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Tuesday July 3, 2012

NORTH ADAMS -- The British invaded Joe Wolfe Field to take on the North Adams SteepleCats on Monday night, and the SteepleCats relaxed.

North Adams took a laid back approach to the exhibition match up, and rolled to a 7-0 victory. The contest featured a pre-game flyover, an exchange of commemorative baseballs between the teams and several other ceremonies to welcome Team Great Britain to town. Great Britain is in the middle of a six-game, six-day stretch in the North East as they train for the World Baseball Classic. North Adams was the first of four NECBL teams to take on the British. In the coming days the the British team will travel to Keene, Vermont, and Holyoke.

"It was good to have a game away from the season and play a new team from a different area," catcher Brett Clements said. "It was a lot of fun. A lot of guys had a blast tonight."

The game allowed players to get an experience most of them hadn't had before.

"I've never been a part of a flyover before, it was really cool," Clements said. "It gave me chills really. I mean the whole day was fun and exciting."

It was also a productive day for the catcher. He was 2 for 3 with a double and a run scored.

"It was good to have a light day at the ballpark," manager Bryan Adamski said. "Obviously with pitchers getting at-bats late, it's a good change from the daily grind. The guys can kind of relax a little bit.

"Not that the day-to-day grind

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isn't fun, but it's a little less pressure on the guys. They're just going out and having fun, it's a little more of a sandlot environment, so it's good to have this on the schedule."

Robert Baroniel Jr. got the start for the SteepleCats. He previously had pitched just six innings this season. He went five innings and allowed just four hits, while striking out five.

Outfielder Will Klausing, who has pitched two innings this year, came on in relief and pitched three scoreless innings. Infielder Shane Klemcke closed the game out.

"It was enjoyable," Klausing said. "Everybody was relaxed today, because it didn't count. But, we still wanted to get a win."

Pitchers Nick Narodowy, Chris Bielak, Tyler Badamo, Christian MacDonald, Brian Hunter, and Adam Sargent all got at-bats in the late innings of the game. Badamo got a hit, stole a base and scored a run.

"I think it loosens us up and brings us together more," Clements said. "We just saw a lot of guys do other stuff. I mean we had pitchers hitting and playing positions. It was a lot of fun."

A few SteepleCats also got a taste of coaching. Charlie Law, who homered in the game, spent the final three innings coaching third base. Klausing coached first base for the final two innings and even made a mound visit in the ninth calm down Klemke.

"We just started goofing off there towards the end," Klausing said. "It was a lot of fun, just trying new things."

It's the type of game that can help the SteepleCats bond after a tough stretch in which they lost three of their last five.

"This was more about team building than momentum building," Adamski said.

The SteepleCats get back into regular season action Wednesday. They will host Sanford, before hosting Vermont on Thursday.