Swamp Bats profiles: Michael Dunnigan

Michael Dunnigan

Michael Dunnigan was the winning pitcher for Keene when the Swamp Bats won the nightcap of a split a doubleheader with Laconia Tuesday night.

A month ago Dunnigan was 0-2 and looked every bit the fellow who wasn’t enjoying baseball. One June 24, against Laconia of all teams, Dunigan gave up 9 hits and 4 earned runs while lasting just 3.1/3 innings. Since then, he’s won his two starts and done well in relief.

Before, I was giving up hits back to back and now, I’m mixing all my stuff well, keeping them off balance,” he said Monday.

That brings us back to the first time we spoke to Dunnigan, before the July 5 game v the Blue Sox.“Everyone has something to work on. For me, I just started to throw a slider this season; I’m working on throwing it for a strike and turn it into my put-away pitch as well,” he said at the time.  Including that Laconia game, Dunnigan had given up 20 hits in 15 1/3 innings, 9 against the Muskrats. “After the season (at Saint Leo University) I took about two weeks off.”  Too much time, it turns out. “Whenever I stop throwing, my velocity drops. Once I got back to a routine, it eventually came back to me.”

He has been throwing harder and in Tuesday’s win, Dunnigan went 4 innings, surrendered 4 hits and recorded two strikeouts. Says pitching coach Pascal Paul: “That’s testament to him working hard and wanting to be better.” Paul also praises the job Michael has done in relief. “He’s done whatever we ask him to do. He’s thrown one walk this year, the only pitcher to have that on our staff.”

With a smile and great amusement, Dunnigan disagrees with his coach. “No, I don’t have any, I don’t know where that started,” he protests. “I don’t know where I got that walk from but I don’t have one, I know I don’t,” he said through a broad smile.

Oh, he also gave up no walks Tuesday.  

A month from now, he’ll be back at Saint Leo to continue his studies and work on his pitching.

 “I’m just throwing to the best of my ability. This is a huge year, my junior year. I’ll be draft-eligible, he says. “I want to play on the next level and I hope someone gives me that chance.”

Swamp Bats profiles: Ethan Winter

Ethan Winter

Ethan Winter is a big contributor to the Swamp Bats information process and presence. He crunches numbers, quantifies pitching and batting for the statistical vault where so much baseball is stored. Working with webcaster Joe Fitzhenry, Ethan helps compile and edit the program for every home game.

And during those games, Ethan keeps track of every pitch, every batted ball, fair or foul, and, even the throws to first base, be those throws be to keep runners close or, pickoff attempts.

From the first pitch, Ethan serves as a second pair of eyes and ears for the Swamp Bats radiocasts. He assists Fitzhenry. He keeps Joe up to the moment on pitch counts. And from his seat, Fitzhenry can’t see the visitor’s bullpen. All Winter has to do is spin in his seat, have a glance and be able to tell Fitz “Walker, a lefty, # 26, is warming up,” for the visitor. 

Speaking of first pitches, Ethan threw the ceremonial pitch for the Swamp Bats before a recent game. We won’t dwell.

Rob Coman shakes Ethan's hand after the first pitch ceremony.
"You should stay in the booth," Coman did NOT say.

As the game progresses, Ethan will be making notes on his laptop for the postgame story that will be sent along to the NECBL, the Union Leader, the Sentinel and WMUR. At the final out, Ethan will interview players for quotes to round out his report on the game.

In the case of Wednesday’s rain-suspended game, his contribution was eventually a two-inch, one column account of the game in the margin of Thursday’s Keene Sentinel. On Friday, Ethan’s report of David Sosebee’s two-hit shutout was a big part of the Sentinel’s Sports section, a 320 wrap-up with quotes at the top of the page.

After David Sosebee’s 1- win over the Newport Gulls, Ethan Winter asked “What pitches worked for you?”  On the surface, that would seem like a dumb question. Anyone present could see every pitch was working. But Ethan knows it is never about the questions, the interviewer is trying to get good answers. And Ethan got a great answer. “Fastball for me was a little iffy at first,” Sosebee said. “So I figured that out and at the end of the game, my command was working for me.” That wound up being read by Swamp Bats fans from Alstead to Sosebee fans in Athens, Georgia, where he pitches for the University of Georgia. 

For road games, Ethan does audio for webcasts.  He had a summer job lined when the chance to join the Swamp Bats popped up. A classmate/friend at High Point University referred him to the Swamp Bats.

“This is what I want to do for the rest of my life,” he says. ”Writing game stories several days a week, doing play by play other days has been invaluable.”

