TRENTON, NJ – After taking the opening game of their doubleheader with the New Hampshire Fisher Cats, 2-1, the Thunder dropped the second game of their twin-bill, 1-0, in front of 4,787 fans at ARM & HAMMER Park on Saturday night.
The first game of the doubleheader was played in just one hour and 30 minutes, a record for the fastest game in ARM & HAMMER Park history – surpassing a one hour, 31 minute 6-0 victory for the Thunder over Harrisburg on April 7, 1996, as the Thunder took a 2-1 victory.
Caleb Smith threw a three-hit complete game victory in the opener and allowed a single run in the fourth inning when Dwight Smith Jr. reached on a fielders choice. Smith did not walk a batter for the first time in 22 starts (4/18 vs Portland) and struck out three to grab his team-best tenth win of the season.
The Thunder got single runs in the second and third inning of the opening game of the doubleheader to support Smith’s effort. Billy Fleming led off the second inning with a triple to right, his fifth extra base hit in 11 games with the Thunder, and later in the frame Dan Fiorito drove him home with a groundout. In the third inning Tony Renda drove a deep fly ball to center to plate KJ Alexander for the 2-0 lead.
In the second game, Princeton University graduate Danny Barnes and Dustin Antolin combined for five no-hit innings on the mound before the Thunder broke through in the sixth. Billy Flemming doubled to right, his sixth extra base hit in 12 appearances with the Thunder, but was stranded there as Antolin protected the slim 1-0 lead.
New Hampshire took their lead when Jorge Flores drove in Martin Medina with a base hit in the fifth inning. The run was unearned against Matt Tracy because of an error committed by Tyler Wade earlier in the frame.
Billy Fleming finished the doubleheader 2-for-6 with a double and a triple. Six of his nine hits with the Thunder have gone for extra bases. Thunder pitchers Caleb Smith, Matt Tracy and Evan Rutckyj held the Fisher Cats to six hits, three walks and struck out 12 over 14 innings in the doubleheader.
Your Thunder will play their final night game of the season on Sunday night at 7pm against the Fisher Cats. Sunday is our ThunderBlast Fireworks show and former New York Yankee Fritz Peterson will be at ARM & HAMMER Park for an autograph and book signing. The Thunder will start RHP Cale Coshow (2-2, 3.38) and the Fisher Cats will throw RHP Ausin Bibnes-Birkx (6-8, 4.30). Listen live to Thunder baseball on 91.3 WTSR and online at Trentonthunder.com beginning at 6:40pm.
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