Syracuse pisses one away, New Hampshire does the same and Auburn loses in OT. However, Dunedin and Lansing got the pitching and the W's while the boys from the Gulf Coast ended their year on a winning note, thanks in small part to a rehabbing Brandon League. Total it all up and that gives the affiliates a saw-off at 3-3.
Buffalo, NY - It appeared the baseball gods were smiling on the Chiefs in the top of the 1st. They loaded up the bases on a single and two errors on the Bisons left side of the infield, E6 and E5. Chad Mottola took advantage by delivering a 2 run single and the third run came home on the Bisons 3rd error of the inning thanks to a throwing error from center field and it was 3-0 for the Train Conductors. Josh Banks set down the Indians affiliates 1-2-3 in the bottom of the 1st but he surrendered two runs on a walk, double and single in the 2nd to shave Syracuse's lead to 3-2. However, the Chiefs responded with 3 runs in inning number 3 as they began the frame by loading the bases. Mike Vento and Kevin Barker each knocked home a run with a single and a John-Ford Griffin double play groundout produced the third run to up the Chiefs lead to 6-2. Josh Banks kept the Bisons off the board until the 5th when he gave up a run on a single and double but he lasted 6 innings, turning a 6-3 lead over to the bullpen. That's when things went to hell in a hurry!
Jordan De Jong got the first out of the 7th but was blitzed for a single, homer, double, and 3 more singles and that turned a 6-3 lead into an 8-6 deficit. Scott Sauerbeck was called in to get the final out of the disastrous 7th. Sauerbeck issued a leadoff walk in the 8th but rallied to strike out the side to hold the line for the Chiefs as they tried to rally. Things looked promising when Wayne Lydon jacked one out over the center field wall (his 3rd) to lead off the 9th and former Bison Hector Luna got aboard with a one out single, representing the tying run. However, Chad Mottola lined out and John-Ford Griffin grounded out as the comeback fell a run short.
Before the bullpen snatched defeat from the jaws of victory, Josh Banks was in line for the "W" after yielding 3 runs on 6 hits and a walk over 6 innings, striking out 5. He recorded 8 groundball outs and threw 70 of his 105 pitches for strikes. Had Scott Sauerbeck started the 7th instead of De Jong, this game might've turned out differently. He struck out 3 and walked one over 1 1/3 scoreless innings.
Swinging the big stick for the Chiefs was Hector Luna, who went 4-for-5 with 2 doubles and 2 runs scored. Mike Vento and Kevin Barker had 2 hits and an RBI apiece.
Norwich, CT - The Fisher Cats handed the ball to Ty Andrew Taubenheim and he had a quick 2-0 lead when he took to the mound, courtesy of the last two winners of the Eastern's League player of the week award. Last week's winner, David Smith, belted his 23rd homer of the year to score this week's winner, Dustin Majewski, who led off the game with a single. The Defenders came to close to scoring in their half of the 1st when Eugenio Velez wound up converting a one-out single into a virtual triple by stealing 2nd and 3rd. Taubenheim then plunked John Bowker with a pitch to put runners on the corners but he got a strikeout and flyball to get out of the inning. He only gave up a single in the 2nd but the Giants affiliates got to the big righthander with a pair of runs in the 3rd. Two leadoff walks, a wild pitch, an RBI groundout and an RBI single produced a 2-2 tie after 3. Taubenheim continued to flirt with danger by giving up two leadoff singles in the 4th before rallying with a pair of punchouts, he issued a single and walk in the 5th and yielded another base knock in the 6th but he continued to put gooseeggs on the scoreboard.
In the 7th, the Fisher Cats had runners on the corners with one away on singles by Rob Cosby and Juan Peralta but they could not convert. Ty Taubenheim gave up a 2 out base hit in the home half of the 7th and lefty Jesse Carlson was summoned from the pen to get an inning-ending groundout to keep the game tied. It would remain that way until the bottom of the 9th when Carlson gave up a double and a single that resulted in a walk-off victory for the Defenders.
