Josh Banks had a typical Banks start on Saturday, seven innings three hits, no walks, seven K's. Among those seven hits was a two run home run and a triple that scored on a wild pitch. Banks had a 6-8 ground ball, fly ball ratio. The Chiefs scored three runs in the third, John-Ford Griffin, Chad Mottola, Kevin Barker and Eric Kratz each singled and Brad Hassey reached on an error by Ben Zobrist to score three runs. Brian Wolfe came on in relief of Banks in the eighth and gave up the go-ahead run thaanks to a triple by Zobrist and a single.
The Chiefs went to the ninth down 4-3 and facing Seth McClung. Eric Kratz led off and flew out; Brad Hassey reached on an error by the second baseman; Wayne Lydon singled; Russ Adams popped out; Curtis Thigpen reached on an error by Zobrist, bases loaded, two outs. With Griffin at the plate McClung threw a wild pitch which allowed Hassey to score with the tying run; Griffin then walked to re-load the bases. Howie Clark came to the plate and singled on a 3-2 pitch to win the game.
The hot hitting Curtis Thigpen went 1-4 with a walk, Rey Olmedo had the night off, Howie Clark played short.
Binghamton 7 New Hampshire 9 - continuation of suspended game
This game restarted in the fifth with Binghamton up 5-4. The Mets added two more with a home run off Orlando Trias to make it 7-4. But Trias in the sixth, Machi in the seventh and eighth and Gronkiewicz in the ninth shutout the Mets the rest of the way. New Hampshire narrowed it to 7-5 in the fifth, Rob Cosby, back from the DL, doubled, went to third on a Mathews single and scored on a David Smith sac fly. New Hampshire scored three in the sixth, Dustin Majewski reached second on an error and scored on a Peralta single. Robinzon Diaz singled and Mathews scored both with a triple. The Fisher Cats tacked on an insurance run in the eighth with back to back doubles by Ryan Klosterman and Manny Mayorson.
Juan Peralta went 3-5 with three ribbies to bump his average to .375. While Peralta is still only 23, 24 next month, this hitting is inconsistent with the last couple of years of his career so we need a larger sample size before we get too excited. Peralta hit .224 in 15 games at Dunedin to start the season. Manny Mayorson and Aaron Mathews also had three hits each.
Binghamton 8 New Hampshire 4 - game 2, 7 innings
Yusaku Iriki made his New Hampshire debut and it did not go well. Iriki gave up a run in e first on three hits, a run in the second on two hits, a run in the third on a walk and a double and a run in the fifth. Jesse carlson relived Iriki in the fifth and immediately allowed a two run home run. Carlson and Matumoto gave up another three runs in relief.
New Hampshire scored a run in the first on a lead-off hime run by Dustin Majewski, his third. In the second Manny Mayorson and Ryan Klosterman singled and both scored on a double by John Schneider. New Hampshire only managed two hits over the next five innings. Majewski and Mayorson had two hits each.
Dunedin 10 Lakeland 2 - game suspended in 6th inning due to power failure
Victor Zambrano started for Dunedin and was wild, seven walks in four innings. Zambrano only gave up one hit but it followed three walks and cost him two runs. Dunedin scored two runs in the first with three singles and a hit batter. They three more hits and a run in the second inning. In the third inning three more runs scored with two more hits, an error and another hit batter. The heavier lumber came out in the fourth to help score four runs, Kyle Philips and Anthony Hatch each doubled. Luke Hetherington and Cory Patton each have three hits, so far.
The Wisconsin starting pitcher was "Zambrano-esque", in the first he walked the first four hitters, had two wild pitches and a passed ball, and a Matt Liuzza single, all of which added up to three runs. In the second inning Travis Snider doubled in a run. In the fourth inning Snider hit a three run home run, his third, scoring Jonathan Diaz and Raul Barron each of whom had singled. Zach Dials gave up a triple and a run in the first and was cruising until the fifth when he left the bases loaded. In the sixth the first three hitters singled and Dials gave up two runs. Dials went 5.2 innings and gave up three runs on six hits and two walks. Snider was 2-4 with four ribbies to bump his average to .366.
3 star selection
3rd star - Howie Clark, walk-off game winning hit
2nd star - Manny Mayorson, five hits in two games
1st star - Travis Snider, 4 RBI's
