Sussex Skyhawks
Encyclopedia
The Sussex Skyhawks were a professional baseball team that played at Skylands Park
in Augusta, New Jersey
. The team was part of the Canadian-American Association of Professional Baseball
, an independent minor baseball league also referred to as the Can-Am League, from their inaugural season in 2006 until 2010. The team was owned by a group led by Floyd Hall
, who also owns the New Jersey Jackals
. The team was formed in part due to their home park's previous tenant, the New Jersey Cardinals
, relocating to University Park, Pennsylvania
following the 2005 New York-Penn League season to become the State College Spikes
.
After the announcement of a new team coming to the area, the ownership group- which was known as Sussex Professional Baseball- held an online contest for fans to try to name the team. On January 25, 2006, "Sussex Skyhawks" was chosen as the winning name. The Skyhawk name represented the Skylands Region
of northwestern New Jersey, where the team was playing, and Sussex was chosen to represent Sussex County, New Jersey
, where Augusta is located.
, who left the professional ranks to join the New York Collegiate Baseball League
, and their roster was composed largely of players who had been a part of The Grays
, the league's 2005 traveling team.
Due to poor weather and other factors, the Skyhawks attendance was disappointing early in the inaugural 2006 season, until the team found itself in a tight, multi-team race for the first-half pennant. With a 23-19 record into the first half's final weekend, Sussex had a chance to win the first half if they could take two out of three games from the North Shore Spirit
. Instead, they were swept, and the Skyhawks tumbled all the way to fifth place, one of six teams in a three-game knot at the top of the standings.
The Skyhawks never recovered, and the second half was a disaster as Sussex lost twenty games in a row at one point in 2006. Sussex finished with a 9-26 mark in the second half and a league-worst 32-48 overall. The team drew 85,126 fans to Skylands Park, an average of 2,183.
franchise. Despite numerous roster changes, Sussex finished last in the season's first half with a 15-31 record. The team showed slight improvement in the second half, tying for eighth place with a 19-28 record, but the overall 34-59 record remained worst in the league.
The team saw a significant increase in overall attendance, drawing 101,638 fans over the course of the year. However, the average attendance declined due to the team having more home games in 2007 than they did in 2006. Both figures ranked seventh in the Can-Am League.
manager Hal Lanier
was named as the Skyhawks' skipper. Lanier brought along Nick Belmonte to serve as director of player personnel. “You had to convince players things were going to be different (to get them signed),” said Belmonte, who has been teaming with Lanier for well over a decade. “Even though there weren’t superstars, they had tough outs (batting) 1-9. I think that’s what has carried them through.” http://www.canamleague.com/cgi-bin/dist/news.cgi?id=1221230303
After a slow start which saw Sussex end the month of May with a 3-8 record, the team turned things around behind clean-up hitter Matt Weston (second in the league with 22 home runs) and closer Matt Petrusek (22 saves, tied for first). By the final weekend of the first half, the Skyhawks were 25-19, just three games back of the first-place Quebec Capitales
—who were in Skylands Park for a four-game series. In a similar ending to 2006's first half, however, the Capitales won three of four, and Sussex had to settle for a three-way third place tie with their sister team the Jackals and the Atlantic City Surf
.
The Hawks got off to another slow start in the second half; their record was just 6-11 at the end of July, and hopes of a playoff spot seemed dashed. Then, in August, the Skyhawks got red hot: they put together a seven-game winning streak and two streaks of five wins in a row, including the last five games of the regular season. Sussex wound up in a three-way tie for the second half title with Quebec and the Worcester Tornadoes
with a 27-20 record. The Skyhawks' combined record was enough to qualify them for the playoffs, and Lanier won manager of the year.
In the league semifinals against Worcester, the Skyhawks dropped the opener of the best-of-five series, 3-2, before roaring back to win three in a row. Pitching, which had been the Hawks' biggest weakness in 2008 (their 5.03 ERA was second-worst in the league) came through against the Tornadoes with 3-2 and 4-0 wins in games two and three. In Game 4, Worcester jumped to a 5-0 lead before Sussex scored six runs in the fourth en route to a 8-5 win, and a berth in the Can-Am League Championship Series against Quebec.
