Visiting hawks having a snack, lightning storms and walk-off wins - Tuesday's WooSox game had it all for fans

WORCESTER — At least for one night, Woofster was dethroned as the most popular mascot at Polar Park.

The WooSox’ friendly, furry friend could only watch as the 6,864 in attendance Tuesday night were focused on a low-flying hawk that landed on the guide wire for the protective netting behind home plate.

The sun was setting behind the ballpark and it was a nice night for a game. The hawk leisurely sat on the wire as a squirrel dangled lifeless from the bird’s talons. Fortunately, the seats were empty directly below the hawk’s front-row perch.

Since the ballpark was built in the Canal District, hawks have been common visitors to Polar Park. The birds of prey enjoy watching baseball from the light poles, or atop the roof, or circling the trains on the Providence-Worcester railroad, and now on the protective netting.

In fact, an unfortunate fan during the team’s inaugural season last summer was on the receiving end of a bathroom break of said hawk. It became a social media star again Tuesday night as the WooSox finished with a dramatic 9-8 extra-inning, walk-off win over the Syracuse Mets in the first game of a six-game homestand. The teams met again at noon Wednesday.

Connor Wong’s RBI double provided the heroics in the bottom of Tuesday night's 10th inning.

“Just a bunch of grinders,” Wong said of his teammates. “We have really good energy in the dugout all game and we know we’re never out of games and anything can happen with this group of guys.”

Still, the hawk took center stage.

“I heard the fans getting loud and I was like, ‘What’s going on?’ You see everyone looking in a general direction and there’s a big bird and it had a squirrel,” Wong said with a smile. “You had that and then the lightning storm in left-center. Then we get the showers toward the end of the game — good day to be a camera person.”

The hawk sat on the wire for a few minutes and the fans were completely entertained by its presence. Even the players in the dugout and on the field were trying to figure out the commotion, because nothing exciting was happening on the field at that point. Finally, a foul ball startled the hawk and it flew away with its dinner still in its grasp.

With the time players spend on the field, it’s not unusual to witness some crazy things. WooSox’ Ryan Fitzgerald remembers seeing a skunk run across the field while he was playing in Salem in 2019.

“We had a grounds crew guy just chasing after it, and it took about 15 minutes for him to get it,” Fitzgerald said.

WooSox manager Chad Tracy has seen a lot during his career, but watching the hawk do its thing was one atop the list.

“We saw him up there and noticed he had something in his talons,” Tracy said.

When the manager was shown photos he was surprised by what was captured on film.

“That was a big hawk,” he said after the win. “When he went up over the stadium and spread out I was like, ‘Oof.’ These things eat dogs and cats. Holy cow.”

Since the WooSox have Woofster, Smiley Ball, and Roberto the Rocket as the team’s mascots, we created a Twitter poll, asking fans to vote “Andre” or “Dawson” as the hawk’s new name after Hall of Famer Andre Dawson, who played two seasons for the Red Sox in 1993 and 1994.

There were 120 votes when the game was over, and 58 percent picked Dawson. However, many more fans wrote in “Harrelson” as a possible choice after former Red Sox broadcaster Ken Harrelson.

Oh, and there was a baseball game to be played.

The WooSox began the homestand with a victory thanks in part to an offensive barrage by Christian Stewart, who went 3 for 5 with a pair of singles and a two-run homer. Maybe the hawk was an omen.

After Woofster signed postgame autographs, he was seen sniffing around the outskirts of the ballpark in search of his newest nemesis. Smiley was even carrying a bat. There’s drama on Madison.

Contact Joe McDonald at JMcDonald2@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @JoeyMacHockey. 

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Visiting hawks having a snack, lightning storms and walk-off wins - Tuesday's WooSox game had it all for fans