The Result
Curve - 3 runs to 1

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

Brett's Position and the Batting Order
Playing - Designated hitter
Batting - #3

At the end of the Game
0 hit from 3 at-bats - 1 x run-batted-in, 1 x run scored, 1 x walk, 1 x strike out

Brett's at-bats
First at-bat
Righthanded pitcher
Runner at first base - one down
Ball - high
Ball - inside
Foul ball
"There's a flare out to shortstop and he makes the catch"
Infield fly out - F6
Second at-bat
Righthanded pitcher
Runner at first base - one down
Ball - low
Ball - and the runner stole to second base
Ball - and the runner stole to third base
"That's a ground ball towards the first-baseman who makes a diving stop and gathers it up and throws to the pitcher covering the base ...... and the Curve have scored the first run of the ballgame"
Ground out to first base - 3 to 1 - 1 x RBI
Third at-bat
Lefthanded pitcher
The bases are loaded with two down in a 1-1 ballgame in the bottom of the fourth innings!!!
Called stike - on the outside corner
Ball - way outside
Foul ball - "Brett reaches out and fouls that one away down the third base line"
"Roneberg checks his swing ...... and it's a called third strike!!! ...... and he strikes out to end the innings and leaves the bases loaded!!!"
Strike out
Fourth at-bat
Righthanded pitcher
Bases empty - one down
Ball - downstairs
Ball - change up - downstairs
Ball
Ball
Walk
Advanced to second base on a ground ball and error by the Baysox - "the Curve got a break there as that should have been a inning ending double play"
Scored on a hit

Heard during the game

Email from Brett

Game Reports

The Altoona Curve completed a four-game sweep of the Bowie Baysox, winning 3-1, Thursday at Blair County Ballpark despite an hour and 15 minute delayed start due to rain

Deadlocked in a 1-1 tie, right fielder Ray Sadler smashed a two-run triple to center field, putting Altoona on top for good
Sadler finished the day 2-for-4 with two RBI’s

Shane Youman picked up his first win of the season, pitching two strong innings of relief
The southpaw allowed two hits and no runs while striking out three

The Curve drew first blood, scoring a single run in the third inning
Designated hitter Brett Roneberg drove in Brandon Chaves, who had stole second and third to put himself in good scoring position

Chaves enjoyed a 3-for-4 day, piling up three total stolen bases, a new season high for Altoona

Landon Jacobsen pitched 3-1/3 perfect innings before the Baysox finally collected a hit
Receiving his first no-decision of the year, Jacobsen pitched six innings, allowing one run on four hits, while striking out three

Brandon Knight picked up the save for the second day in a row, pitching a perfect ninth inning
Knight quickly retired the side, striking out two
He has successfully converted all six of his save opportunities this year

In his first appearance of the season, pitcher Tim Kester had the strongest outing of any Bowie starter this series
The right hander pitched 2-2/3 innings, giving up one run on five hits but striking out two

The four Curve starters pitched very consistently over the four-game series, giving up just three earned runs combined on 13 hits

A stifling .341 team batting average over the past three days has helped the Curve maintain their 2-1/2 game lead over Akron for first place in the Southern Division

The Curve have also won 11 of their last 12 games at Blair County Ballpark

Right hander Matt Peterson will try to extend the Curve’s four-game winning streak as Altoona heads to Erie Friday for the start of a seven-game road trip
Peterson will take on Erie’s Bobby M. Jones (1-0, 1.69), a former Major Leaguer

Tomorrow’s start is slated for 6.35pm

New Baysox member, Tim Kester, hadn’t thrown in a minor league game in over eight months
His last win came on September 5, 2005

After signing with the Orioles and being assigned to Bowie, Kester was asked to quell the hot-hitting Altoona Curve’s bats
The former Pawsox starter had to wait an hour and fifteen minutes for a rain delay to take the mound and now will have to wait until another start in order to pick up his first win of the 2006 campaign

Manager Don Werner imposed a pitch count on the fresh arm, restricting his outing to just 14 batters in 2.2 IP
Kester didn’t pitch too bad while holding the Curve to just one run on five hits

The Baysox collected one run off Curve starter Landon Jacobsen and played the majority of the contest to the tune of a 1-1 tie

Altoona, who entered the game outscoring the Baysox 18-1 through the first three innings during this series, was held to just one run in the 3rd inning

Brandon Chaves singled off Kester and proceeded to steal both second and third base off Kester and Ryan Hubele
Brett Roneberg picked up the RBI on a ground out for the first run

Cory Keylor continued to find little ways to help the team with his bat
The Ohio native singled in the 4th and was advanced around the bags due to a Jacobsen wild pitch and a Jeff Fiorentino grounder
Leo Daigle then singled up the middle to even the score 1-1

Brian Forystek was solid out of the bullpen for the Baysox as he held the Curve hitters to just one hit in 2.1 IP
The southpaw also fanned three and stranded a runner at third in the 4th frame

On a rainy day, the Baysox bats reverted to their old habits off failing to get enough runners on base to score more than the opposition

The Curve, who left 21 men on base, drew four walks while the Baysox did not draw a free pass all afternoon and reached base just six times in the tilt, all singles

The Curve then took advantage of Baysox reliever Calvin Maduro in the 7th
With two runners on, including former Baysox 1B/OF Simon Pond, Altoona’s Ray Sadler utilized his speed with a one out triple, plating both runners for the final 3-1 lead