In Game 1 at Skylands Park, the circuit's top pitcher, Quebec's Michel Simard, hooked up in a pitcher's duel with Kyle Ruwe of Sussex. Finally, in the bottom of the tenth, Jorge Moreno's single scored Michael Perodin to give the Skyhawks a 3-2 win. In the second game, Sussex scored four runs in the first inning, then watched Quebec come back to take a 5-4 lead. The lead seesawed back and forth until Matt Weston's two-RBI single in the eighth sealed the Skyhawks' 8-6 win.
On September 12, 2008, the Skyhawks met Les Capitales Stade Municipal
in Quebec, looking for an improbable sweep in the Championship Series. In game three, the Skyhawks offense bludgeoned the Caps pitchers in the early going, plating ten runs in the first four innings and cruising to a 10-5 win, becoming the first championship team to play in Skylands Park since the New Jersey Cardinals won a New York-Penn League title in their inaugural season in 1994. The Skyhawks became the fifth New Jersey team to win an independent league championship joining the aforementioned Jackals and Surf as well as the Newark Bears
and Somerset Patriots
of the Atlantic League.
For Sussex, the only downside was the tiny crowds at their home playoff games: barely 2,000 for the four games combined, in a 4,000-seat stadium. (Minor league baseball playoff games often draw poorly, however, due to a lack of promotion.) Their regular season average attendance slid to 1,713, next-to-last, ahead of only the Nashua Pride.
, then won their home opener, 4-3, against Worcester. But a slump during which Sussex lost seven of eight games dropped the Skyhawks below .500, and they never recovered, ending the first half of the season at 21-26, tied for last place in the Can-Am League.
In the second half, Sussex opened with two victories against Worcester, but then dropped 17 of its next 20 games. The team ended up 17-30 in the second half; its combined record of 38-56 placed the Skyhawks fifth overall, one of the two Can-Am teams left out of the playoffs.
The team's average attendance dropped for the fourth straight season to 1,695. A total of 79,663 fans came to Skylands Park during the year. After the season, manager Hal Lanier announced he would not return for 2010.
for the 2010 season. Ott was a former MLB catcher for the Pirates and Angels between 1974 and 1981. The team started out strong, going 25-21 in the first half, good enough for 3rd place overall. However, the team struggled mightily in the second half of the year with a miserable 10-35 record, by far the worst in the league. With a final record of 35-56, the Skyhawks finished in last place overall with three fewer wins than in '09. They also saw their overall attendance drop to an all-time low of 71,826 (1,670 per game).
. Hall was not able to find a buyer to keep the team operational for the 2011 season, and on January 11, 2011 the Skyhawks announced they were suspending operations.
The Rockland Boulders
replaced the Skyhawks in the league and the league also added the New York Federals as a traveling team to even the team numbers at eight. It is unclear if the Sussex Skyhawks will return to play in 2012.
Skylands Park
CenturyLink Field at Skylands Park is a baseball stadium located in Augusta, New Jersey. Skylands Park opened in 1994 and was built for the New Jersey Cardinals, the New York-Penn League affiliate for the St. Louis Cardinals. The Cardinals called the park home until 2005, after which the team was...
in Augusta, New Jersey
Augusta, New Jersey
Augusta is an unincorporated area located within Frankford Township, Sussex County, New Jersey.Augusta is the home of the New Jersey State Fair and the Sussex County Farm and Horse Show....
. The team was part of the Canadian-American Association of Professional Baseball
Canadian-American Association of Professional Baseball
The Canadian American Association of Professional Baseball, based in Durham, North Carolina, is a professional, independent baseball league located in the Northeastern United States and the Canadian province of Quebec. It operates in cities not served by Major or Minor League Baseball teams and is...
, an independent minor baseball league also referred to as the Can-Am League, from their inaugural season in 2006 until 2010. The team was owned by a group led by Floyd Hall
Floyd Hall
Floyd Hall is an American business executive and sports team owner. Hall was the Chief Executive Officer of Kmart from June 1995–2001. During Hall's term in office, the chain sold off several specialty businesses to focus on its core discount store business, and enjoyed a string of quarterly...
, who also owns the New Jersey Jackals
New Jersey Jackals
The New Jersey Jackals are a professional baseball team based in Little Falls, New Jersey, in the United States. The Jackals are a member of the Canadian-American Association of Professional Baseball, which is not affiliated with Major League Baseball...
. The team was formed in part due to their home park's previous tenant, the New Jersey Cardinals
New Jersey Cardinals
The New Jersey Cardinals were a Short-Season A minor league baseball team affiliated with the St. Louis Cardinals. They were a member of the New York - Penn League and played at Skylands Park in Augusta, New Jersey from 1994-2005.-History:...
