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Best Individual Performances of the 2011 Roswell Invaders Season
The 2011 season was the beginning of Roswell Invaders baseball, and the original Invaders quickly established themselves as one of the strongest teams in the Pecos League. Roswell finished first in the regular-season standings and advanced through the postseason with series victories over the Alpine Cowboys and Ruidoso Osos.
The inaugural roster featured Josh Grady, Kevin Hoef, Clifton Thomas, Trivon Howard, Josh Cakebread, Joey Friedman, Brian Ramirez, Adrian Martinez and Jake Bruns, along with pitchers Reed Brown, Mike McCravey, Anthony Carrillo, Charles Williams and Dakota Laufenberg.
From dominant pitching performances to multi-home-run games and huge offensive nights, the first Invaders team produced a number of memorable individual performances.
Josh Grady — Eight Innings, Seven Strikeouts and Only Three Hits Allowed
Josh Grady delivered one of the finest pitching performances of Roswell's inaugural season when the Invaders defeated the Carlsbad Bats 9-1 on June 9.
Grady worked eight innings, struck out seven and allowed only three hits. He completely controlled the game and gave Roswell one of its most dominant starts of the year.
Grady also helped himself offensively, collecting two hits in three at-bats.
Brian Ramirez led the Roswell offense during the same June 9 victory over Carlsbad.
Ramirez went 3-for-5 as Roswell scored nine runs. Combined with Grady's outstanding performance on the mound, Ramirez helped make the game one of Roswell's most complete victories of the season.
Kevin Hoef produced one of the signature power performances of the 2011 season when Roswell defeated the White Sands Pupfish 9-5 on June 18.
Hoef went 2-for-5 and both of his hits left the ballpark. His two-home-run game provided the power Roswell needed to defeat White Sands on the road in Alamogordo.
It was one of the most memorable individual hitting performances by an Invader during the inaugural season.
Reed Brown delivered one of the most important pitching performances of the season on June 25 when Roswell defeated Alpine 2-1.
Brown went the distance, pitching all nine innings and facing 33 hitters. In a game where Roswell's offense managed only two runs, there was virtually no margin for error.
Brown answered the challenge and carried the Invaders to the one-run victory.
Brian Lewis — Seven Innings and Only Two Hits Allowed
Roswell received another outstanding pitching performance in its July 3 victory over Ruidoso.
Brian Lewis pitched seven innings and surrendered only two hits while earning the victory. Roswell won 7-2 behind Lewis' dominant outing and Howard's three-hit performance.
Kevin Hoef produced another spectacular offensive game on July 7 as Roswell scored 15 runs.
Hoef went a perfect 4-for-4, giving him one of the team's best single-game hitting performances of the entire season.
Earlier in the year Hoef had hit two home runs in a victory over White Sands. His four-hit performance added another memorable game to his outstanding 2011 season.
Josh Grady finished Roswell's dramatic August 5 victory with a perfect ninth inning.
Grady retired all three hitters he faced, including one by strikeout, and was credited with the victory when Roswell scored the winning run in the bottom of the ninth.
It was another memorable performance in a season in which Grady contributed both as a starter and out of the bullpen.
The Invaders saved one of their biggest offensive performances for the postseason. On August 12, Roswell opened its playoff series against Alpine with a 19-4 victory.
The huge win gave Roswell the early advantage in a series the Invaders eventually won two games to one.
The inaugural Roswell Invaders roster established a winning tradition immediately.
Kevin Hoef supplied some of the season's biggest offensive performances, including a two-home-run game against White Sands and a perfect 4-for-4 performance in July.
Trivon Howard repeatedly produced multi-hit games, including three-hit performances against Ruidoso and White Sands.
Josh Cakebread had a perfect 4-for-4 game against Alpine and remained an important part of the lineup throughout the summer.
Clifton Thomas supplied both average and power, highlighted by his three-hit, home-run performance against Las Cruces.
On the mound, Josh Grady delivered several of the season's defining performances. His eight-inning, seven-strikeout, three-hit performance against Carlsbad was one of Roswell's best starts, and he later earned the victory in the decisive 10-inning playoff win over Alpine.
The 2011 Invaders went from a brand-new franchise to the top of the Pecos League regular-season standings. Hoef's power, Howard's hitting, Cakebread's consistency, Thomas' production, Grady's pitching and Brown's complete-game excellence helped make the first season of Roswell Invaders baseball one of the most important in franchise history.
