The Connecticut River Valley Baseball League got its 2014 season underway as the league champion Claremont Cardinals started their title defense with a 7 to 2 win over the Brattleboro River Rats at Dummerston Field. All eight town teams in the league are scheduled for games this weekend at locations in New Hampshire and Vermont.
The season opener began with a moment of silence to honor Claremont catcher Jon Ferrero, who died in an automobile accident just hours after the Cardinals won the CRVBL title last August. In the game, Nate Duford and Ethan Gage each had three hits and Jon Nicholas picked up the win on the mound for Claremont while scoring two runs and driving in a third. For Brattleboro, Todd Bell pitched eight strong innings and Sunny Lucas and Chris Lora each had three hits.
On Saturday, April 26, the Newport Polar Bears and the Walpole Wild Blue start theuir season in Walpole at 1:00 p.m., while the Putney Fossils tune up against the Sharks of Landmark College at 4:00 in Dummerston. On Sunday, Claremont hosts the Keene Black Dawgs at Barnes Park at 11:00, Putney hosts Brattleboro in Dummerston at 11:00 and the Walpole Maples, new to CRVBL this year, hosts the Sunapee Old Lakers in Walpole at 3:00 p.m. Admission to all CRVBL games is free, and to find out more about the area’s adult amateur baseball league, visit the league website at http://www.crvbl.org .
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