NEWARK, NJ - For one night, the offenses were silent, great defense was the name of the game and the pitchers ruled the ballpark. The Newark Bears dropped a tough weekend opener despite a magnificent pitching performance from their starter. The Ducks took the game 2-1.

Benito Baez (2-2) took the loss for Newark, but pitched an absolute gem tossing just 94 pitches in a complete game effort.

“I did my best to give the team a chance to win,” said Baez. “I was able to go all the way, we just fell a little short, I can’t complain about it.”

“We’ve had some bad starts from our starters,” said manager Wayne Krenchicki. “So it was a shame we had to waste this one by running into another pitcher that threw as well as our guy. It’s something you can’t control, but when you get an outing like that you like to win.”

From start to finish there were great defensive plays in the field which made the outstanding pitching duel of Baez and Carlos Castillo stand up to look even better.

Mike Just made an incredible sliding stop at third base on a hot line drive, he then got to his feet and was able to throw the runner out.

Ramon Castro did a perfect Derek Jeter impersonation when he back-handed a ball in the hole at shortstop and then leapt in the air as he turned and fired to throw the runner out at first.

In the fifth, P.J. Rose went way up in the air and snagged a hard-hit ball off the bat of Just.

The sixth inning was the only frame to feature runs by either team.

The Ducks broke through in the top of the sixth, scoring two runs on RBI-singles by Dennis Donovan and Kevin Haverbusch.

Newark responded with one of their own in the bottom of the sixth when Bobby Hill hit a solo home run to the opposite field.

However, that would be all. The Bears ability to get the big hit, a hallmark for much of the season, did not show through in this game. The two teams combined for just 13 hits in this game after combining for as many as 27 in a game in their previous series.

Notes: Franklin Gracesqui will make his Bears debut on Saturday. Krenchicki said that he’s thrown up to 80 pitches in simulated games, so he’ll hopefully go five or six innings, but the bullpen is fresh and ready to go just in case.

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