Manchester, New Hampshire - Nashua's Kevin Nolan blasted a first-inning home run to wake the Fisher Cats out of the offensive doldrums on Saturday afternoon. The three-run shot was part of a four-hit day, and helped the Fisher Cats (3-6) break a six-game losing streak with an 8-4 home win over the Binghamton Mets (6-3) at Northeast Delta Dental Stadium.
Nolan and the offense hadn't done much entering the third game of the series, mustering one run on nine hits over the first two games. That changed in the first inning as Ryan Schimpf and Brad Glenn singled with two outs. Nolan followed by depositing his first home run into the Dinner in the Den to get the Fisher Cats rolling with a 3-0 lead.
A sacrifice fly in the second pushed the lead to 4-0 before they went on the two-out attack again in the third. Nolan started the third-inning rally with a single, which was followed by an RBI triple from Michael Crouse. Peter Mooney then singled home Crouse to build a 6-0 advantage.
All that early run support made it an easy afternoon for starting pitcher Casey Lawrence (W; 1-0). In his first
start of the year, Lawrence earned his first Double-A victory by tossing six innings on just 73 pitches. He surrendered just one run on five hits. He struck out four without issuing a walk.
Tyler Pill (L; 0-2) took the loss for Binghamton, which saw the end of its five-game winning streak with the defeat. Pill allowed seven runs and 10 hits over 4.2 innings of work.
Nolan added singles in the fith and seventh to complete the team's first four-hit game of the season. Schimpf added a long home run to right field in the seventh and a double in the eighth to finish the day 3-for-5. Brad Glenn and Peter Mooney each had two hits, the former extending his hitting streak to eight games. Jon Berti reached on a single in the eighth and has now reached base in all nine games this season.
The Fisher Cats will look to even the series in the finale on Sunday afternoon at 1:35 p.m. Sunday's contest is another Reading Challenge game, presented by Velcro USA Inc. Kids can also run the bases after the game courtesy of the Buyers Beware program. Tickets are available at the team box office, by calling (603) 641-2005, and by visiting www.nhfishercats.com.
Sunday's pitching match-up features RHP Aaron Sanchez (1-0, 1.80) against Binghamton RHP Hansel Robles (0-0, 0.00). Tom Gauthier and Bob Lipman will have the radio call beginning at 1:15 p.m. on WGIR 610 AM and www.nhfishercats.com.
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