Baseball Review // East Hartford Jets, 4 Record-Journal Expos, 5 June 5th, 2025 Ceppa Field, Meriden CT (GHTBL)

Additional photos can be found in an album on Facebook here :::

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.1774167056646841&type=3

Official Box Score :::

https://ghtbl.org/event/east-hartford-jets-record-journal-expos 

We had officially entered a sort of heat wave, where the weather says it's going to be 80 and then you get in your car and it says 90.  My car said it was 95 as I headed to Ceppa Field for the first Record-Journal Expos home game of the season, but when I got there I felt a cool breeze and so the heat wasn't that bad.

The East Hartford Jets were going into this gmae 1-1 while the Expos were going in 1-2, so it felt like an important game because it would have put the Jets over .500 or got the Expos to .500.  While it feels like change is inevitable, a big loss for the Jets this season is one of their top hitters and that's Corey Plasky.  Someone will study the downfall of the East Hartford Jets- how they went from Champions one season to battling for last place the next.

The first thing you need to know about this game is that it started at 6:30pm and was over around 8pm.  If I had driven more than five minutes I might've spent more time in the car than at the game, but I certainly bet some East Hartford fans did.   This game didn't see a hit until the third inning and even that went nowhere.  The first two innings were complete three-up-three-down style, which was rare to see I'd say.

JD Tyler was dishing for the Expos and Austin Segarra was doing the same. as this began to feel like a pitching duel.   Everything in a game can change in a moment though, right?  That happened on Tuesday against M&T Bank, and it happened in this game as well.  

In the bottom of the third, both Tyler Casey and Jason Sullivan were walked.  It felt like during this inning that Segarra might be losing it, but he found it again later in the game.   Javon Malone would single to load up the bases, and then AJ Hendrickson hit a deep shot to center field for a triple to clear the bases.  This put the Expos up 3-0.  

Now, two things need to be said about this at bat with AJ Hendrickson which put the Expos up 3-0.  First off, there was an earlier pop up behind home plate that the Jets' catcher clearly should have caught but didn't.  That could've changed the course of the game.  And when AJ Hendrickson hit the ball out to CF, the Jets' fielder sort of laid out to try and get it, but instead face-planted as the ball bounced over him.  If the Jets' left fielder wasn't so quick that could've been an inside the park homerun.

The top of the fourth saw the East Hartford Jets do what they did in their Championship season: hit the ball where the fielders weren't.  It was that small ball of stringing hits together, but also hauling ass around the bases to turn what might be one base into two.   A double by Adam Dadinos sent Zachary Roethlein to third.   Former Philly Jonah Nielsen singled in the first Jets run, followed by Darrion Williams doubling in the second run.  Just like that it was 3-2.   But the Jets weren't done.

Myles Fournier would ground out to first, but the tying run would score.  And on a sac fly to left field, the fourth and final Jets run would score, making it 4-3 with the Jets winning.  For feeling like the offense was shut down to start the game, it all came in pretty quickly and as my Uncle WIllie said, each team just had one good half inning.  As a pitcher, giving up a few runs in one inning isn't bad, as you expect your team to score more than that.  This was just a great pitching match up because of where the scoring was done.

The rest of the innings- from the bottom of the fourth until the bottom of the seventh- went how you would expect them to in a game where all the scoring was already done and just waiting for the end and also being only about ninety minutes of a game.  A batter would get on here and there, but it didn't lead to anything and both pitchers were still striking out batters right up until the end as well.  

So it all came down to this.   The bottom of the seventh.  The Jets are up 4-3.  It feels like the scoring is over and the Jets will win.  But then, Max Giacco is walked on base.  Giacco steals second, no problem.  Uncle Willie asked me if I'd send him or not, and I said he's the tying run- you have to send him.  (There was one out at the time)  In a bold move, Max Giacco goes to steal second and was rather easily in there but the throw from the catcher to the Jets' third baseman went out into left field and just like that the game was tied.

Javon Malone would also take a walk, and at this point you have to wonder what is going through your head as a manager for the Jets.  On one hand, you walked on the tying run (who scored) and now your pitcher walks on the winning run.  But it's also tied, so you have to think about going into extra innings and who might pitch then.  Plus, at this point, yeah, it feels like Segarra's game to win or lose, so I'd leave him in.  But it's still complex.

AJ Hendrickson came up and made it two outs but Javon Malone was now at third base.  We were either going to extra innings or we were going home as "Superstar" Luke DiMauro came up to the plate.  A single rocketed right up the middle, the Jets never had a chance of playing and before the ball could even bounce into the glove of the center fielder, Javon Malone was home and the Expos had walked it off.

It's still early enough in the season that these games matter, so the Expos moved up to fifth place, which the Mets and Orioles are tied for first and then the Rainbow Graphics are 3-2, so the Expos and Bankers are kin of tied for third place.  But another win and the Expos will be right up there with the Graphics and right back in this.  Tonight the Expos do the rematch only this time they're on the road to East Hartford.  It has to have some kind of name, right- like a split doubleheader?  I don't know, but before tonight I'll either use "split doubleheader" or think of something better.