The Result
Curve - 11 runs to 9

The Curve - Year-to-Date
29 won and 17 lost

Brett's Position and the Batting Order
Playing - First base
Batting - #3

At the end of the Game
1 hit from 5 at-bats - single, 1 x run-batted-in, 1 x strike out

Brett's at-bats
First at-bat
Righthanded pitcher
Runners at first and third base - none down
Ball - low
Ball - high
"That pitch is hammered into rightfield for a base hit and Roneberg drives in the Curve's first run of the ballgame ...... and the other runner is standing at third base"
Single to rightfield - 1 x RBI
Out at second base on a fielder's choice hit by a following Curve batter
Second at-bat
Righthanded pitcher
Led off the innings
Foul ball - down the third base line
Ball - high
Foul ball - deep but foul down the leftfield line
Ball - outside
Called strike - "and Roneberg sits down after watching that pitch cross the plate"
Strike out
Third at-bat
Righthanded pitcher
Led off the innings
Foul ball - back
Ball - low
Foul ball
Ball - breaking ball - away
"There's a bouncing ball which reaches the second-baseman on two hops and he gathers the ball and throws to first base for the first out of the innings"
Ground out - 4 to 3
Fourth at-bat
Righthanded pitcher
Runner at second base - one down
Called strike - curve ball - "right in there"
Called strike - "another breaking pitch"
Ball - low
"Roneberg slaps that across the diamond and straight at the second-baseman who makes the out at first base"
Ground out - 4 to 3
Runner advanced to third base
Fifth at-bat
Righthanded pitcher
Led off the innings
Ball
Ball - high
Swing and a miss
Foul ball - check swing and fouled off to the third base side
"That pitch is lifted into centrefield and the fielder waits and makes the catch for the first out of the innings"
Fly out to centrefield - F8

Heard during the game

(#01) After Brett's first at-bat, the commentator said - "That is Roneberg's twenty-first run-batted-in for the season in the twenty-seven games he has played since joining up with the Curve ...... and he continues to swing the bat very well"

Email from Brett

Game Reports

The Altoona Curve defeated their Southern Division rivals, the Bowie Baysox, 11-9, on Wednesday afternoon at Blair County Ballpark

For the third day in a row, the Curve used an early-inning offensive charge to power past the Baysox

Third baseman Brant Ust led that charge, smashing two home runs and tying his career high for RBI’s in a game with five
Ust, who spent the entire 2005 season with single-A Wilmington, hit his first round tripper as part of the Curve's four-run third inning and his second blast capped off a three-run seventh

The Curve built an early 7-0 lead after the third but were kept on their toes for the remainder as the Baysox refused to quit
Bowie clawed its way back into the game with one run in the fourth inning, four in the sixth and four more tallies over the last two innings

The Baysox brought the tying run to the plate with one out in the ninth when reliever Brandon Knight was called on to end the threat
Knight struck out Sandy Madera and forced Baysox shortstop Rayner Batista to ground out to complete his fifth save of the season

Jorge Vasquez (1-1) recorded the win for the Curve after pitching 2-1/3 innings of relief
The right hander allowed one run on two hits and four strikeouts after spelling Jonathan Albaladejo with two outs in the sixth inning

Starter Chris Rojas pitched well early on, but was pulled after only 3-2/3 innings due to a high pitch count in his first start of the 2006 season
Rojas, a Eastern League All Star selection last year with the Reading Phillies, allowed one run on four hits and one strikeout

The bottom of the lineup produced seven of the Curve’s 11 runs
The 7, 8 and 9 hitters finished the game a combined 6-for-12 with four runs scored

Altoona forced Bowie's starter to make an early exit for the second day in a row, collecting eight hits and seven runs off of Matt Bruback (1-3)
Bruback left the game after just three innings and lost his third decision of the season

The Curve will look to complete the four-game sweep of Bowie tomorrow morning, in what is the Curve’s last home game in May
Landon Jacobsen will be on the mound for the Curve in search of his sixth win against a Bowie pitcher yet to be announced

As part of another School Kids Day, the first pitch is scheduled for 10.35am

Brant Ust homered twice and drove in five runs to lead Altoona past visiting Bowie, 11-9, Wednesday afternoon at Blair County Stadium

