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By: Laura Verillo--Rox Radio/Press Intern

The Rox welcomed a new pitcher to their pen on Wednesday in 28-year-old reliever Hunter Davis. Here are ten fast facts about the newly acquired righty...

1. Davis is a Crawfordville, Florida native and attended FSU and Florida Community College.

2. He was never drafted, but still managed to make it to a big league affiliate. More on that later...

3. After making 21 appearances at the NCAA level with Florida State in 2004, Hunter played 2 years in the Frontier League (another independent league).

4. With the Richmond Roosters and Traverse City in 2005 and 2006 (respectively), he went a combined 7-4 over 92 innings pitched with a 2.80 ERA.

5. He made his way to the Can-Am League in 2007 playing in 11 games with the New Jersey Jackals.

6. Davis then moved to the American Association League getting in another 23 appearances in 2007.

7. His combined 1.07 ERA with 30 strikeouts in 42.2 innings with only 5 earned runs caught the eye of the Tampa Bay Rays.

8. In his 8 game stint with the Single-A Tampa Bay Rays affiliate Columbus, Davis went 1-0  recording one save and striking out 13 over 15.0 innings, registering a 6.00 ERA.

9. He returned to the Can-Am and American Association Leagues in 2008 and 2009 in a repeat of his 2007 season.

10. In his independent league return with the Jackals and Pensacola again, he pitched a total of 78.2 innings with a 3.51 ERA striking out 70 batters, before coming to Brockton.

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By: Laura Verillo--Rox Radio/Press Intern

*RF Keith Brachold is hitting .390 in his last ten games with four homers and 17 RBIs. He now leads the league with five home runs on the season.

*RHP Mike Smith was named Can-Am Pitcher of the Week, giving up only three runs in his last two starts while striking out 14. His 1.98 ERA has him at third in the league.

*Fellow starting LHP Mike Wlodarczyk leads the league with 27 Ks, after fanning five in six innings in his last start, his first win of the year.

*2B Scott Wearne has a .500 batting average in his last five games. After going 3-for-4 in Wednesday's game, he lifted his season average to .349, good for seventh in the league.

*C Chris Grossman currently holds a nine-game hit streak, the longest for anyone on the Rox this season.

*3B Phillip Cuadrado has not committed an error in 18 games this season. His 1.000 fielding percentage at third is the best in the league.

*The Rox as a team have hit .308 in their last five games and have returned their record to .500 after winning three of their last four games.

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By: Laura Verillo--Rox Radio/Press Intern

Since going to my first professional baseball game when I was five years old, I always made it to the park at least two hours before the first pitch. I may be known for my tardiness, but when it comes to baseball being late is not an option. There must be time to take everything in. To leisurely wander the stadium, before the raucous crowd takes their seats. To breath in the freshly cut grass with the smell of summer hanging in the air. To hear only the pristine crack of the bat and the players' playful banter that batting practice brings.

Even then I thought, those who arrive in the bottom of the third inning, excusing themselves as they push through the aisles during an inevitably 3-2 count, could not truly care about baseball. I felt it was disrespectful to arrive so late, to disrupt the game already in the process. I guess you could call me a baseball snob. Rolling my eyes at females in pink jerseys, wincing when asked the question, “How many points do they have?” and holding back rage with even the mention of the adjectives “boring” and “slow.”

Now fifteen years later, I realize that it was me who wasn't arriving nearly early enough to truly know the game. As a broadcast intern for the Brockton Rox, I now arrive to the stadium as early as 9:00 a.m. to prepare for a 7:05 p.m. start. And little did I know, the production of the game starts long before the players arrive for batting practice. The behind the scenes work is what allows a day at the ballpark to become an experience rather than just a game.

Sitting in the press box is everything baseball fans dream it to be and more. Watching the field transform from a quiet sun-drenched oasis at 10:00 a.m. to an illuminated hub at 7:00 p.m. filled with an excitement that returns adults to childhood. It is that buzz that creates such a diverse atmosphere for such a simple game. An atmosphere that is seemingly perfect in all ways. The only downfall I've come across: no cheering or foul ball catching. I guess that's something I'll just have to learn to sacrifice for the best seats in the house.

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The eighth season for the Brockton Rox was a record-setting year as the team recorded a franchise-high 56 wins and returned to the playoffs for the first time since 2007. 

Under the direction of first-year manager Chris Carminucci, the Rox started things slowly, amassing a record of just 11-17 through the first 28 contests.  From there though, Brockton switched to another gear and the season took a turn for the better.  The Rox ripped off 16 wins in 18 tries, including a streak of 12-in-a-row from July 5 to July 17.  Brockton put together two other lengthy streaks during the campaign, including one in mid-August of eight-in-a-row and another eight-gamer to end the regular season.

The 56 wins was not the only record set during the season.  Newcomer Palmer Karr smashed balls left and right over the fences of the Can-Am League en route to 19 dingers.  That amount surpassed teammate Jud Thigpen's 17 from the year before, to set the new single-season home run record in Rox history.  Karr was challenged by Franklin-native Keith Brachold, who pounded out 15 homers of his own.

