The Result
Aeros - 12 runs to 0

The Playoffs
Curve - 0 won and 2 lost
Aeros - 2 won and 0 lost

Brett's Position and the Batting Order
Playing - Rightfield
Batting - #4
----------Replaced after his third at-bat in the top of the sixth innings

At the end of the Game
1 hit from 3 at-bats - single, 1 x strike out

Brett's at-bats
First at-bat
Lefthanded pitcher
Runner at first base - two down
Called strike - on the outside corner
Called strike - breaking ball
"Here comes the two strike pitch ...... and Roneberg chases one out of the zone and swings and misses and the innings is over"
Strike out
Second at-bat
Lefthanded pitcher
Led off the innings
Called strike - on the outside corner
Foul ball - breaking ball
"Roneberg lifts this one into centrefield and the fielder comes in and makes a waist high catch for the first out of the innings"
Fly out to centrefield - F8
Third at-bat
Lefthanded pitcher
Led off the innings
"Brett drives this into centrefield and he now has his first hit of the night"
Single to centrefield
Out at second base on a double play hit by a following Curve batter

Heard during the Game

(#01) As Brett came in for his first at-bat, the commentator mentioned - "Brett Roneberg now steps to the plate ...... he had a tremendous finish to the regular season ...... in his final thirty-four games, he went 42-from-114 for an average of 0.368 over that time"
He then continued - "Brett finished the season with a batting average of 0.303 and that was second best in the entire Eastern League"

Playoff Statistics "Series-to-Date"
Games/Innings played
-------------------#1 - complete game
-------------------#2 - 5.5 innings
------8 x plate appearances
------8 x at-bats
------3 x hits
------------2 x single
------------1 x double
------2 x runs-driven-in
------2 x runs scored
------1 x strike out
------1 x fly outs
------3 x ground outs
Batting average - 0.375
Slugging average - 0.500
On base percentage - 0.375

Email from Brett

Game Reports

The Akron Aeros delivered an early knockout punch to the Curve in Game Two of the E.L. Southern Division Playoff Series Thursday night in Akron, scoring eleven times in the first inning en route to a 12-0 shutout victory

Altoona has dropped the first two games of the best-of-five series, allowing twenty-four total runs in the losses

Josh Shortslef entered his start against the Aeros on Thursday with a 1-0 record against the Southern Division champs and no earned runs allowed in six innings
He left the game after recording just two outs and allowing eight earned runs on seven hits
The left-hander lost for just the third time in 2006, and the early meltdown marked just the second time all season he allowed an earned run in the first inning

Akron scored all of their first-inning runs with two outs, and used nine hits and three walks to take a strangle hold on the game in just their first at-bat

Jared Sandberg ripped a three-run homer after a walk by Brandon Pinckney and a single by Ryan Goleski to make it 4-0
Following base hits by the next four batters, Shortslef was taken out of the game in favor of reliever Chris Hernandez
The right-hander walked the first two Aeros he faced, then surrendered a grand slam to Brian Barton to make it 11-0

The Curve never seriously threatened in the ball game, spreading out nine hits during the contest, but placing only six runners in scoring position

Southpaw Aaron Laffey picked up the victory, throwing six shutout innings and racking up nine strikeouts

Javier Guzman was the only Curve player with a multi-hit game, finishing 4-for-5 with a double, the only extra base hit for Altoona

Neil Walker was one of five other Curve players with a hit, joined by Brian Bixler, Pedro Powell, Brett Roneberg, Octavio Martinez

The Curve used a total of six pitchers, and kept the Aeros off the scoreboard after allowing the big first inning, giving up just two Akron hits in their last seven at-bats

Brian Barton's grand slam capped an eleven run first inning as Akron trounced visiting Altoona, 12-0, on Thursday for a commanding lead in their Eastern League playoff series

The defending champion Aeros, who split twenty-four meetings with the Curve in the regular season, have totaled twenty-four runs in winning the first two games of the best-of-5 series at Canal Park

After outslugging the Curve, 12-10, on Wednesday, Akron responded with its biggest frame this season
They sent fifteen batters to the plate with nine hits and scored eleven of the twelve runs with two outs