, relocating to University Park, Pennsylvania
University Park, Pennsylvania
University Park, Pennsylvania is an unincorporated community in Centre County, Pennsylvania, United States, and is the location of the flagship campus of the Pennsylvania State University....
following the 2005 New York-Penn League season to become the State College Spikes
State College Spikes
The State College Spikes are a minor league baseball team that currently plays in the New York – Penn League. The Spikes play their home games at Medlar Field at Lubrano Park located on the main campus of Pennsylvania State University located in University Park, Pennsylvania. Medlar Field is...
.
After the announcement of a new team coming to the area, the ownership group- which was known as Sussex Professional Baseball- held an online contest for fans to try to name the team. On January 25, 2006, "Sussex Skyhawks" was chosen as the winning name. The Skyhawk name represented the Skylands Region
Skylands Region
The Skylands Region is a marketing area of the State of New Jersey located in the Northern and Central part of the state. It is one of six tourism regions established by the New Jersey State Department of Tourism, the others being the Gateway Region, Greater Atlantic City Region, the Southern...
of northwestern New Jersey, where the team was playing, and Sussex was chosen to represent Sussex County, New Jersey
Sussex County, New Jersey
The County of Sussex is the northernmost county in the State of New Jersey. It is part of the New York City Metropolitan Area. As of the 2010 Federal decennial census, 149,265 persons resided in Sussex County...
, where Augusta is located.
2006
For their inaugural season, the Skyhawks hired Brian Drahman, who had been the pitching coach for the New Jersey Jackals, as their manager. The team took the place of the Elmira PioneersElmira Pioneers
The Elmira Pioneers are an amateur baseball team based in Elmira, New York. They currently compete in the Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball League, a wood bat collegiate summer baseball league. Prior to the 2006 baseball season, the team was a professional ballclub with a rich history of league...
, who left the professional ranks to join the New York Collegiate Baseball League
New York Collegiate Baseball League
The New York Collegiate Baseball League is a 12-team collegiate summer baseball league founded in 1978 and sanctioned by the NACSB and Major League Baseball. Each NYCBL team plays an eight-week, 44-game schedule from June to July with a playoff in early August...
, and their roster was composed largely of players who had been a part of The Grays
The Grays
The Grays were a professional independent baseball team. They were a traveling team which played in the Canadian-American Association of Professional Baseball, an independent league not affiliated with Major League Baseball...
, the league's 2005 traveling team.
Due to poor weather and other factors, the Skyhawks attendance was disappointing early in the inaugural 2006 season, until the team found itself in a tight, multi-team race for the first-half pennant. With a 23-19 record into the first half's final weekend, Sussex had a chance to win the first half if they could take two out of three games from the North Shore Spirit
North Shore Spirit
The North Shore Spirit was a minor-league baseball team based in Lynn, Massachusetts from 2003 to 2007. The Spirit played in the Canadian American Association of Professional Baseball , an independent league that is not affiliated with Major League Baseball or with the Minor League Baseball...
. Instead, they were swept, and the Skyhawks tumbled all the way to fifth place, one of six teams in a three-game knot at the top of the standings.
The Skyhawks never recovered, and the second half was a disaster as Sussex lost twenty games in a row at one point in 2006. Sussex finished with a 9-26 mark in the second half and a league-worst 32-48 overall. The team drew 85,126 fans to Skylands Park, an average of 2,183.
2007
The Skyhawks' 2007 season started poorly; they lost 10 of their first 11 games including a sweep at the hands of the traveling GraysThe Grays
The Grays were a professional independent baseball team. They were a traveling team which played in the Canadian-American Association of Professional Baseball, an independent league not affiliated with Major League Baseball...
franchise. Despite numerous roster changes, Sussex finished last in the season's first half with a 15-31 record. The team showed slight improvement in the second half, tying for eighth place with a 19-28 record, but the overall 34-59 record remained worst in the league.
The team saw a significant increase in overall attendance, drawing 101,638 fans over the course of the year. However, the average attendance declined due to the team having more home games in 2007 than they did in 2006. Both figures ranked seventh in the Can-Am League.
