NEWARK, NJ - It was night where everything was bouncing the way of the Bear. The hitters swung the bat, the pitchers threw effectively and all the bounces were going their way. Newark blasted the Bridgeport Bluefish 15-6 to open play at Riverfront Stadium in New Jersey.

A ceremony took place before the game to honor the players from last season’s championship Newark squad. Ed Almonte, J.J. Trujillo, John Pachot, Keith Reed and Vic Gutierrez were the players honored as well as manager Wayne Krenchicki and pitching coach Steve Foucalt.

Brian Peterson of Bridgeport picked up the game’s first hit in the top of the first, but he was thrown out trying to stretch his single into a double by Brian Burgamy to end the inning.

The Bluefish appeared poised to draw first blood in the game when Alex Prieto hit a one-out double off the left field wall. However, the outfield arms were able to contribute once again. A Henry Mateo single sent Prieto around third towards home, but an impressive peg from right fielder Val Majewski nailed Prieto at the dish to keep the game scoreless.

Newark would pick up the game’s first run in the bottom of the third. The rally began with two outs when Vic Gutierrez reached on a tough chance for the shortstop Prieto, it was ruled an error. Mike Just then reached on an infield single, followed by two straight walks to Bobby Hill and Keith Reed, the latter bringing Gutierrez in from third. The bases were left loaded, however, when Randall Simon grounded out to end their rally.

Bridgeport came storming back in the top of the fourth when Brian Peterson tripled to right field to lead off. Calvin Pickering worked a free-pass from Will Cunnane and one batter later Ryan Bear doubled in Peterson. Jake Daubert singled in a run and then Bobby Darula hit a sacrifice fly to center to put the Bluefish up 3-1.

Once again, the Bears were equal to the task and roared right back into the lead in the bottom of the fourth. Mike Just doubled in two runs and Cory Aldridge cleared the bases with a double of his own accounting for five of the Bears seven runs in their turn at bat. Gutierrez also reached on an error by counterpart shortstop Prieto for the second consecutive inning.

“We swung the bats really well tonight and got some timely hitting,” said Krenchicki.

Bridgeport’s starter Barry Hertzler started strong by retiring his first eight in a row, but saw bad bounces and a couple of errors turn fortunes against him. He was lifted for reliever Matt Ford after Just’s double and Hill’s hard single up the middle. He ended up with seven runs against him, but only three were earned.

Newark put the conclusion in little doubt in the bottom of the fifth when Keith Reed came up with a bases-loaded double of his own that cleared the sacks of Bears runners and put Newark up 12-3.

Cunnane pitched five innings for the Bears on a cold night which saw him in the dugout for extended periods of time due to Newark’s offense stringing several long innings together. However, Krenchicki says that wasn’t why he was taken out.

“It was his first time out for the season,” said Krenchicki. “We wanted him to get around 80 pitches, so it didn’t have to do with the cold, it was just where we wanted him to be with his pitch count.”

Cunnane was positive about his first start in two years. “I’m coming off a surgery, so the start itself was a big deal for me, regardless of the outcome,” said Cunnane. “Granted, I came away the winner tonight. But, a lot of hard work went into getting back here and I’m really pumped about that, especially with my team picking me up the way they did.”

The Bears continued to tack on runs thanks to another RBI-double by Just and a two-run single by Bobby Hill, Newark now led 15-4 after six innings of play. Bridgeport picked up a couple of late runs to close out the scoring.

Third baseman Mike Just came into the game batting .077, but collected three hits and three RBIs, which he owes in part to his mother.

“My mom threw me batting practice this morning, actually, so that was pretty interesting,” said Just. “Then I came over with Jonesy (hitting coach Ryan Jones) and did some top-hand drills to keep my swing in that line drive and lower plane.”

Newark and Bridgeport meet again tomorrow with Michael Bumstead facing off against Eric Dubose.

Notes: Newark had three outfield assists in the game. Bridgeport catcher Brian Peterson was a home run short of the cycle, going five-for-five with three doubles, a single and a triple. Attendance for the night’s game was 4,745. Each outfielder for Newark contributed an assist in throwing out a runner. The most runs Newark has ever scored in a game is 20. It happened against Atlantic City on August 16, 1998. Majewski hurt his shoulder on a great catch in right field. Krenchicki said there’s some tightness in his leg, but was simply taken out of the game as a precaution. He most likely will not play tomorrow and be re-evaluated then.

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