North Adams, MA-  After a tough loss on Tuesday, the North Adams SteepleCats looked to bounce back in their second game of the season against Winnipesaukee. Butler's Cory Bosecker took the mound for the Cats as Franklin Pierce's Kyle Roche did the same for the Muskrats

The late great Yogi Berra once said "It's Deja Vu all over again." This quote perfectly describes the first inning of Wednesday's game.  Matt Alifano led off with a single for Winnipesaukee and then Bosecker issued four straight walks. When the smoke cleared, the Muskrats were ahead 3-0 before the SteepleCats even had a chance to come to the plate.

In these first two games, the SteepleCats have let up a combined seven runs before it's their turn to hit in the bottom of the first. The first inning had a chance to even get more out of hand, but catcher Carson Dunkel spectacularly picked off Winnipesaukee's Matt Brown-Eiring at first base to end the inning

For the Muskats, starting pitcher Kyle Roche had it going as the right-hander retired the first sixteen batters he faced. Scott Jones broke up Roche's perfect game bid with a walk in the 5th and Carson Dunkel broke up the no-hitter with a single in the same inning.

The SteepleCats put a small rally together in that inning, scoring three runs on two hits. Two of those runs came from a two-bae throwing error by the pitcher Roche allowing both Jones and Dunkel to scamper home. Hunter Pasqualini found himself all the way at third base on the error and Ryan Galanie knocked him in. The bats were silent after that. 

The unsung story of the night was Niagara Community College's Ryan Birchard. The tall right-hander was regularly getting his fastball above 90 miles per hour as he topped out at 93. He fanned the first four hitters he faced, but the highlight of the night came in the eighty inning.

With two on and one out, Winnipesaukee catcher Mike Borelli hit a 40-foot chop. Birchard was the only man close enough to make a play on it and boy did he ever. In a flash Birchard was off the mound and in one fluid motion was able to snag the ball and fire it to first on a hop to beat Borelli by a step.

Overall though, the SteepleCats suffered their second loss of the season, dropping the game 9-3 and their record to 0-2. North Adams will travel to Holyoke, Massachusetts tonight to battle the Valley Blue Sox. Golden West College's Johnnie Valdez will be on the bump for the Cats. First pitch is at 6:30 pm.