Brachold also threatened another of Thigpen's record, that being his 70 RBI of 2008.  Brachold came up short with 65 for the year, but certainly had a stellar return season to the Rox organization.

Rookie Chris Valencia played tremendous baseball throughout the year and picked-up well deserved Rookie of the Year honors.  Valencia hit .309 with 104 hits, 36 RBI and 27 stolen bases.  Defensively he was sparkling in centerfield, committing just 10 errors and successfully fielded 96% of his chances.  Valencia's hit total was second in the Can-Am League, while his average was seventh and stolen base total finished third.

Coming off of his own league record-setting year (.383 BA, 140 hits), Melvin Falu picked up where he left off.  Although he could not match his enormous totals of 2008, Falu in 2009 still finished second in the league hitting at a .328 clip.

As a team, the Rox led the league with a .289 team-average and 77 home runs.  It wasn't all offense for Brockton that got them to 56 wins and the Can-Am League playoffs though.  The pitching staff ranked first in the league with a miniscule 3.80 ERA, the only staff with a sub-4.00 ERA.  The next closest staff came in at 4.19 for 2009.

At the top of pitching staff leading the way was Australian righty Wayne Lundgren.  Lundgren was a workhorse for the club, throwing a league-high 127.2 innings, five shutouts and two complete games en route to a 9-5 record.  Most impressive was his 2.75 ERA which ranked second to New Jersey's A.J. Wideman (2.51).

Lundgren now ranks second all-time in both wins (22) and strikeouts (307) in Brockton's eight-year history.

If you're talking about Australian pitchers then you cannot forget the contribution of lefty Craig Anderson.  Anderson ranked in the top 10 in ERA at 3.62.  He led the league in strikeouts with 87.  Another starting pitcher, Jeff Long, added his stamp to the 2009 season as well going 6-4 with a  3.55 ERA with an outstanding strikeout-to-walk ratio of 42 strikeouts to 15 walks in 84 innings.

When it came down to the end of the game, record-setting closer Jerry Dunn was ready to shut the door on his opponents.  Dunn converted 24 saves, tied with New Jersey's Rusty Tucker for tops in the Can-Am League.  The 24 saves matched his number from 2008, so now Dunn is #1 and #2 himself in the Rox record books in saves.  His 48 saves overall are 20 more than any other Rox pitcher in history.

Although the club bowed out to the eventual-champion Quebec Capitales in the first round of the playoffs, the 2009 season has to be dubbed a success.  With Carminucci back in the dugout in 2010, being joined once again by Brockton mainstay Ed Nottle, things certainly look promising for the future of the Brockton Rox on the field at Campanelli Stadium.

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Hello everybody and welcome to the first blog post of the 2010 season.  My name is Scott Sudikoff, and you may know me from last season as the Victoria Snelgrove Media Intern when I hosted the Rox pregame and postgame shows on the radio.  This year I have the privilege of being on the play-by-play for the entirety of the Rox season and I am looking forward to bringing the action to all of the Rox fans!

As mentioned in the title, we are just 43 days away from Opening Night at Campanelli Stadium when the Rox host the Worcester Tornadoes.  Be sure to pick up your season tickets, mini-plans etc. ASAP!  Buy Tickets.

Some of you may have been checking the Rox roster during the off-season, noticing some arrivals and departures.  First, there are some key returning players for the Brockton squad in 2009.  Up the middle of the defense the Rox return every-day catcher from a year-ago, Chris Grossman, along with 2B Melvin Falu, shortstop Dominic Ramos and CF Chris Valencia.  A few key losses are the bats of Jud Thigpen and Palmer Karr, who in consecutive years set the Rox single-season home run records (17 for Thigpen in 2008, 19 for Karr in '09).  Karr was traded to Grand Prairie of the American Association in January, while Thigpen is currently a free agent.

Of course Valencia was the 2009 Can-Am League Rookie of the Year amassing first-year totals of 114 hits and 36 RBI along with a .309 batting average.  He was also stellar in centerfield, committing just 10 errors with eight out-field assists and a 96% fielding success rate.

Falu and Ramos in the middle of the infield are a dynamic duo that can make the hardest of plays look fairly easy while Grossman was a calming force behind the plate for the Rox pitching staff.

An arrival of note is 1B Jabe Bergeron, who has spent the past five seasons in the Can-Am League including last season with the American Defenders of New Hampshire, where he hit .276 with 9 HR and 44 RBI.  Beregron, 28, was an un-drafted free agent signing by the New York Mets in 2004 and he attended Williams College out in western Mass.  Click here to check out more on Mr. Bergeron.

I hope you enjoyed this first entry of the 2010 season, just a quick intro for the season, but there is more information to come.  Please e-mail me directly to give your comments, ask questions and even make suggestions on what you'd like me to write about in the coming weeks before the season begins. 

Also, please follow the Brockton Rox on Twitter and become a fan of the Rox on Facebook! During game broadcasts I will also be open to e-mails, tweets, Facebook messages, and instant messages as I'd love to have interaction with the great fans of Brockton.  I'll certainly be posting comments and questions here, and any comments, questions I receive during a broadcast might be mentioned live on the radio.

Links to check out for now:
2010 Schedule
2010 Roster
Can-Am League