Bears Cap Off Season With 2-0 Win

Pedro Rivera pitched 6.1 scoreless innings in the final game of the season, as the Newark Bears topped the Worcester Tornadoes, 2-0, to end the 2012 campaign.

Rivera, a native of Elizabeth, N.J., was replaced by lefty Sergio Espinosa in the seventh inning, after allowing just five hits and five walks while striking out five batters on the day.

Newark got out to an early lead in the first inning, when the team pounded out for consecutive singles, with right fielder Ryde Rodriguez and left fielder James Roche earning RBIs in the frame to put Brick City on top, 2-0.

Those would be the only runs scored in the game.

Espinosa contributed 1.2 innings of scoreless relief and passed the lead off the Can-Am League’s saves leader and Relief Pitcher of the Year, Jorge Vasquez to close the game out.

Vasquez was called upon to start the ninth inning and made his way from the bullpen to the pitcher’s mound, but noticed something was missing–his teammates. In the last inning of the season, the Bears’ defense pranked the team’s closer, and did not take the field until after Vasquez got to the mound.

Once Vasquez started pitching, the joke was over, as he worked around one hit to close out his league-high 22nd game of the season.

The Bears finish the season in fourth place with a 35-65 record.

Prior to the game, Newark welcomed Osibee Jelks, the second African American umpire in the history of professional baseball. Mr. Jelks participated in the ceremonial first pitch, calling one more pitch in his stroried umpiring career–a strike from Vasquez to catcher Orlando Mercado.