Jared Sandberg started the onslaught with a three-run homer
Pat Osborn and Ivan Ochoa smacked consecutive doubles, and Wyatt Toregas delivered an RBI single
Trevor Crowe, who was 3-for-4 with three runs scored, knocked out Altoona starter Josh Shortslef (0-1) with a double to left field
Chris Hernandez came on and walked Brandon Pinckney and Ryan Goleski to load the bases
Barton followed with his first Minor League grand slam

Aeros starter Aaron Laffey (1-0) yielded six hits and struck out nine over six innings

Travis Foley worked two frames, pitching out of a bases-loaded jam in the seventh

Tony Sipp gave up a one-out double, but struck out the side in the ninth to complete the nine-hitter

Javier Guzman went 4-for-5 with two doubles for the Curve

Shortslef, who won only one of his last four regular-season starts, was charged with eight runs on seven hits and a walk

Game Three is in Altoona at 7.05pm ET on Friday

A disastrous first inning Thursday night dropped the Curve into a must-win situation

The Aeros lit into Altoona’s pitching for eleven runs in the opening frame and coasted the rest of the way at Canal Park
The worst inning in Curve history doomed the club in a 12-0 loss, giving Akron a commanding 2-0 lead in the best-of-five Southern Division playoff series

It was ugly, and over, early for Altoona, which is one loss away from getting dumped by Akron in the postseason for the third time in four years
The Curve, who have lost six games in a row, return to Blair County Ballpark tonight looking to keep their season alive

‘‘We know what’s ahead of us’’ Curve manager Tim Leiper said
‘‘We still know we can do it
We’ve got two good pitchers going for us at home, and we’ve got to scrap and claw and get the games’’

The club found itself in this same position a year ago, down 2-0, and got back in the series thanks to Tom Gorzelanny’s thirteen strikeout shutout

The Curve haven’t had anything near that kind of pitching in this series
Altoona has allowed twenty-four runs and twenty-five hits in two games, a collapse by a pitching staff that finished second in the Eastern League in team ERA (3.56)

All the momentum the Curve thought they had built with a seven-run ninth inning in Wednesday’s 12-10 loss disappeared in a hurry Thursday
Akron sent fifteen batters to the plate in the first inning, ripped nine hits, belted a grand slam and a three-run homer and drew three walks

Altoona starter Josh Shortslef didn’t make it out of the first and was charged with eight runs

It was 6-0 when reliever Chris Hernandez came in, and he walked a guy with the bases loaded and served up a grand slam to Brian Barton

Like starter Jason Roach on Wednesday, Shortslef couldn’t get ahead in the count and got hit hard when he tried to catch up
He fell behind 3-1 to the first two hitters, 2-1 to the next three, then gave up a three-run homer to Jared Sandberg on a 1-0 pitch
Shortslef gave up three doubles and a single after the homer before giving way to Hernandez and became the first Curve pitcher all season not to make it out of the first inning

‘‘The bottom line is you’ve got to pitch ahead in the count, and if you don’t, you’re going to have to throw quality strikes to get back in the count’’ Leiper said
‘‘That’s the story the last two nights
We pitched behind the entire time and never gave us a chance to stay in the baseball game’’

The twelve run loss matched the worst shutout defeat in franchise history

Akron starter Aaron Laffey struck out nine over six dominant innings to earn the win

The Curve could have changed the entire complexion of the game had they made one tough defensive play in the first inning
Brad Snyder lifted a sacrifice fly to left field with one out, scoring Trevor Crowe for the Aeros’ first run
Brandon Pinckney tagged up at second base and took off for third, and new Curve outfielder Pedro Powell fired a strong throw right on line to third
The throw beat Pinckney to the bag, and it would have been the third out if third baseman Brandon Chaves could have held on and made the tag
The throw took a tough hop off the grass, though, and skipped past Chaves’ glove

Leiper downplayed the significance of the play, but it would have been just a 1-0 game and the inning would have been over if Chaves had fielded the throw
‘‘The ball skipped up and took a nasty hop on Chavy’’ Leiper said
‘‘It would have been a great play
But if you’re pinning your hopes on a throw from the outfield on that play, that’s not what decided the game’’

Just seconds after that play, Sandberg smacked a three-run homer to start the onslaught