2008
In the offseason, Brian Drahman and the entire coaching staff was fired. To replace Drahman, former Houston AstrosHouston Astros
The Houston Astros are a Major League Baseball team located in Houston, Texas. They are a member of the National League Central division. The Astros are expected to join the American League West division in 2013. Since , they have played their home games at Minute Maid Park, known as Enron Field...
manager Hal Lanier
Hal Lanier
Harold Clifton Lanier is a former infielder, coach and manager in Major League Baseball. From through , Lanier played for the San Francisco Giants and New York Yankees...
was named as the Skyhawks' skipper. Lanier brought along Nick Belmonte to serve as director of player personnel. “You had to convince players things were going to be different (to get them signed),” said Belmonte, who has been teaming with Lanier for well over a decade. “Even though there weren’t superstars, they had tough outs (batting) 1-9. I think that’s what has carried them through.” http://www.canamleague.com/cgi-bin/dist/news.cgi?id=1221230303
After a slow start which saw Sussex end the month of May with a 3-8 record, the team turned things around behind clean-up hitter Matt Weston (second in the league with 22 home runs) and closer Matt Petrusek (22 saves, tied for first). By the final weekend of the first half, the Skyhawks were 25-19, just three games back of the first-place Quebec Capitales
Quebec Capitales
The Québec Capitales are a professional baseball team based in Quebec City, in Canada. The Capitales are a member of the Canadian-American Association of Professional Baseball, which is not affiliated with Major League Baseball...
—who were in Skylands Park for a four-game series. In a similar ending to 2006's first half, however, the Capitales won three of four, and Sussex had to settle for a three-way third place tie with their sister team the Jackals and the Atlantic City Surf
Atlantic City Surf
The Atlantic City Surf were a professional baseball team based in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The Surf was most recently a member of the Can-Am League, which is not affiliated with Major League Baseball...
.
The Hawks got off to another slow start in the second half; their record was just 6-11 at the end of July, and hopes of a playoff spot seemed dashed. Then, in August, the Skyhawks got red hot: they put together a seven-game winning streak and two streaks of five wins in a row, including the last five games of the regular season. Sussex wound up in a three-way tie for the second half title with Quebec and the Worcester Tornadoes
Worcester Tornadoes
The Worcester Tornadoes are a professional baseball team based in Worcester, Massachusetts, in the United States. The Tornadoes are a member of the Canadian-American Association of Professional Baseball, an independent baseball league which is not affiliated with Major League Baseball...
with a 27-20 record. The Skyhawks' combined record was enough to qualify them for the playoffs, and Lanier won manager of the year.
In the league semifinals against Worcester, the Skyhawks dropped the opener of the best-of-five series, 3-2, before roaring back to win three in a row. Pitching, which had been the Hawks' biggest weakness in 2008 (their 5.03 ERA was second-worst in the league) came through against the Tornadoes with 3-2 and 4-0 wins in games two and three. In Game 4, Worcester jumped to a 5-0 lead before Sussex scored six runs in the fourth en route to a 8-5 win, and a berth in the Can-Am League Championship Series against Quebec.
In Game 1 at Skylands Park, the circuit's top pitcher, Quebec's Michel Simard, hooked up in a pitcher's duel with Kyle Ruwe of Sussex. Finally, in the bottom of the tenth, Jorge Moreno's single scored Michael Perodin to give the Skyhawks a 3-2 win. In the second game, Sussex scored four runs in the first inning, then watched Quebec come back to take a 5-4 lead. The lead seesawed back and forth until Matt Weston's two-RBI single in the eighth sealed the Skyhawks' 8-6 win.
On September 12, 2008, the Skyhawks met Les Capitales Stade Municipal
Stade Municipal
Stade Municipal is a generic name for municipally-owned, -constructed, or -operated sport stadia in French-speaking countries.In Benin:* Stade Municipale , in Porto-Novo.In Burkina Faso:...
in Quebec, looking for an improbable sweep in the Championship Series. In game three, the Skyhawks offense bludgeoned the Caps pitchers in the early going, plating ten runs in the first four innings and cruising to a 10-5 win, becoming the first championship team to play in Skylands Park since the New Jersey Cardinals won a New York-Penn League title in their inaugural season in 1994. The Skyhawks became the fifth New Jersey team to win an independent league championship joining the aforementioned Jackals and Surf as well as the Newark Bears
Newark Bears
The Newark Bears are an American professional baseball team based in Newark, New Jersey. They are a member of the Canadian American Association of Professional Baseball, which is not affiliated with Major League Baseball. Since the 1999 season, the Bears have played their home games at Bears &...
and Somerset Patriots
Somerset Patriots
The Somerset Patriots are an American professional baseball team based in Bridgewater Township, New Jersey. They are a member of the Freedom Division of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball, which is not affiliated with Major League Baseball...
of the Atlantic League.