Ust smoked a three-run shot in the third inning and a two-run blast in the seventh
The 27-year-old Belgium native had collected only four RBIs in his previous 53 at-bats on the season

Ray Sadler also went yard in the seventh frame, while Craig Stansberry and Milver Reyes each collected two hits and drove in a run

Bowie brought the tying run to the plate in the ninth despite falling behind 7-0 after three innings and 11-5 after seven

Cory Keylor went 4-for-5 with a double, two RBIs and two runs scored to lead the Baysox' offense
Peter Shier went 3-for-4 with a double and an RBI, while Leo Daigle homered, doubled and scored twice

Jorge Vasquez (1-1) earned the win, allowing an unearned run in 2-1/3 innings of relief

Starter Chris Rojas made his season debut after spending time in extended Spring Training, rehabbing an injury
The 2005 Eastern League All-Star allowed one run on four hits in 3-2/3 innings

Brandon Knight retired the game's final two batters to pick up his fifth save of the season

Matt Bruback (1-3) took the loss, allowing seven runs on eight hits in three innings

Beau Hale yielded an unearned run over 2-2/3 frames, while Jason Pearson surrendered three seventh-inning runs

Altoona improved to an Eastern League-best 29-17 on the season, while Bowie dropped its fifth straight to fall to 22-24

On a day when the Baysox offense score more than four times their average amount of runs, Altoona did slightly better to snake out an 11-9 win over Bowie Wednesday morning

In his second spot start, RHP Matt Bruback had a rough outing, being touched for seven runs on eight hits in just 3.0 IP
Bruback gave up a home run and struck out just two

By the time reliever Beau Hale came into the game the score was already 7-0
It looked as if the Baysox were doomed for another ugly loss
However, their bats would find some daylight off the Curve's bullpen

Altoona's starter, Chris Rojas, lasted just 3.2 IP as it was his first outing of the entire season

The Baysox attacked reliever Jonathan Albaladejo quickly for four runs on five hits in just two frames

In the 4th, Cory Keylor, who was 4-for-5 on the day, singled in 3B Leo Daigle from second to jump on the board

The 6th inning proved to be one of the team's best innings in a long time
Daigle strolled to the plate with one out and drove a solo shot past the fence in left to make it a 7-2 ballgame
SS Rayner Bautista delivered a two out, two-on double into the left-center field gap to narrow the lead to 7-4
Bautista would come around on 2B Pete Shier's RBI single making it 7-5

But the Curve kept on the attack with one in the bottom of the 6th due to a Daigle throwing error, and two long balls put up three more in the bottom half of the 7th for the Curve

Despite the surmounting deficit the Baysox did not falter and added four more before the game ended

Keylor kept his hot stick active with a lead-off double to left field in the 8th and was later plated on a fielding error off the bat of Shier

The 9th inning gave the Baysox three more runs on three hits and a passed ball

Unfortunately for the Baysox, who have struggled to score just about all year, they entered the 8th inning needing six to tie the game at 11-11 but coudl only manage four

With two on and two outs in the top of the 9th, Bautista grounded to shortstop ending the Baysox late-inning threat

On Deck
The Baysox have dropped to 5th place in the Southern Division and finish up their four game set with another 10.35am game at Altoona Thursday, May 25
The newest member of the Baysox, Tim Kester, will take the mound for Bowie
Kester was signed by the Orioles on May 23 after being released by the Red Sox organization
He played last year in AAA Pawtucket

After enduring a rather tumultuous past 18 months, Brant Ust is happy to be in Altoona

The 27-year-old former Detroit Tigers farmhand appeared to be on the fast track toward the major leagues less than two seasons ago, when he was playing for the Tigers’ Class AAA affiliate at Toledo, Ohio
Then he was released by the Tigers, and spent the entire 2005 season playing for the Boston Red Sox Class A team in Wilmington, N.C
He was picked up by the Curve as a minor league free agent late last year, and is grateful for the chance to rebuild his career here

He showed it Wednesday morning at Blair County Ballpark, socking a pair of home runs into the left field bleachers and tying his personal career-high with five RBIs in a single game, as Altoona held off Bowie, 11-9, before a sun-splashed School Kids Day crowd of 5,208 fans