‘‘That changed the whole inning’’ Akron manager Tim Bogar said of the play at third
‘‘It changed the whole complexion
If that’s played right, we may only get out with a run’’

The Curve now turn to Landon Jacobsen, who led the team with fourteen wins, to keep their season alive
‘‘We’ve been falling behind a lot of guys, and it’s been hurting us’’ Jacobsen said
‘‘I’m just going to go out there and do what I’ve done all year, just try and keep the ball down in the zone and throw a lot of sinkers and try and get ahead of guys’’

Team MVP Brett Roneberg said he thinks the club will ‘‘bounce back pretty good’’ with its back to wall

‘‘We’ve got the best pitcher on our team starting Friday, and he’s one of the best pitchers in the league’’ Roneberg said
‘‘Akron knows what they’re going to get, and hopefully we can come out on top’’

Any momentum the Altoona Curve gained with a seven-run ninth inning in its loss to the Aeros on Wednesday quickly dissipated Thursday night in the second game of the Eastern League Southern Division Series at Canal Park

All it took for the Aeros to snap the Curve out of it was a franchise-high tying, eleven run first inning that included a three-run home run by Jared Sandberg and a grand slam by Brian Barton
Both blows came with two outs

During the lengthy opening inning that sparked Akron to a 12-0 shutout victory, the Aeros sent fifteen batters to the plate

They sent Altoona starter Josh Shortslef to the showers after just two-thirds of an inning

Along the way, they collected five consecutive hits, including four for extra bases

``It was great to come out early and put some runs on the board'' Aeros manager Tim Bogar said
``It made us relax a little bit''

Leading the best-of-five series 2-0, the Aeros head to Blair County Ballpark in Altoona, Pa., Friday with a chance to sweep the series

``Now, we just need to go there and win'' Barton said
``It'd be great to close it out Friday and give our pitchers a chance to rest before the second round starts''

Thursday's mood in the Curve locker room was a lot different than that of Wednesday night, when it was hard to tell the Curve had even lost the first game 12-10
``We changed everything'' Curve manager Tim Leiper said after Wednesday's game, referring to his team's comeback from a 12-3 deficit
``It was awesome
It was almost a victory for us''

Many of Altoona's players were just as excited as their skipper
``I just feel like I want to play the second game right now'' veteran first baseman Simon Pond said

With a nine-run lead and just three outs remaining Wednesday, the Aeros thought they'd gotten away with an easy night for the bullpen
Instead, they ended up with a near nightmare
``With a nine-run lead heading into the ninth, we're looking to save the 'pen by getting through the game using just two pitchers'' Bogar said
But rookie Matt Davis couldn't get through the ninth inning as easily as he did the eighth
Newcomer Reid Santos couldn't get the lefties out he came in to face
Then, closer Jim Ed Warden walked the first batter he faced before finally inducing an infield pop-up to put an end to the whole mess
``Before we knew it, things just kind of snowballed'' Bogar said

Not forgotten
Understandably overshadowed by the Aeros' early offensive explosion Thursday was a dominating effort by starting pitcher Aaron Laffey
Through six innings, the left-hander limited the Curve to six harmless singles, walked none and struck out a season-high nine batters
``Laffey pitched a lot inside, so they couldn't just sit on the outside of the plate waiting on his sinker'' Bogar said
``And he really set the tone when he broke Brian Bixler's bat in the second inning
It was like, `Hey, I'm coming in here whether you like it or not'''

Alumni support
Former Aeros players Jake Dittler and outfielder Jon Van Every made their way back to Canal Park in support of their former teammates
Dittler, the winning pitcher last season when the Aeros clinched the league title, spent the season at Triple-A Buffalo, where he went 5-12 with a 4.70 ERA
Van Every, who split the season between Akron and Buffalo, batted .258 in fourty-seven games with the Bisons
Asked if he'd come back to play, Van Every responded, ``Yeah, if they'll let me''

Up next
Ahead 2-0 in the Eastern League Southern Division Playoff Series, the Aeros head to Altoona for Game Three tonight and Game Four Saturday, if necessary
Aeros right-hander Sean Smith (10-5, 3.88 ERA) is scheduled to face Curve (Pittsburgh Pirates) right-hander Landon Jacobsen (14-9, 3.21 ERA)