Giants win fan support.

Weak-hitting Giants still win fan support
Wednesday, June 30, 2004
By RICK LAJOIE

HOLYOKE - The Giants may be winning over fans in Holyoke, but they are not winning as many games as they'd like.

Holyoke was riding atop of the South Division of the New England Collegiate Baseball League standings, but the Giants had fallen from grace after a tough four-game losing streak, their record falling below .500 - at 6-8 - as of Sunday night.

After winning last Monday night at home against the Berkshire Dukes 5-4 in 10 innings, the Giants dropped a game to the Riverport Royals, 2-0.

They then lost a pair to the Manchester Silkworms, 3-0 at home and 3-2 at their place, and fell hard 4-0 to the Vermont Mountaineers, who the Giants beat in the season opener.

Holyoke did pick up a win Sunday against the Mill City All-Americans, 4-3, but in assessing the shortcoming, fans need not look past the wooden bats of the league, as the Giants' hitters have not come around with the sticks as yet.

The team as a whole is batting only .207, with only two players hitting above .300 and only three others above .200. The opposing bats are a lot more productive, as those teams carry a much higher .278 average.

Giants' outfielder Isidro Fortuna appears to have made the successful transition from aluminum to wood, and leads the team is just about every hitting category. He is first in batting with a .359 average and leads the team with eight RBI's, one home run and four stolen bases. The Stony Brook College sophomore batted .305 this past spring driving in 38 runs and hitting eight home runs.

Longmeadow product Justin Vincent is next on the Giants' hit parade, the outfielder batting .311 this summer. The junior batted .378 for the University of New Haven this season, knocking in 34 RBI's. The three .200 plus hitters for the Giants this summer are Wilson Matos, still respectable at .267, Jeff Mayo close behind at .265 and Matt Untiet at .225.

The team appears to be solid defensively, but while the pitching staff has not had the offensive support, it has also struggled a little on its own. The team ERA is 3.75, significantly higher than the opposing team average of 2.11. Chris Legiadre is the team leader in stingy, posting an ERA of 1.35 but the New Jersey Tech sophomore is 0-and-2 on the year.

Pennsylvania's Brian Winings has an ERA of 1.86 and has recorded one of the Giants wins, while his Quaker teammate Josh Appell, who leads the team with 22 strikeouts, is a very close behind at 1.88, his win loss record an even 1-1 through Saturday.

Unfortunately, the only other pitcher with an ERA under 3 is Cornell southpaw Blake Hamilton at 1.42, but he has seen limited work, pitching just five innings in three appearances.