Ust hit a three-run homer off Bowie starting pitcher Matt Bruback to cap a four-run Altoona fourth inning and give the Curve a 7-0 lead, then provided what proved to be the game-winning runs in the seventh, clubbing a two-run homer off Bowie reliever Jason Pearson

Ust readily admitted that his release from the Tigers was a personal jolt, but also said that he is ready to move on
“Absolutely it was a disappointment’’ Ust said of being let go by the Tigers, who drafted him back in 1999
“When you get drafted by an organization, you want to make it to the big leagues with that organization
But I’m happy for this opportunity in Altoona
Where I am at this point in my career, I want to savor my opportunities, and make the most of them
I was fortunate to come up in some RBI situations today and do something with them’’

First-year Curve manager Tim Leiper appreciates Ust’s professionalism and upbeat attitude
Ust recently spent two weeks on the disabled list with a calf injury, but did the most he could to help the team even while he was on the shelf
“Being on the DL is not the easiest thing to do, but Usty was helping us out by doing things like catching pitchers in the bullpen’’ Leiper said
“Usty’s a true professional and a pleasure to be around, and this game has a way of rewarding players like that’’

Ust’s homers were his second and third of the season and highlighted Altoona’s 14-hit attack that saw all nine players in the batting lineup collect at least one hit for the first time this season
Along with Ust, Milver Reyes, Craig Stansberry, Javier Guzman and Brandon Chaves collected two hits apiece for Altoona, which jumped on the 6-foot-5 lefty Bruback early

The Curve took a 2-0 lead in the first inning
Guzman walked, went to third base on Chaves’ single to right field, and scored on Bret Roneberg’s single to right
Simon Pond’s sacrifice fly to left field scored Chaves from third

Altoona made it 3-0 in the second inning on doubles by Stansberry and Reyes, and broke open the 7-0 spread in the third
Pond’s one-out single, a walk to Rafael Alvarez, and Stansberry’s single scored Pond with the first run of the third inning
Ust then unloaded his first homer, scoring both Alvarez and Stansberry

“Both home runs were hit on breaking pitches’’ Ust said
“I was lucky enough to pick up the breaking ball early and stay back long enough on the ball to get good wood on the pitches’’

After Bowie had drawn to within 8-5, Ust helped the Curve get some much-needed insurance in the seventh inning when he homered off Pearson after Alvarez had reached first on an infield single

Earlier in the seventh inning, Ray Sadler - who was at Class AAA Indianapolis before struggling and getting sent down to the Curve recently - crashed a mammoth solo homer on to the hill behind the center field fence

Bowie showed good fight in scoring four sixth-inning runs to close to within 7-5
Big hits in the inning were Leo Daigle’s solo homer, a two-run double by Rayner Bautista, and a run-scoring single by Pete Shier

Bowie added three runs in the ninth inning, courtesy of Mario Delgado’s two-run double and Cory Keylor’s RBI single, before Brandon Knight - the Curve’s fifth pitcher of the day - recorded his fifth save of the year by retiring both of the two batters to face him with the potential tying run at bat

“We’ve been really struggling for runs in the last week or so, so it was nice to see our players have the mentality to keep swinging and get back in the game’’ Bowie manager Don Werner said

Even so, on a day when both teams collected 14 hits, the Curve got the bigger of them

“We’re hitting the ball real good right now, and doing the little things, like moving runners from base to base, that help you win games’’ Leiper said
“We had nine guys in the lineup that hit the ball today’’

Around the Curve
The Curve will attempt to sweep the four-game series today at 10.35am
Tim Kester, who had been pitching in Taiwan before being picked up by the Orioles’ organization, gets his first start today for Bowie
The Curve’s starting pitcher Wednesday, righthander Chris Rojas, worked 3-2/3 innings in his first outing for Altoona after being acquired as a minor-league free agent and rehabbing an injury in extended spring training
Rojas threw 56 pitches, allowed four hits, and just one earned run

Tempers flared momentarily during the Curve’s 11-9 victory over Bowie Wednesday at Blair County Ballpark

The trouble started in the Curve third inning, when Bowie lefthanded starting pitcher Matt Bruback hit Curve shortstop Javier Guzman with a pitch after the Curve had scored four runs to take a 7-0 lead

Bruback had given up seven earned runs on eight hits in three innings, including Brant Ust’s three-run homer earlier in the third inning

