(MANCHESTER, N.H.)—The New Hampshire Fisher Cats are looking like a hot commodity as they finish up their first series of the 2015 season.

The Fisher Cats had a lot of room for improvement after finishing the season in 5^th place in the Eastern Division with a record of 66-76 last year. The current roster is a familiarsquad, as 21 of the 26 players listed have worn a Fisher Cats uniform before this season. Some of the more popular names include: Jon Berti, Ryan Schimpf, Dustin Antolin, Andy Burns, and New Hampshire native Kevin Nolan.

The Fisher Cats’ season is officially underway now, but there was quite a commotion when an early-April snowstorm covered the field and spectator area with enough snow and ice to force the team to push Opening Night from Thursday to Friday. Although it was an unfortunate happening. Fisher Cats President and General Manager acknowledged the situation by saying, “Despite the best efforts of our grounds crew and operations team today, you just can’t fight Mother Nature,” according to a Fisher Cats press release.

As for performance on the field, the Fisher Cats have looked solid so far. On Opening Night, the Fishers shut out the Rock Cats 6-0 after a stunning performance from K.C. Hobson (homered), Matt Newman (3 hits), and the pitching staff was incredible. The starter, Matt Boyd, struck out nine batters in his 4+ innings of work, and his relievers did a nice job supplementing his performance, as the team of four pitchers fanned a total of seventeen batters.

With a record of 2-0, the Fisher Cats host the New Britain Rock Cats on Sunday afternoon for a series finale doubleheader. RHP Casey Lawrence will get the nod for New Hampshire in game one, while RHP Shane Carle will take the hill for the New Britain. The first contest will start at 1:35, and the second game will follow approximately 30 minutes after the last pitch is thrown.

For live updates throughout the day, follow me on Twitter(@pcava12) .

GAME RESULTS:

Game 1: The Fisher Cats fell 3-0 to the Rock Cats in the first game of the doubleheader. Casey Lawrence tossed 6.1 innings, gave up 8 hits, 3 runs (2 earned), walked two, and fanned five batters. He was relieved by Blake McFarland in the final frame who struck out a batter, but the damage was already done.

Game 2: The Fisher Cats pick up the 4-0 win over the Rock Cats in game two of the doubleheader. Dustin Antolin tossed 2.2 innings, gave up 1 hit, 0 runs, walked 3, and fanned 3 batters. He was relieved by Greg Burke (Win) and Danny Barnes (Save). The pitching trio struck out ten New Britain hitters in the seven-inning contest.

The Fisher Cats open up a three-game series with the Reading Fightin Phils tomorrow night at 6:35 PM. These three games will cap up the first homestand of the season as the Fisher Cats will hit the road for four games in New Britain and three games in Trenton.

After a crazy summer behind the microphone for the Laconia Muskrats, it will be nice to finally start blogging again and sharing some of the insight into my sports experiences. 

First, I will briefly summarize the fantastic summer that the Muskrats had in Laconia, NH. Under the management of Matt Alison, young athletes from all parts of the country came to the Granite State to play their summer baseball on the lake. The Muskrats had players from colleges including the University of Connecticut, the University of Florida, Arizona State University, and even the College World Series Champions, Vanderbilt University. The Muskrats never got above the .500 mark, but they came so close as they reached the .500 several times throughout the season. When it came down to the wire, Muskrats clinched the 4th seed in the Northern Division (top 4 teams from each division make the playoffs), but they were swept in the first round by the one-seed Vermont Mountaineers. As far as player development goes, the Muskrats had several players who made major improvements on the field over the course of the summer. Laconia sent 5 players to the All-Star game, 5 players were given postseason awards, and the Muskrats led the league in many offensive categories.

Now that the season in the Lakes Region has come to close, it is time to shift my attention to the New Hampshire Fisher Cats who currently sit in 4th place of the Eastern League’s Eastern Division with a record of 63-70. New Hampshire’s top five hitters include Jorge Flores (.297), Dalton Pompey (.295), Jon Berti (.273), Cory Aldridge (.271), and Ryan Schimpf (.270). The team’s pitching has been a key factor as well this season, as when you rank team pitching by ERA, the Fisher Cats have the third best in the league (3.71), only trailing Portland (3.48) and Richmond (3.61). My time covering the Fisher Cats will be brief however as the Fisher Cats close out their season at home with a four-game series against the Harrisburg Senators. The season will come to an end next week after the team plays four contests with the New Britain Rock Cats. 