For Sussex, the only downside was the tiny crowds at their home playoff games: barely 2,000 for the four games combined, in a 4,000-seat stadium. (Minor league baseball playoff games often draw poorly, however, due to a lack of promotion.) Their regular season average attendance slid to 1,713, next-to-last, ahead of only the Nashua Pride.
2009
Featuring nine players from the prior year's championship team, the Skyhawks got off to a 4-1 start, taking three of four in Brockton against the RoxBrockton Rox
The Brockton Rox were a professional baseball team based in Brockton, Massachusetts, in the United States. The Rox were a member of the Canadian-American Association of Professional Baseball, which is not affiliated with Major League Baseball. From the 2002 season to 2011, the Rox played their home...
, then won their home opener, 4-3, against Worcester. But a slump during which Sussex lost seven of eight games dropped the Skyhawks below .500, and they never recovered, ending the first half of the season at 21-26, tied for last place in the Can-Am League.
In the second half, Sussex opened with two victories against Worcester, but then dropped 17 of its next 20 games. The team ended up 17-30 in the second half; its combined record of 38-56 placed the Skyhawks fifth overall, one of the two Can-Am teams left out of the playoffs.
The team's average attendance dropped for the fourth straight season to 1,695. A total of 79,663 fans came to Skylands Park during the year. After the season, manager Hal Lanier announced he would not return for 2010.
2010
The Skyhawks hired manager Ed OttEd Ott
Nathan Edward Ott is a former professional baseball catcher and coach who played in the Major Leagues for the Pittsburgh Pirates and California Angels between 1974 and 1981...
for the 2010 season. Ott was a former MLB catcher for the Pirates and Angels between 1974 and 1981. The team started out strong, going 25-21 in the first half, good enough for 3rd place overall. However, the team struggled mightily in the second half of the year with a miserable 10-35 record, by far the worst in the league. With a final record of 35-56, the Skyhawks finished in last place overall with three fewer wins than in '09. They also saw their overall attendance drop to an all-time low of 71,826 (1,670 per game).
Folding
After the 2010 season, the Skyhawks' lease at Skylands Park ended. With attendance falling and the team losing money, the ownership group began to seek a buyer so they could focus their resources on their primary team, the New Jersey JackalsNew Jersey Jackals
The New Jersey Jackals are a professional baseball team based in Little Falls, New Jersey, in the United States. The Jackals are a member of the Canadian-American Association of Professional Baseball, which is not affiliated with Major League Baseball...
. Hall was not able to find a buyer to keep the team operational for the 2011 season, and on January 11, 2011 the Skyhawks announced they were suspending operations.
The Rockland Boulders
Rockland Boulders
The Rockland Boulders is an American professional baseball team based in Pomona, New York in the County of Rockland. It is a member of the Canadian American Association of Professional Baseball, also known as the Can-Am League...
replaced the Skyhawks in the league and the league also added the New York Federals as a traveling team to even the team numbers at eight. It is unclear if the Sussex Skyhawks will return to play in 2012.
Retired numbers
| 3 Ron Perodin OF Outfielder Outfielder is a generic term applied to each of the people playing in the three defensive positions in baseball farthest from the batter. These defenders are the left fielder, the center fielder, and the right fielder... |
Uniform
- UniformUniformA uniform is a set of standard clothing worn by members of an organization while participating in that organization's activity. Modern uniforms are worn by armed forces and paramilitary organizations such as police, emergency services, security guards, in some workplaces and schools and by inmates...
colors: White with blue pinstripes for home games and grey for away games. The home uniform has the word "Skyhawks" across the front and number on the back. Road jerseys say "Sussex" on the front. The alternate jersey is blue with Skyhawks on the from and the number also on the front, with the number on the back also. Black home hats with an "S" and a talon holding a baseball coming through the center. Same hat (except in grey) on the road. - LogoLogoA logo is a graphic mark or emblem commonly used by commercial enterprises, organizations and even individuals to aid and promote instant public recognition...
design: The word "Skyhawks" in script in light blue with black and white outline superimposed over the depiction of a light blue bird in flight, holding a baseball in its talons. - MascotMascotThe term mascot – defined as a term for any person, animal, or object thought to bring luck – colloquially includes anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, professional sports team, society, military unit, or brand name...
: Scooter the Skyhawk (2006-2010).