Jason Pearson pitched a scoreless 1.2 innings but the Baysox offense was yet again subdued by the opposition’s bullpen as Brandon Knight retired the side in the 9th, handing the Baysox their season-high sixth straight loss

The Baysox are now 22-25 and in 5th place

The four game sweep was the third sweep of the Baysox this season

The Curve proved this week they should be just fine despite losing several key players

“We’ve responded great,” pitcher Landon Jacobsen said after helping Altoona finish off a four-game sweep of Bowie on Thursday
“We’ve got a bunch of older guys on this team
When you lose a couple guys like that it’s going to hurt you, but everybody’s been stepping up”

Ray Sadler’s two-run triple in the seventh inning broke up a tie game and gave the Curve a 3-1 win before 5,658 fans at Blair County Ballpark

The club, now a season-high 13 games over .500, has won 11 of its last 12 home games to improve to 21-7 at BCB

“It’s no secret we don’t play as well on the road as we do at home” DH Brett Roneberg said
“I guess it’s just a comfort factor”

The Curve were swept in a three-game series at Binghamton last weekend, but Roneberg figured things would be different coming back home

“We knew coming back here we were going to win” he said
“Whether we’re going to win three or four we didn’t know, but it was nice to go out there and get a sweep”

It was especially nice considering last week’s departures of right fielder Adam Boeve, reliever Josh Sharpless and starter Jason Roach to Triple-A
The three losses at Binghamton followed those roster moves, prompting questions about how the team that’s been so good all season would handle such a blow
So far, the Curve have handled it quite well

“I feel real confident” manager Tim Leiper said
“We’re a different team, we’ve got to find different ways to win, and we have to be more efficient”

Leiper’s club, which erupted for 27 runs over the first three games of the series, picked up an efficient victory Thursday to complete the sweep

Roneberg’s third-inning RBI groundout scored Brandon Chaves, who went 3-for-4, and Jacobsen limited the Baysox to a run on four hits over six frames

The Curve then cashed in on a couple of gifts in the seventh to post the win
Bowie reliever Calvin Maduro (1-4) walked Roneberg with one out in the seventh, and Simon Pond reached when Baysox first baseman Leo Daigle booted a grounder
Sadler followed by torching a triple to left-center that scored Roneberg and Chaves with the decisive runs

Sadler, who came down from Triple-A to take over Boeve’s right field job, is a welcome addition to what already had been the Eastern League’s best offense
He was hitting just .186 for Indianapolis, but the Double-A veteran has proven capable of providing big hits like the one he had Thursday

“It’s great for him” Leiper said
“I think everybody knows he’s a good player who got off to a difficult start
You see signs every day where he’s coming out of it
The swings every day get a little bit crisper, his recognition of the ball gets a little better every day
Today was a nice end to a homestand where he put in a lot of work, so he can keep going forward from here”

Shane Youman (1-2) worked two scoreless innings of relief for the win, and Brandon Knight tossed a perfect ninth with two strikeouts to earn his sixth save

Tempers flared, for the second straight game, in the sixth inning as both benches spilled onto the field
Bowie’s Tony Alvarez, a former Curve standout, slid head first into first base on an infield groundout
He and Altoona first baseman Simon Pond then exchanged words - it’s not clear who said what - and in the blink of an eye, everybody from both teams was on the field
No punches were thrown, and order was resumed in a matter of seconds
Still, there doesn’t seem to be much love lost between the clubs, particularly after Wednesday’s game in which pitcher Matt Bruback showed up the Curve by hitting a batter and making an exaggerated tip of the cap gesture

“Those guys, their actions speak for themselves” Leiper said of the Baysox
“They’re not the most professional team out there”

Around the Curve
The game started 75 minutes late because of a threat of rain that never came, so most of the school kids in attendance didn’t see the sixth-inning altercation or the winning runs
Curve CF Vic Buttler, fourth in the EL in hitting at .313, sat out for a second straight day
Leiper said he just wanted to give Buttler an extended rest during the two morning games
The Curve now hit the road for seven games, four at Erie, three at Akron
They’re 9-10 away from home this season

Ray Sadler hit a two-run triple in the seventh inning to lift Altoona to a 3-1 win over visiting Bowie on Thursday afternoon

With one out, Brett Roneberg walked and Simon Pond reached on an error by first baseman Leo Daigle before Sadler sent a drive into center field to score both runners and give the Curve a 3-1 lead

Brandon Chaves had three hits to help Altoona (30-17) complete a four-game sweep

The Curve got on the board in the third, when Chaves singled, stole second and third and came home on Roneberg's groundout

Bowie tied the game in the fourth as Cory Keylor singled with one out and eventually scored on Daigle's base hit to center field

Shane Youman (1-2) tossed two shutout innings to earn the win and Brandon Knight pitched a 1-2-3 ninth to notch his sixth save

Curve starter Landon Jacobsen allowed one run on four hits over six innings

Calvin Maduro (1-4) pitched the decisive seventh and took the loss as Bowie (22-25) suffered its season-high sixth straight defeat

Brian Forystek and Jason Pearson combined on four innings of scoreless relief, while starter Tim Kester allowed one run on five hits over 2-2/3 innings in his Baysox debut
The 35-year-old was signed by the Baltimore Orioles on May 23 after being released by the Boston Red Sox