Friday, May 20, 2005

NEWSOM TO PITCH FOR RED SOX IN HALL OF FAME GAME

MEDFORD – Randy Newsom (Cincinnati, OH/St. Xavier HS), a 2004 Tufts University graduate who is currently pitching in the Boston Red Sox minor league system, is scheduled to pitch in the Hall of Fame Game in Cooperstown, New York on Monday (May 23) with the Major League team against the Detroit Tigers.

The 2004 World Champion Red Sox and the Tigers will meet in the 59th annual Hall of Fame Game at historic Doubleday Field. The only in-season exhibition game held during the Major League Baseball championship season, the Hall of Fame Game has been scheduled annually since 1940, matching teams from across the majors at the 10,000-seat stadium in the pastoral village of Cooperstown.

The Red Sox signed Newsom as a free agent last summer after he finished his career at Tufts. In four years with the Jumbos, he had an 18-7 record and 3.05 earned run average in 209.1 innings. In 18 relief appearances with the team's Rookie League affiliate in Fort Myers, Florida last summer, Newsom compiled a 2-2 record, 2.81 era and four saves with 25 strikeouts in 32 innings. This spring he is pitching in extended spring training, and will likely join the Lowell Spinners, Boston's short-season Class A squad, when their season starts in June.

With some exceptions, the Hall of Fame Game will feature the Major League rosters of both teams. The Red Sox will use a pitching staff consisting of minor leaguers, possibly giving Newsom an opportunity to pitch against Major League hitters.

"I don't know that many details, but they are flying me up Sunday to Boston and then I am making the road trip with the big league club," Newsom said. "Obviously, it's a very exciting opportunity for me."

The 2005 Hall of Fame Game marks the third consecutive year, and the third time ever, that the Game has been held independently of Hall of Fame Weekend, which is scheduled for July 29-August 1, 2005. In 2003, the Game was moved to June, where a full weekend of programming now accompanies the Game.

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