'Nadoes get first win of half.

Byline: Dave Borges

WEST HAVEN, Conn. - It was Latino Night last night at Yale Field and the Worcester Tornadoes' Latin contingent came up big.

Rico Santana went 4 for 4, Dominic Ramos and Yohanny Valera added two hits apiece and Alex Pena got the win as the Tornadoes won for the first time in more than a week, 6-3 over the New Haven County Cutters.

Valera drove in the go-ahead run with a two-out double in the fourth that easily scored Ramos, who had led off with a two-bagger. In truth, just about everyone in the Worcester lineup contributed, regardless of nationality, as the Tornadoes rapped out 13 hits. Perhaps most impressively, Worcester got its leadoff man on base in eight of the nine innings; five of them wound up scoring.

In snapping a six-game losing skid, Worcester also won for the first time since the second half of the Can-Am League schedule began on Monday. The Tornadoes are 1-5, 25-28 overall.

New Haven (4-2, 25-28) had the tying runs on second and third in both the seventh and eighth innings against reliever Chris Shank, but the righthander skipped out of both jams. Ervin Alcantara got caught in a rundown between third and home, then Shank struck out Chas Terni to end the seventh, and Shank caught Alcantara looking at a third strike to end the eighth.

John Birtwell struck out a pair in the ninth and notched his sixth save.

The Tornadoes tacked on an insurance run in the eighth when Josh Beauregard (who had drawn a leadoff walk) scored on Patrick Perry's sacrifice fly.

Pena scattered three hits over five innings and evened his record to 4-4. He gave up three runs, but only one was earned, as Worcester's suspect defense reared its ugly head again in the second.

With runners on first and second and none out, Matt Hackney bunted hard back to Pena. He fired to third to nab Chris Gaskin, but his throw was well wide of the bag and rolled into left field, allowing both Gaskin and Orlando Encarnacion to score.

Worcester tied it back up in the third on RBI singles from Omar Pena and Santana, and went ahead for good on Valera's double in the fourth.

Beauregard, Worcester's center fielder, made about as nice a catch as you'll ever see, robbing Matt Mercurio of a hit with a diving catch to his right in the fourth inning.

Santana's reward for four hits in his first four trips to the plate? He was pinch-hit for by Keith Beauregard in the eighth. Beauregard bounced into an inning-ending groundout.

Greg Smith was the only Worcester starting position player not to manage a hit. He did hit a sacrifice fly in the second and was robbed of a hit by New Haven first baseman Chris Gaskin in the seventh.