Crouthers, South Win All-Star Game
Southern Division 4, Northern Division 1

Last night, during the Class AA Eastern League All-Star Game at Prince George's Stadium, Erie catcher Max St. Pierre felt a lot more comfortable with Bowie's 6-foot-5, 298-pound Walter Young chugging toward home plate than he did two weeks ago.

On July 1, during the first game of Erie's series at Bowie, Young crashed into the 6-0, 170-pound St. Pierre, while trying to score.
St. Pierre got knocked back, hit his head on home plate and ended up at Anne Arundel Medical Center with a third-degree concussion.

Last night, however, St. Pierre and Young were teammates.

And with the bases loaded and Young poised to come home from third in the bottom of the eighth, St. Pierre came up with a single that gave the Southern Division its final run in a 4-1 victory over the Northern Division in front of 9,166.

"I liked having him on my team, for sure," said St. Pierre, who returned from his concussion to play in one game with Erie before the all-star break.
"Things happen. . . . It's part of the game. He's way bigger than me."

All-star games make for strange bedfellows.

But St. Pierre and Young made sure there was no tension in the Southern Division dugout before the game.
"We got with each other, and I told him that it wasn't on purpose and we kind of just squashed it," said Young, who went 1 for 2.
"It wasn't a big deal."
"I talked to him, and everything's fine," said St. Pierre, who went 2 for 2 with an RBI.

Last night's game proceeded much like a major league all-star game, with teams platooning players, especially pitchers.
Nineteen pitchers played, none worked more than an inning.

Bowie pitcher Dave Crouthers picked up the win for the Southern Division and Southern Division second baseman Jeff Keppinger (Altoona/Pirates affiliate) won most valuable player honors by going 3 for 4 with one RBI.

There were few fireworks early, with pitchers controlling the game, giving up just one earned run and one extra-base hit through the first 6-1/2 innings.

"I think we have an advantage because [the hitters] are really wanting to swing hard and hit the ball out of the yard," said Crouthers.
"And it's tough seeing a different pitcher every time, you can't get your timing down."

Perhaps the most spirited reaction from the fans came in the bottom of the eighth when Northern Manager Stump Merrill (Trenton/Yankees) pulled pitcher Brandon League (New Hampshire/Blue Jays) after just two batters.
League showed off his major league fastball and hit 100 mph on one pitch to Keppinger, according to a stadium scoreboard.
The "oos" elicited by League's heat turned to "boos," however, when Merrill replaced him just before he was to face Young.

Baysox front office employees were just glad to see anybody on the field.
At about 3:15 p.m. yesterday, a heavy downpour hit Bowie and forced the grounds crew to cover the field with its tarpaulin.
Because the second half of the Eastern League season starts today, the game would not have been made up if it had been rained out last night.
And four months of intense planning would have been for naught.
"Our guys get on the bus [for a road trip] at 7 a.m. tomorrow," said Lars Thorn, Bowie's director of public relations.
"So there was no option but to play it tonight."

The Southern Division struck first, scoring two runs in the bottom of the third when Keppinger drove in Scott Pratt (Akron/Indians) with a single, and Chris Duffy (Altoona/Pirates) followed him in thanks to a fielding error.

The Southern Division added to its lead in the bottom of the seventh when substitute Jason Cooper (Akron/Indians) led off the inning by blasting a 1-0 delivery from J.D. Durbin (New Britain/Twins) over the fence in right field.

Sea Dogs' stars show their talent

With two outs and two on, Kenny Perez of the Portland Sea Dogs came to the plate as the tying run in the top of the ninth inning Wednesday night.
But Perez flew out to left field against Bowie reliever Jacobo Sequea as the Southern Division held on for a 4-1 victory against the North in the Eastern League All-Star game before 9,161 fans at Prince George's County Stadium.

It was a fitting end for the North, which left runners on base all night.

"It was just one of those things," Perez said.
"You want to win and (also) have fun."

The North did have fun.

Perez and his Sea Dogs teammate, Brett Roneberg, stayed around to watch the postgame fireworks.

There were certainly few explosions in the Northern batting order, although Perez doubled in his first at-bat in the eighth and Roneberg singled in his first at-bat in the sixth.

"It was a great time. Hopefully I will make another All-Star game," Roneberg said.
"It was all good fun."

Perez, in his first at-bat, led off the top of the eighth with a double to left-center against Roberto Novoa of Erie.
Perez took third on a groundout but Roneberg popped up to third and Kevin West struck out to end the threat.

Roneberg singled on a 1-1 pitch from Scott Rice of Bowie with one out in the sixth.
He was then erased on a fielder's choice as Rice kept the score at 2-0.

Jeff Bailey, the only Sea Dogs starter for the North, was the catcher and batted seventh.
He grounded out to short in his first at-bat in the second and walked in the fifth with one out.

Abe Alvarez of Portland pitched the bottom of the fifth and allowed no runs on one hit.
After Scott Pratt of Akron led off with a single, Josh Labandeira of Harrisburg popped up to Alvarez.
Chris Duffy of Altoona then hit a grounder to short that was turned into a double play, and Alvarez kept the score at 2-0.

Neal Musser of the Binghamton Mets, who is tied for second in the league with nine wins, was the losing pitcher.
His first pitch in the third was ripped up the middle by Pratt for a single, and Pratt later stole second.
Musser then struck out Labandeira, but Duffy singled to score Pratt and took second when the throw was mishandled in the infield.
Jeff Keppinger of Altoona followed with a single to left, and Duffy scored when the ball was bobbled.
Val Majewski of Bowie followed with a fielder's choice, and Musser got out of the inning by striking out Ryan Howard of Reading, who leads the league with 33 homers.

Jason Cooper of Akron led off the bottom of the seventh with a homer against J.D. Durbin of New Britain to make it 3-0.

NOTES
Bailey got to wear the Red Sox uniform as he made his first appearance as an All-Star since he turned pro in 1997.
"It makes you feel like a partial big-leaguer, I guess," Bailey said of the uniform.
Players on both teams wore the uniforms of their major-league affiliate.

CROUTHERS EARNS WIN FOR SOUTHERN DIVISION STARS

Jeff Keppinger, of the Altoona Curve, proved to be the star among stars as Southern Division defeated the Northern Division, 4-1 in the 3-A-Day of Dairy 2004 Eastern League All-Star Game at Prince George’s Stadium.

Keppinger went 3-for-4 with an RBI and a double for the Southern Division to earn the MVP honors.

John Castellano, Maxim St. Pierre and Scott Pratt each contributed two hits for the Southern Division All-Stars in a winning effort.

Baysox pitcher Dave Crouthers earned the win pitching a perfect third inning, striking out one batter.

The Southern Division pitching staff did not allow a run until the top of the ninth inning, when Angel Pagan hit an RBI single off Jacobo Sequea to score Dominic Rich.

Neal Musser took the loss as Keppinger hit an RBI single in the bottom of the third inning.
Musser gave up three hits and two earned runs over one inning of work.

Before the game, Mitch Jones of the Trenton Thunder won the Arby’s Home Run Derby defeating Val Majewski in the final round 6-5.
Jones had to overcome steep competition also defeating Eastern League home run league leader, Ryan Howard.