“I would like to be a broadcaster for a Major League team, I always joke I am going to take Don Orsillo or Joe Castiglione’s job.    This is the first step. The Swamp Bats have given me a terrific opportunity.” 

What a game!

David Sosebee

David Sosebee pitched a two-hit complete game and Brady Sheetz had a 5^th inning RBI single to score Jarred Mederos and the Keene Swamp Bats beat the Newport Gulls 1-0 Thursday night at Alumni Field.

·     

            Newport’s John Kilichowski held Keene hitless into the 5^th. Swamp Bats shortstop Jared Mederos broke through with a leadoff single and stole 2^nd and 3^rd base. Brady Sheetz laced an RBI single to left field, driving in Mederos to put the Swamp Bats ahead, 1-0.

·         Newport’s first hit was a 2^nd inning double by P.J. Jones. Jones was out attempting to stretch his hit into a triple with a sweet 9-4-5 relay.

·         In the 2^nd inning, Newport left fielder Anthony Lyons made a nice running catch to deny Mederos an extra-base hit.

·         In the 4^th inning, infielder Tommy Edman singled to right but was the victim of a sharp pickoff by Sosebee. First baseman Aubrey McCarty made the tag.

·         Sosebee’s 8^th inning is indicative: Outfielder Ben Roberts popped out to 3^rd baseman Patrick McGrath.  Jones was retired on a 6-3 ground ball. Lyons struck out swinging. 6 pitches.

·         The game was completed in an hour and 46 minutes.

Suspended due to rain.

I was worried a game interrupted after an inning, delayed by 90 minutes before it was determined to play another day, would leave me little chance to get some prime photos.

Well, after all this time, I should know the Swamp Bats better.

Dominic Severino took the mound and the pace was indicative of the coming storm. Leadoff hitter Steve Wilgus struck out swinging and when Connor Fitzsimons dropped the ball, he quickly recovered it and  threw to Darick Hall covering first. Outfielder Evan Ocello slammed a pitch over the left field fence to put the Waves ahead. Ryan 

Blanton flied to left and Taylor Perez made a fine catch to retire TJ Lynch.

Leadoff hitter Ryan Summers singled and eventually scored when somebody did something. (I got distracted, sue me.)

And then we got lightning. And thunder. And then it rained, oh how it rained. The Swamp Bats (literally) rolled out their new tarpaulin. After an hour or so, one of the Ocean State players took a running start and body-surfed the tarp.

Ben leaves the field in triumph.

 As an answer, All-Star relief pitcher Benjamin Criscuolo stripped down to his shorts and made a spectacular slide of his own. A little while later, fellow All-Star reliever Matt Clancy took his own turn at slip-n-slide. Criscuolo saved his best for last, starting just shy of the right field fence, Ben sprinted and dove on the tarp with a wonderful slide, worthy of a gold medal. The only criticism: they took to these stunts before I could get a decent picture.

Of course, one wonders if these fellows will wake tomorrow with major tarp abrasions or, how they would have explained a separated shoulder.

It should be noted this was going on as lightning split the night sky. We ALMOST had a BIG headline in tomorrows Sentinel.

And Ryan Summers blamed me for the rain.

Swamp Bats profiles: Pitcher Alec Bettinger

Alec Bettinger

Alec Bettinger is the newest of the Swamp Bats, joining the team July 2^nd  after helping the Virginia Cavaliers to the College World Series. In his first season at Charlottesville, the freshman from Woodbridge, Virginia, went 6-0 with a 1.23 ERA.

Alec took the loss in last night’s game v the Valley Blue Sox, giving up two earned runs in 5 innings, three hits, three strikeouts and 3 walks. In three games with Keene, Bettinger is 1-1 with an ERA of 2.19. He’s faced 54 batters, striking out 13. And he is his own worst critic. “I’m working on my breaking pitches. I didn’t have too much success with those till the end of the year and I am up here to work on that,” he says.

When not working on his craft, Alec has done some exploring. “It’s beautiful; there are a lot of outdoor things to do. I have been fishing with Connor Jones and Jack Roberts, we fish for bass and pumpkin seed blue gill. “

He and his Virginia teammate, Rob Coman are the summer guests of Phil and Debbie Stromgren. The Stromgrens make it a habit of visiting campus to get acquainted with their guests. “It’s awesome, I love it there,” he says.