Guzman glared out at Bruback after being hit, and both players exchanged words before the home plate umpire steered Guzman toward first base

Bruback tipped his cap toward the Curve dugout in a mocking gesture, and, after the inning ended, first-year Curve manager Tim Leiper confronted Bruback on the field about the incident

“I just thought it was obviously not the right thing to do’’ Leiper said when asked about it after Wednesday’s game
“After giving up seven runs, to hit a guy is the bush thing to do
It was wrong, unprofessional, and very weak’’

Bowie manager Don Werner didn’t like Bruback’s theatrics with his baseball cap, or the jawing between the players involved

“That’s ridiculous, you don’t do that’’ Werner said of Bruback’s cap-tipping gesture
“If you want to hit a guy, you just hit him’’

Werner said that during his playing days three decades ago, such matters were handled differently
“When I played in the 1970s, the way the situation was handled was that if somebody threw at you, you either went to first base or you (went out to the mound to) go get the pitcher’’ Werner said
“It was black and white back then
Today, everybody just yaks back and forth’’

Werner said Wednesday’s incident was the first of its nature involving his team this year, and he planned to discuss it with his players

In the sixth inning of Wednesday’s game, Bowie catcher Sandy Madera was hit by what appeared to be a breaking ball thrown by Curve reliever Jonathan Albaladejo
Leiper denied that there was any payback intent involved on the part of the Curve

“That Bruback hitting Guzman was an isolated incident’’ Leiper said
“There was nothing to it
We’re not going down to that level’’

Offense heats up with weather

The weather has warmed up this week and so has the Curve offense, leading them to their third straight victory over the Bowie Baysox on Wednesday, 11-9

After a three-game sweep by the Binghamton Mets last weekend, the Curve finally put their bats to good use, tallying a total of 38 hits in the past three games - 16 more than the previous three
Those 38 hits have translated into 27 runs for the Curve who have hit well with men on base

The Curve lineup has collected a combined ten extra-base hits, including five home runs against the Baysox

The Curve have utilized the early innings very well this past week, outscoring Bowie 17-1 in the combined first three innings of the first three games
The Curve scored five times in the third inning on Tuesday and four times in the third frame on Wednesday

Each batter in the Curve lineup hit safely on Wednesday, certainly a stat you won’t hear manager Tim Leiper complain about

A stifling .538 team batting average over the past three days has helped the Curve maintain their two-game lead over Akron for first place in the Southern Division

The two will meet head-to-head for the first time in Akron next Tuesday, May 30

Numbers 7, 8 and 9

The 7,8 and 9 hitters in the Curve lineup have been the biggest surprise overall for the Curve in the past few days
In three games with Bowie, the bottom of the order has hit for a combined .437 batting average (14-31) with 12 RBI’s

Third baseman Brant Ust smashed two home runs on Wednesday, collecting five RBI’s and tying his career high

--Newly acquired catcher Dave Parrish has been another bright spot in the bottom of the lineup
He is currently riding a five-game hit streak and is 5-for-8 over his past two games

Knight's Tale

Curve reliever Brandon Knight extended his scoreless streak to 14-1/3 innings to earn his fifth save in the 11-9 win over Bowie on Wednesday
The 30-year-old right hander has not allowed a run in each of his past ten outings and for the season has posted a 1.05 ERA in 16 appearances
Knight has struck out 36 batters in 25-2/3 innings of work

Connolly Ties Record

Starter Mike Connolly (4-3) gave up one run, struck out two and walked one against Bowie on Tuesday en route to his club record-tying 24th win with the Curve
He tied John Grabow (2000-03) and Brian O'Connor (1999-2002)
Connolly allowed a first-inning run before finishing with six no-hit frames

Home Sweet Home

The Curve have won their last ten games at Blair County Ballpark and own the best home record in the Eastern League at 20-7

The Curve have compiled a .292 team batting average while playing inside the friendly confines of BCB compared to .248 while on the road
Pitchers have also used the “home field advantage”, pitching with a combined 3.11 ERA at home against a 3.47 ERA while away

Although unseasonably cool weather has kept the players wearing long sleeves, it hasn’t stopped the fans from coming to watch their hometown team
An average of 4,338 fans have attended Curve home games this year, placing them fourth in the Eastern League