Rockland Boulders
| Rockland Boulders | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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| League | Canadian American Association of Professional Baseball | ||||
| Location | Pomona, New York | ||||
| Ballpark | Palisades Credit Union Park | ||||
| Year founded | 2011 | ||||
| League championships | 1: 2014 | ||||
| Division championships | 2: 2014, 2015 | ||||
| Former ballparks | Provident Bank Park | ||||
| Colors | Blue, red, black, white, gray |
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| Mascot | BoulderBird | ||||
| Ownership | Bottom 9 Baseball | ||||
| Manager | Jamie Keefe | ||||
| General Manager | Shawn Reilly | ||||
| Media | The Journal News | ||||
| Website | www |
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The Rockland Boulders are an American independent professional baseball team based in Pomona, New York in Rockland County.They are a member of the Canadian American Association of Professional Baseball, also known as the Can-Am League. The team was one of three teams joining the league for the 2011 season, joining former Atlantic League champions the Newark Bears and New York State League team the New York Federals. The Boulders played their first game on May 26, 2011, against the Bears at Bears & Eagles Riverfront Stadium. The team played their first home game at Provident Bank Park on June 16 defeating the Brockton Rox, 3-1 in front of a sold-out crowd.
The "Boulders" name refers to Rockland County's plethora of boulders in its landscape. The team's primary color, blue, alludes to the former Brooklyn Dodgers, which held their spring training events at Bear Mountain State Park during the 1940s. The red honors the neighboring Rockland County Fire Training Center. Boulder Bird is the official team mascot and "disco" Seth Cantor is the teams play-by-play announcer.
Due to territory claims held by the Hudson Valley Renegades, New York Mets and Yankees, the Boulders were forbidden to be associated with a major league ball club. This is the reason they joined the Can-Am league, which is not affiliated with Minor League Baseball.
On May 26, 2011 the Boulders won their first official game by a score of 11-5 over the Newark Bears after coming back from a 4-1 deficit. On July 24, 2011, in the bottom of the ninth inning with two outs, Joe Hage (23) hit a walk-off grand slam at Le Stade Municipal in Quebec City, Canada to give Rockland a 7-4 win over the Quebec Capitales. It was the first grand-slam in Boulders history.
On September 4, 2011, the Boulders announced they had signed former New York Mets player Howard Johnson to a two-game contract to play alongside his son, Glen. Both games were played against the Newark Bears.[1]
Although the Boulders played their first 20 games away due to construction of the new stadium, they finished their inaugural season second in the league with an attendance of 123,518 tickets sold.
Contents
Rockland Boulders Team
The Rockland Boulders signed their first three players Tommy Giles, Eric Flynn and Ryan Mollica, from Suffern in its history in March, 2011. Of these three, Mollica remained and played in 86 games. Adrian Martin was named 2011 Relief pitcher of the year and was invited to the 2011 Postseason Can-Am All-Star Team. He finished with a league leading 21 saves with a strikeout to walk ratio of 39/4. Teammate John Velasquez, pitcher, finished one strikeout shy of tying for the league lead.
Because the Boulders are not affiliated with Major League Baseball, most of the players on the Boulders are those who were undrafted, released by a minor league team, or are local prospects.
The level of play is similar to that in single-A Baseball.
Can_AM Hitter-of-the-Week ending on July 15, 2012 was Phil Cuadrado who helped the Boulders win seven out of eight games.
On August 22, 2013, Boulder's pitcher Charlie Law (34) pitched a complete game no-hitter defeating the New Jersey Jackals with the first no-hitter in franchise history.
On July 7, 2014, Outfielder Jerod Edmondson singled off Ryan Bollinger of the Trois-Rivieres Aigles in the top of the fourth inning at Trois-Rivières, breaking the all-time Can-Am League record for career hits. His 700 career hits breaks the record previously held by current Toronto Blue Jays outfielder Chris Colabello.[2]
On August 25, 2014, the Boulders beat the Trois-Riveres Aigles and clinched the playoffs for the first time in the franchise's history. The Boulders will play the New Jersey Jackals the first round. [1]
On August 31, 2014 Antone DeJesus was named Can-Am Defensive Player of the Year and named to the Can-Am League All-Star team along with outfielders Ryan Stovall, and first baseman Jerod Edmondson.
