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.

Rain, Rain go away!

The Bats won their second game of the season, but since then, its been 2 rainouts.  They beat Holyoke in the second game of the season 2-1.  Another strong pitching outing from Swamp Bat pitchers and  some timely hitting.  Nick Neuman went 4 innings, Kyle Gehrs 2 and Taylor Williams picked up the win giving up no runs in his 3 innings.  Ken Holland led the hitters with 2 hits and 2 RBI's.  Alex Chttenden added 2 hits of his own to continue his hot hitting.  

Rained out, MLB Draft

Thursdays game was rained out.  So lets look at the MLB Draft and the Swamp Bats.  Adam Conley was the first Swamp Bat player taken in the second round by the Florida Marlins.  Conley was chosen as the Top Pro Prospect in the NECBL in 2009 as well as the Top Pitcher.  Adam pretty much dominated in the NECBL that year, showing pro scouts just we he had against some of the best College hitters in the country 

Aaron Westlake went next to the Detroit Tigers in the third round.  He was taken as a 1st baseman, but if my memory serves me right, he played 3rd for the Swamp Bats.  He has been a power hitting first baseman for Vanderbilt and play for Chatham last summer on the Cape. 

Kyle McMayne a pitcher went in the forth round and Ryan Woolley, another pitcher went in the 13th round. 

Ben Klafczynski - 20th round, Cubs
Ryan Terry - 21st round, Rays
Paul Karmas - 25 round, Padres
David Colvin - 27th round, Mariners

Day 3 of the draft (rounds 31-50), saw more Swamp Bats taken

Tyler Maloof
Jeff Thompson
Peter Verdin
John Barr
Buddy Lamouthe
Brian Maloney
Brandon Lodge
Tyler Bernard
Corey Baker

Game 1

The Swamp Bats take the season opener 7-0 in a rain shortened affair.  Keene wasted no time getting on the board early and often.  In the first inning they got off on the right foot as the first two batters of the season, Mark Podlas and Alex Chittenden reached on base hits, clean up hitter Kevin Brown then cracked a double and later scored and scored on Forrest Chadwick's infield single and error.  Vermont starter, Ryan Fasano, lasted 3 innings giving up 8 hits and 5 earned runs.   Chittenden and Brett Barrett paced the Swambats 13 hit night.

Keene starter Jeff Thompson went 4 innings giving up no runs on only 3 hits.  Tyle Skulina came on in the 5th and pitched 2 1/3 innings allowing no runs and only 1 hit. 

The game was called due to thunder and lightning in the area in the top of the 6th with 1 out, giving the Swamp Bats their first victory of the year.  They are back in action thursday night against Holyoke.