages around .300 and the power was spred out up and down the lineup.  I am sure we will see several of these plays in the Cape League next summer and them moving on the the pros. 

The pitching was also among the best I have seen in Keene.  They had a great balance of solid starters and relief picthing.  The trio of Whit Mayberry,  Taylor Williams and Jeff Thomson was the best in the league, (not to forget All Star Brad Monroe).   The Bullpen with Medina, Scott Silevstein, Kyle Gehrs and Anthony Cervone finished off games all year.  Again I expect to see some of these names come up again in the pros.  

Great Year Swamp Bats and Congratulations

Playoffs

First place in the Western Division!  For that the Swamp Bats get to play the hard hitting Danbury Westerners.  Andrew Garner and Tyler Horan come in with Batting Averages in the high .300's and Horan is leading the league in Home Runs.  The team batting average is .298, unheard of for a pitching dominated league. 

The Swamp Bats start off the playoffs on a bit of a hot streak of their own.  They Beat Danbury and Vermont in the last week of the season to win the division.  Keven Brown continues his hot hitting with a Home Run in the final game.   Alex Chittenden and David Lyon also are swinging hot bats along with the Georgia Boys, Brett DeLoach, Colby May and Curt Powell all holding their own as well. 

The pitching staff is looking strong as well.  Tay;or Williams,  Jeff Thompson and Brad Monroe are as good a rotation as you can find. 

It should be a good series and fun to watch with lots of fireworks!

2005 Swamp Bat Josh Fields was traded to the Red Sox this week as part of the Erik Bedard trade.  he will start in AAA, but could become the first Swamp Bat to play for the Red Sox,

Final week of the Regular season

                                                        Alex Chittenden

As we roll into the final week of the regular season we find the Swamp Bats in third place, assured of a playoff spot.  They reeled off an impressive string of wins in the last 2 weeks to make it to the post season.  The hitting of Brett LaRoach, Alex Chittenden and Kevin Brown have made it possible.  Colby May started slowly but has also really started hitting the ball recently.  The picthing has been pretty good for the most part lead by Jeff Thompson, who is one of the best pitchers in the league and started the All Star game yesterday. 

Danbury contiues to lead the league, with a team batting average of about .300, which is pretty amazing.  Vermont and Holyoke make up the other 2 teams from the western division the will make the playoffs this year.  It should be fun to  watch!

Swamp Bats Roll

The Keene Swamp Bats rolled or should I say hit themselves past the Danbury Westeners into first place.  Taylor Williams pitched 7 innings of shutout ball, mowing down the best hitting team in the league.  After watching this game it looks like the Swamp Bats are the top hitting team. 

The hitting attack was lead by Georgia Bulldog players Colby May and Brett DeLoach each with 2 RBI's.  Mark Podlas chipped in the a Grand Slam of his own, that sailed over the pines in right center and on into the night.   The team finished the night with 17 hits.

Home win and lose on the road to a No Hitter

The weenend started off on a winning note at Alumni Field with a 5-2 win over a hot Vermont team.  Brett LaRoach hit a long 3 run Homer in the 7th to give the hometown crowd something to cheer about and the pitching took it from there. 

Jeff Thompson started the game, his only blemish on a good outing being a 2 run long ball off the bat of Rob Kelly the Vermont 1st baseman.   Colby May had a long ball of his own to give the Swamp Bats the lead in the 4th.  

The Bullpen made it stand up, with Kyle Gehrs getting the win and Eddie Medina picking up his 3rd save.


On Sunday night it was quite another story for the boys from Keene as they were no hit by Laconia pitcher Chris Costantino.  Other the a Mark Podlas long fly out there really wasn's anything else close to a hit.   It was the 5th no-hitter in NECBL history and the first against the Swamp Bats.  Costantino walked two batters and mowed down the rest, making a strong case for pitcher of the week or maybe the year!

Swamp Bat All Stars

Two former Swamp Bats played in last nights All Star game and made a difference.  Andre Either came through with a RBI single and Brian Wilson finished the night off getting the save.  

The current Swamp Bats had the night off, but will be back in action tonight at Vermont.  Leading the Western Division with a 17-9 record.  David Lyon is back with the team after spending some time with Team USA, so having his bat back will be a nice addition for the remainder of the season.

Thursday July 7

Last night the Danbury Westerners came to town with their big bats, they came into the game with a team batting average of .325.  That is really amazing for a league that is usually dominated by pitching.  Taylor Williams, David Malony, TJ Ferguson and Eddie Medina didn't completely silence them, but held them in check most of the night. 

Keven Brown was a one man wrecking crew with his bat, coming up only a double short of hitting for the cycle.   Everytime he made contact all night he hit the ball right on the nose.   Brett Barrett chipped in with 2 hits of his own.  

Danbury had Home Runs from Kyle Richardson and Andrew Garner late in the game, but that was all the offense the Westerners could muster for the most part.

In the ninth inning Danbury rallied for 2 runs and was threatening to make a run at the Swampbats, but TJ Ferguson got a rally killing double play,  Then the Westeners sent up Munsonville's Steve Swindle to face Westmorelands Ferguson with 2 out, but Keene coach decided to bring in Medina and he induced a ground out to end the game.  I for one would have liked to see the match up of local talent, but I guess Marty Testo had other ideas.