NEWARK, NJ - The Newark Bears have an emerging star in their starting rotation.

Patrick Stanley followed up his dominating 15-strikeout performance of the Lancaster Barnstormers with a four-hit shutout of the Long Island Ducks. Newark took the first game of a four-game set 4-0.

Early on, Long Island starter Carlos Castillo was matching zeros with Stanley, however once he left the game in the fifth inning, the Newark offense was able to strike and Stanley continued to roll on through the end of the game.

“More important than anything he’s finding command with all of his pitches,” said manager Wayne Krenchicki. “Earlier in the year his pitch counts got so high from walking guys and getting behind in the count and he hasn’t done that in his last two starts so he’s getting deeper into games and it saves our bullpen”

Stanley’s outing on Thursday night was in stark contrast to his previous one. He only struck out three batters while inducing more ground balls and getting plenty of fly balls to Keith Reed in center, who had ten put-outs.

“Well, they’re a great team,” said Stanley, referring to the Ducks. “If I had gone out there trying to strike out a bunch of guys, they would’ve done some damage so my goal was just to go out there and throw strikes and force them to put the ball in play and the defense was great behind me. Its great to pitch knowing your defense is playing so well like that.”

Reed made a highlight-reel catch in the second inning which would set the defensive tone for the game. Kevin Haverbusch sent a deep drive to left-center field that appeared to be a home run until Reed climbed the wall and brought the ball back into the park.

“We played solid tonight and overall we’ve been great defensively,” said manager Wayne Krenchicki. “When you have a pitcher who is pitching quick and he’s getting ahead of the hitters it helps your concentration.”

In the sixth inning, each team had a golden opportunity to get the game’s first run, but neither could capitalize on the opportunity.

First, Newark had loaded up the bases on a hit-by-pitch and two singles from the middle of their order, which brought up Val Majewski. However, Majewski hit a hard ground ball right to Brett Abernathy at second who turned the 4-6-3 double play.

In the bottom of the inning, Long Island had all the sacks occupied with two outs and Haverbusch at the plate. However, Ray Navarrete was leading a little too far off of first and Newark catcher John Pachot gunned him out at first base and the inning was over.

The Bears finally broke through in the seventh off of reliever Ben Grezlovski. Keith Reed and Randall Simon started the inning with singles and were bunted over by Pachot. After a groundout, Bobby Hill stepped in and lined a double over Navarrete’s head in left plating both Reed and Simon.

In the eighth inning, Majewski was handed a chance at redemption. After hitting into a double play in his previous at-bat, he would atone for that by hitting a two-run homer deep into the Long Island night to give his team a 4-0 lead. Majewski has experienced a power-surge lately with three home runs in his last four games.

“I don’t want to say I’m doing anything different,” said Majewski. “I think I’ve had the same swing all year, I guess I’m just elevating the ball a little better right now.”

Mike Bumstead takes the mound for Newark on Friday night, he followed Stanley’s last performance with an impressive start of his own.

Notes: It was Stanley’s second career shutout and third complete game of his professional baseball career. His last two complete games have been back-to-back, his last shutout came in 2006 when he pitched for Washington in the Frontier League. Attendance was 5,936.

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