With a pitiful whimper, the Punxatawney Groundhogs season finally came to a
halt in game 5 of the Defiant League LCS. It was a phenomenal baseball game
with Vero's fine defense preventing the Hogs from scoring. Sean Bergman,
making his first, and only, start of the season, was a smashing success,
holding Vero to 1 run over 7 innings--but he lost, as did the Hogs, by a
score of 1-0.
Hogs owner and manager Dan Shapiro was the first to congradulate the
jubilant Bums of Vero Beach after the game, and then, as normal, the team
recessed into the clubhouse for a closed meeting. The players were very
emotional as everyone had hoped for a chance to play in the series. When
they emerged to meet the press, the players were still very glum, but seemed
hopeful.
"Bergman was incredible today," remarked Shapiro. "Of course, this will
cause a dilemma next season as we decided what role he'll play on our
pitching staff. But we didn't help him out by leaving 10 guys on base and
not getting an extra base hit."
"We thought we had it when Kurt Hardie [Vero starting pitcher] went down
with an injury in the second inning, but their bullpen, especially Angel
Miranda, was great today," noted slugger Ryan Klesko.
Even with this playoff loss, this first PVBL season was a great one for the
Groundhogs. They compiled a 105-57 record while winning the Riker Division
crown and advancing the to the Defiant's LCS. It is now up to Vero Beach to
carry the Defiant Crown into the world series.
With their season under wraps, the Hogs also gave out team awards for
various players. Seeing that they didn't really have anyone who played a
lot in their first season ever, rather than give a rookie of the year, the
Hogs are giving a "Youngster of the Year" award.
This went to Scott Rolen, who batted .285 with 33 homers and 100 RBI in his
first full season. He also scored nearly 100 runs and created over 100
while leading the team in doubles with 44.
Team MVP was no question--Ryan Klesko. Klesko had a career year, ending
with a .322 average, 51 homers, and 151 RBI. He had 204 hits, scored 126
runs, and created 154 while compiling a slugging percentage of .628.
The team pitcher of the year involved a bit more debate, but the answer was
fairly clearcut. Jon Lieber, with his 17-5 record and 3.08 ERA won the
award, but he was followed closely by Bobby Thomas who went 13-4, 2.94.
However, the fact that Lieber walked on 23 while striking out 176 gave him
the award.
"We're certainly looking forward to the upcoming drafts and next season.
We're a very young team with lots of talent, and we intend to doing at least
as well next year as we did this season. Don't look for a whole lot of
trades either--other than getting a draft pick, we're not looking to make
many deals," said Shapiro.
