Eastern League Eastern Division Playoffs Game 2 Preview

GAME 2 (Best of 5 series)
Trenton leads series 1-0

New Hampshire Fisher Cats (Zach Stewart 8-3, 3.63)
vs. Trenton Thunder (Andy Pettitte NR) @ 7:05pm

Preview - Last night Trenton pitchers combined for 13 strikeouts and did not allow an earned run in Game 1 and tonight they have Andy Pettitte on the hill in a rehab start. Seeing the potent New Hampshire offense unable to produce and being that Pettitte is one of the games greatest postseason pitchers of all time is all bad news for the Fisher Cats. The good news is, according to sources, Pettitte is slated to only throw about 4 innings or 60-65 pitches. So it's up the likes of Eric Thames, Shawn Bowman and Adam Calderone (a combined 0 for 12 with 6 Ks last night) to get swinging and produce like they did in the regular season. The other good news is that the Fisher Cats send Zach Stewart to the hill to counter Pettitte's big league pedigree. Stewart is only 1-1 over his last 10 starts, but he has notched a 2.25 ERA, allowing only 12 earned runs over 48 innings of work. He faced Trenton as recently as August 24th and tossed 5 innings where he only allowed 1 earned run on 2 hits. Stewart should be well rested as he was held to only 3 innings of work in each of his last two starts and there is no doubt that he has the ability to stifle the Trenton bats. If New Hampshire can just get over the fact that Pettitte is pitching, instead of looking at it as a disadvantage, then they can even things up here. First and foremost, they need to get the offense rolling and a few early hits off of a rusty major leaguer will certainly boost their confidence.

LINEUPS
New Hampshire Fisher Cats
CF - Darin Mastroianni
SS - Adeiny Heccavarria
DH - Eric Thames
3B- Shawn Bowman
1B - David Cooper
LF - Adam Calderone
C - Matt Liuzza
RF - Adam Loewen
2B - Jonathan Diaz

Trenton Thunder
CF - Austin Krum
3B - Justin Snyder
RF - Daniel Brewer
C - Austin Romine
1b - Marcos Vechionacci
DH - Rene Rivera
LF - Damon Sublett
SS - Luis Nunez
2B - Matthew Cusick

You can listen to all the Playoff action LIVE at:
MiLB Gameday Audio