Swamp Bats profiles: Jarred Mederos

Jarred Mederos singled with the bases loaded in the ninth to score North Adams shortstop J.C. Cardenas to give the NECBL North All Stars a 4-3 win in Holyoke Sunday. For his timely hit, Mederos was bestowed Most Valuable Player.

Jarred Mederos

Mederos is in his first season with the Swamp Bats where he’s stepped in to play shortstop. That’s juggled the infield a bit with Taylor Perez sometimes playing second, and Bret Dennis or Patrick McGrath at 3^rd base. Mederos is comfortable with whatever the configuration of the Swamp Bats middle defense. “They are great players, I feel like we play well together,” he says.

After high school, Mederos, from Hialeah, Florida, attended the University of Miami. But Miami just wasn’t the right fit for him “I committed at the end of my sophomore year,” of high school. “I just put too much stress on myself. “

One can imagine the stories: Local Boy commits. Local boy makes debut. Maybe even Local boy goes hitless. The scrutiny of well-wishers and local media coverage, real and imagined can take its toll. “I put a lot of pressure on myself.”

After a stint at Santa Fe College, Mederos wound up at St. John’s in New York. A sports administration major with a minor in accounting, Mederos did have to make an adjustment “It’s the first time I’d seen snow,” he relates.

A year ago, he took the summer off to recharge his batteries. Now, he’s up in Keene with St. John’s teammates Matt Clancy, Bret Dennis and, Zach Lauricella.  But he is quick to say his ease of coming to Keene is due to his host family, Nicole Johnson and Andy Newell. 

Brooke and Jarred and Allie.
Photo from Nicole Johnson.

“My host family are great, great people. They treat me like I’m their own.” Talk about finding a home. When not on the field or working out at the gym, Jarred spends his time with his hosts and their daughters Brooke and Allie. “I like hanging out with my host family. They have a backyard pool and today, we went horseback riding,” he said before Saturday’s game.

The Swamp Bats return Tuesday against the Valley Blue Sox. Time grows short as the season winds down. “We need to play our game. We have to go out there and follow through, with looseness AND intensity,” he declares.

Story for a Sunday

This one is for Ryan Summers.

In 1985, I was working as an assignment producer for ESPN’s SportsCenter. “The Natural” with Robert Redford was a year old so it was getting a lot of play on HBO. Our reporter based in New York, Ed Randall proposed a story idea.

Tony Ferrara in 1981

Anthony J. Ferrara had an unusual job: he was a batting practice pitcher for the New York Mets and the Yankees. Typically, he would throw BP for the Mets before M/T/W night games at Shea. The Mets would go on a road trip and Ferrara would pitch BP for the Yankees for the Fri/Sat/Sun games.  Once in a great while, he threw BP before an afternoon game and would take the subway across town and pitch BP that night.

On top of which, Ferrara was an actor. When all TV was in Black and White, he did an ad for Brylcreem and one for shaving cream. What made this a promising feature idea story was the fact that Ferrara had a non-speaking role in The Natural as Coach Wilson. If you’ve seen the movie, you know the spot. The camera pans left to right as the Knights sing the Star Spangled Banner along with Kate Smith.

Blink and you’ll miss him.

Wilford Brimley as Manager Pop Fisher, Richard Farnsworth as Red and Ferrara as Coach Wilson

He also served as trainer or, coach for the actors.

So Ed suggests the story and I got to work on our end.  For Ed, all he had to do the next time he was at Shea or Yankee Stadium is tell Tony “We are going to do an interview with you.” I had to get permission to use a clip. After calling three or four offices, I was told to use the few seconds, TriStar/SONY wanted $2500.

Ed did the interview and we got great video of Ferrara pitching BP to Gary Carter and Keith Hernandez and Don Mattingly. But we didn’t use any of the movie when ESPN balked at the price. These were of course, in the day before ESPN was Disneyfied.

Fast forward four years. Now both Ed and I are working for the late, lamented SportsChannel America’s SportsNightly. Pete Rose is in hot water for having never ever bet on baseball and Bart Giamatti is about to kick Rose out of baseball. 

Naturally, Ed and I thought of the connection between Rose and Shoeless Joe Jackson. After making a few calls, I spoke to Sarah Pillsbury, one of the producers of Eight Men Out. She was glad to let us use a few seconds of the movie. Ms. Pillsbury was incredulous that “The Natural” people wanted cash, she was not about to charge for a free mention.  She sent a copy of the movie and just asked for the on-screen courtesy.

Sometimes, all you have to do is ask. Or pay $2500.00

D.B. Sweeney as Shoeless Joe Jackson