South Jersey Baseball:
Thunder Fall 5-0 to Sea Dogs, Back in 2nd Place

Thursday, July 5, 2005

By Dan Loney
Trenton Thunder Director of Broadcasting

Jon Lester tossed seven shutout innings with a career-high 12 strikeouts as the Portland Sea Dogs beat Trenton, 5-0, on Tuesday night. The loss drops Trenton back into 2nd Place, one game behind the Sea Dogs.

Both starters, Lester and Trenton's Charlie Isaacson, kept the offense at bay. Isaccson escaped early trouble to work six shutout innings on four hits with five walks and four strikeouts. Portland (44-37) left ten runners on base against Isaacson. Lester, meanwhile, blanked Trenton over seven innings for the win. Lester (6-2) allowed five hits on the night with no walks and a career-high 12 strikeouts.

The Sea Dogs took the lead in the 7th Inning with three runs off Thunder reliever Marc Deschenes. An RBI single by CF David Murphy scored RF Brandon Moss. C Alberto Concepcion followed with an RBI single off the glove of Valdes for a 2-0 lead. The third run of the innings scored on a suicide squeeze by LF Sheldon Fulse. Valdes (1-3) allowed three runs in 1/3 inning pitched.

The Thunder (45-40) also missed as they were 1-for-11 with runners in scoring position in the loss.

The series continues on Wednesday at 7:05 PM. Grant Roberts, just added to the Thunder roster today, will make his Trenton debut against Portland's David Pauley (4-3, 3.86).