2017 Year In Review: First-Half
Let's look back at the 2017 season with the first in our Year In Review series. ---
Let's look back at the 2017 season with the first in our Year In Review series.
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Editor's Note - We will be publishing a series of "Year in Review" stories that look at each half, position groups, and some of the best moments and promotions from the 2017 season. This is the first in this series.
You can't come any closer to winning a half than the BlueClaws did in the first half, unfortunately finishing in a virtual tie for first place with Kannapolis and losing on percentage points, but it was still a very successful start to the season for Lakewood.
Lakewood jumped out to the best start in franchise history, heading to Kannapolis and winning the first four games of the season. Still, they were just 11-12 after their first 23 games before they embarked on one of the most successful weeks in team history.
Trailing Kannapolis 3-0 on April 29th, the BlueClaws got two runs in the seventh inning, one run in the eighth inning, and then the winning run in the bottom of the ninth to pick up a walk-off 4-3 win and spark a franchise-record tying eight-game winning streak. The winning streak included two games against Kannapolis, a three-game sweep at Charleston, and the first three games of a four-game series in Columbia, the BlueClaws first visit to Spirit Communications Park.
Perhaps the highlight of the first half came May 6th in Columbia, when
Leading 1-0 into the ninth inning, Fanti walked a batter to put two-on with two-out (the lead-off man had reached on an error). With Fanti at 113 pitches, manager Marty Malloy summoned Bettencourt out of the pen, and he struck out
The BlueClaws were sparked by the
The Box Office highlight of the first half came in a four-game, three-day series against Columbia and
Lakewood had back to back walk-off wins over Greensboro on May 22nd and 23rd, winning one game on a Hall RBI single and one game on a throwing error on Grasshoppers third baseman
The BlueClaws played a memorable morning game against Kannapolis on June 6th, though it was one in which they would lose 2-1. The 16-inning game was the longest of the season and included a 12th inning power outage. Because the game took place in the afternoon, the game was not even delayed - though for about seven minutes there were no scoreboard graphics, music, or PA-announcements.
After that series with Kannapolis, the BlueClaws went to Hagerstown and lost three one-run games in a four-game series, falling to 3.5 games behind the Suns with six games left to play.
Lakewood returned home for two three-game series, one with Delmarva and one with Hickory. Likely needing to win all six games, the BlueClaws responded. The second game of the stretch was their biggest offensive game of the season, scoring 14 runs on 21 hits, a game that featured home runs by Darick Hall,
Hickory came in for the weekend and
Lakewood went into Sunday needing a win and a loss by Kannapolis, and unfortunately went 1 for 2. The BlueClaws beat Hickory 4-1, scoring three runs in the eighth inning, but Kannapolis topped West Virginia to clinch the division.
Two days after the first-half ended, the BlueClaws were very well represented in the South Atlantic League All-Star game at Columbia, sending six players and trainer Taka Sakurai. Five members of the BlueClaws pitching staff -
Hibbs, who did not allow an earned run until his 33rd inning of the season, was the BC South Atlantic League Relief Pitcher of the Month for May. His 32 scoreless innings to open the season were within seven of the league record for consecutive scoreless innings.
The BlueClaws finished the half at 40-30, a winning percentage of .571. Kannapolis, who had two games cancelled, one due to rain and one due to a power outage at Augusta, was 39-29, for a winning percentage of .574. Even though the two teams were "tied" in the standings, meaning no games separated the clubs, the head-to-head tiebreaker, which the BlueClaws would have won 7-4, was not applied. Kannapolis was the first-half champion on winning percentage.
Nonetheless, and despite missing the post-season by just one game, it was a very successful first-half for the BlueClaws.
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