On September 1, 2014 The Rockland Boulders became Division Champions defeating the New Jersey Jackals 7-3.
Jamie Keefe Named Manager of the Year
On September 2, 2014 The best 4-out-of-7 Parkway Series between the Rockland Boulders (
Palisades Interstate Parkway) and the New Jersey Jackals (
Garden State Parkway) began. The Boulders captured their first league championship beating New Jersey 4 games to 2. [2]
On August 23, 2015 Rockland Boulder's catcher Joe Maloney crushed a two-run homer capping off a three-run ninth inning to beat the Garden State Grays, 7-5, at Provident Bank Park thereby officially clinching a berth in the Can-Am League playoffs and a chance to defend their 2014 championship.
On September 2, 2015 The Rockland Boulders clinch second straight Can-Am League pennant with a 19-3 victory over the Ottawa Champions.
The Boulders started their 2016 season on May 19, 2016 against the Sussex County Miners.
Rockland Boulders 2016 Opponents
The Rockland Boulders will face as many as 7 opponents for the 2016 season.
- Canadian American Association of Professional Baseball New Jersey Jackals Ottawa Champions Québec Capitales Sussex County Miners Trois-Rivières Aigles
- Shikoku Island League Plus Shikoku Island League Plus (best players from each of their four teams)
- Cuban National Baseball Team
Palisades Credit Union Park
The Rockland Boulder's new Palisades Credit Union Park, originally known as Provident Bank Park (name change was announced on Monday, April 25, 2016) voted on by the league's eight field managers and media representatives as the 2011 Can-Am League Playing Surface of the Year, contains 4,500 seats, 16 luxury and 11 loge boxes. The dimensions of the playing field are 323 foot left-field line, power alleys of 383 feet leading to the 403 foot center wall and 313 foot right-field line. The park also includes a 34-foot x 52 foot scoreboard, as well as a 75-foot ribbon sign board. Other features include special hearing-impaired seating with loudspeakers installed under each seat, Kids Zone playground, and community rooms beside food courts and kiosks. The park also contains an indoor batting cage used by players to warm up prior to games and is open to the public during the game. Baseball fans that visit Palisades Credit Union Park may notice a similarity to Camden Yards, Fenway Park, and Citi Field as the park is partly designed after those stadiums.
On September 4, 2011, the Rockland Boulders played to the largest crowd in its inaugural season - 6,300 fans - to see former New York Met Howard Johnson become one of the few players to have the opportunity to play in a professional game with their son. In 2012 the Boulders led the league in attendance with 161,375 fans.
On August 17, 2014, the team drew 6,239 fans.
Season-by-season records
| Rockland Boulders (2011–2016) | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Season | 1st Half | 2nd Half | Total | Finished | Playoffs |
| 2011 (8 Teams) | 19–27 (7) | 21–25 (6) | 40–52 | .435 | Did not qualify |
| 2012 (5 Teams) | - | - | 48–52 | .480 | Did not qualify |
| 2013 (5 Teams) | - | - | 49–51 | .490 | Did not qualify |
| 2014 (4 Teams) | - | - | 56–40 | .583 | Defeated New Jersey Jackals, 4-2, to win league championship |
| 2015 (6 Teams) | - | - | 63–34 | .649 | Lost to Trois-Rivières Aigles, 3-2, in semifinals. |
| 2016 (8 Teams) | - | - | 2–2 | .500 | |
| Totals | 258–231 | .528 | Totals | ||
Broadcasting
The Boulders have three radio stations that provide broadcasts of their games. The stations are WNBR 1260 AM, WLNA 1420 AM, and WRCR 1300 AM.[3] The Boulders games are also available to watch online on the Can-Am league TV website and some games on Optimum channel 78 in Rockland County or FIOS channel 1.
Current Roster
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Rockland Boulders roster
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| Active (22-man) roster | Coaches/Other | ||||||||
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Pitchers
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Catchers
Infielders
Outfielders
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Manager
Coaches
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References
- ↑ http://espn.go.com/new-york/mlb/story/_/id/6923410/former-new-york-met-howard-johnson-son-play-minors
- ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
- ↑ Rockland Boulders Listen Live
External links
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- Rockland Boulders
- Rockland Boulders Roster
- Can-Am League
- American Association of Independent Professional Baseball official website
- Rockland Boulder's News
- Listen Live
- Watch Rockland Boulders Game
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