The 2014 baseball season may be wrapping up, but the flow of posts to this blog is only beginning. I’d like to thank everyone for following my baseball coverage throughout 2014 and the countdown now begins to Opening Day 2015. 

After a crazy summer behind the microphone for the Laconia Muskrats, it will be nice to finally start blogging again and sharing some of the insight into my sports experiences. 

 

First, I will briefly summarize the fantastic summer that the Muskrats had in Laconia, NH. Under the management of Matt Alison, young athletes from all parts of the country came to the Granite State to play their summer baseball on the lake. The Muskrats had players from colleges including the University of Connecticut, the University of Florida, Arizona State University, and even the College World Series Champions, Vanderbilt University. The Muskrats never got above the .500 mark, but they came so close as they reached the .500 several times throughout the season. When it came down to the wire, Muskrats clinched the 4th seed in the Northern Division (top 4 teams from each division make the playoffs), but they were swept in the first round by the one-seed Vermont Mountaineers. As far as player development goes, the Muskrats had several players who made major improvements on the field over the course of the summer. Laconia sent 5 players to the All-Star game, 5 players were given postseason awards, and the Muskrats led the league in many offensive categories.

Now that the season in the Lakes Region has come to close, it is time to shift my attention to the New Hampshire Fisher Cats who currently sit in 4th place of the Eastern League’s Eastern Division with a record of 63-70. New Hampshire’s top five hitters include Jorge Flores (.297), Dalton Pompey (.295), Jon Berti (.273), Cory Aldridge (.271), and Ryan Schimpf (.270). The team’s pitching has been a key factor as well this season, as when you rank team pitching by ERA, the Fisher Cats have the third best in the league (3.71), only trailing Portland (3.48) and Richmond (3.61). My time covering the Fisher Cats will be brief however as the Fisher Cats close out their season at home with a four-game series against the Harrisburg Senators. The season will come to an end next week after the team plays four contests with the New Britain Rock Cats. 

The 2014 baseball season may be wrapping up, but the flow of posts to this blog is only beginning. I’d like to thank everyone for following my baseball coverage throughout 2014 and the countdown now begins to Opening Day 2015. 

Today is the day! At 9:10 AM, members of the 2014 New Hampshire Fisher Cats will board Southwest flight #2170 with service  from Tampa to Manchester. The team will arrive at Gate 12 in Manchester at approximately 12:05 PM. The roster section of the official Fisher Cats website does not give insight as to who we will see in uniform on Opening Day, but Twitter has come to my aid in figuring out a few of the names to expect on the roster. So far, I have speculated via Twitter that Deck McGuire, Jack Murphy, and Scott Gracey will be listed on the roster. The 2014 roster will be made available on Monday when the Fisher Cats host their annual Media Day at Northeast Delta Dental Stadium.

The day is finally here. Tonight marks the annual Granite State Baseball Dinner at Radisson Hotel Expo Center in Manchester, NH. The head table was filled with twenty-ones guests of honor, and some of the names on the list were easily recognized by New England sports fans.

As soon as the doors opened, fans fingered through their programs trying to scout out where to start on their hunt for autographs. Popular signatures included Chris Carpenter, a New Hampshire-native who just announced his retirement this week after playing in the Major Leagues for fifteen years, as well as Jonny Gomes, one of the key contributors on this year’s MLB World Champions, the Boston Red Sox. The line for these particular VIPS were packed with people for the entire autograph session.

Other former players in attendance included Fred McGriff, Bernie Carbo, Jim Beattie, and Scott McGregor. There were also some up-and-coming talent at the head table, as players like Brad Zapenas (Cubs minor-league system), Jordan Cote (Yankees minor-league system, and Joey Maher (Yankees minor-league system) show up every year to the dinner. It is always great to see players (both young and old) representing the game of America’s pastime.

For live updates thoughout tonight’s event, you can follow me, @pcava12, on Twitter as I will be posting insight and pictures throughout the evening.

I will be in attendance at Fenway Park tomorrow night for Game One of the 2013 World Series. It’s the Boston Red Sox facing off against the St. Louis Cardinals. We will be posting live insight and pictures right here on the blog so be sure to check back throughout the evening tomorrow.

I will also be running a live stream with updates from America’s Most Beloved Ballpark. Click here to open the stream. Updates will start tomorrow around 4 PM.