The F-Cats only got a half-dozen hits in this one and their plate discipline was, pardon my French, for s**t as they struck out 10 times while drawing just one walk. Ty Taubenheim put together one ugly "quality start". He surrendered 2 runs in 6 2/3 innings but gave up 8 hits, 3 walks and hit a batter while uncorking a wild pitch. He did get 8 groundball outs. It was a tough loss for Jesse Carlson, who gave up 3 hits but struck out 3 in 1 2/3 innings.
Lakeland, FL - D-Jays starter Brandon Magee came out firing in this one, punching out 4 of the first 5 batters he faced. He gave up a pair of 2 out singles in the 2nd but he was able to strand them with a groundball out. Dunedin had a runner get to 2nd in the first two innings but could not deliver him home. That didn't bother Magee as he set down 7 in a row to get through 4 innings. His offence finally rewarded him with 2 runs in the 5th as Carlo Cota doubled home a Chris Gutierrez two-bagger and Eric Nielsen brought in Cota with a 2 out single.
On the mound, Brandon Magee just kept on rolling as he retired 15 batters in a row before giving up a 2 out double in the 7th (just 26 short of Bobby Jenks!). Magee would've gotten out of the 7th but Anthony Hatch booted a ball at 3rd to keep the inning going, putting runners on the corners. Left-hander Daryl Harang relieved Magee and ended the inning with a punchout to keep the score 2-zip for Dunedin. Chad Blackwell worked a perfect 8th, recording a strikeout and Dunedin added an insurance in the 9th on Luke Hetherington's 6th big fly of the season. That turned out to be a big run when Connor Falkenbach took to the hill. The potential tying run came up to the dish when he gave up a leadoff double and single. A groundball double play produced the Tigers first run but Falkenbach induced another ground ball to get the final out for his 30th save.
Brandon Magee collected his 9th win of the year with 6 2/3 shutout innings, giving up just 3 hits and striking out 5. He didn't walk a batter and 8 of the 15 outs in play were on the ground. At the dish, Eric Nielsen reached 3 times with 2 hits and a walk and drove in a run. Brian Jeroloman was 2-for-3 but more importantly, the BJWM is up to 80 and his OBP is an astounding .420.
Lansing, MI - Things were less than promising for the hometown nine after 2 innings. The Dodgers affiliates got to Lugnuts starter Kyle Ginley for a solo homer in the 1st and four of the first 5 Lansing hitters went down swinging and didn't even get a ball out of the infield. However, Ginley settled down by pitching a perfect 2nd inning and saw a walk erased in the 3rd by his batterymate Kevin Nelson, who gunned down the runner trying to steal 2nd.
That seemed to spark the Lugnut bats in the home half of the 3rd as Kevin Nelson tripled. He was joined on the basepaths by Raul Barron and Sean Shoffit, who each drew walks with Barron stealing 2nd before the Shoffit walk. Jonathan Diaz took one for the team to bring home the tying run and Matthew Liuzza drew a bases loaded walk to give the 'Nuts a 2-1 lead. They would leave the bases loaded but Kyle Ginley got the Lugnuts offence back to the dish in a hurry by spinning a perfect 4th. The Lugnuts then exploded in the bottom half of the frame with 4 runs thanks to a 2 run single by Raul Barron and a 2 run double by Travis Snider to make it 6-1 Lansing. Though he gave up a run on a single and double in the 5th, Kyle Ginley faced the minimum through the 6th and 7th, yielding just a single. A Matthew Lane RBI single increased Lansing's lead to 7-2 in the 7th. Southpaw Benjamin Harrison did not have his best stuff in the 8th as he gave up two runs on a double, a single and two walks while uncorking two wild pitches along with a Kevin Nelson passed ball. Edgar Estanga had to put out the fire by striking out the final hitter of the inning. Estanga would set down the Loons in order, punctuating his 3rd save of the season by striking out the final batter to end the game.
It was an excellent outing for Kyle Ginley, who got his 7th win of the year by allowing only 2 runs on 4 hits and a walk through 7 innings, striking out 8. Raul Barron had the best batting line of the night with one hit, one walk, a stolen base, two runs scored and two RBI. Kevin Nelson had a 2 hit night and Travis Snider had a double and took one for the team and drove in a pair. Despite a hat trick of K's, Snider is hitting .309 on the season. The Lugnuts did strike out 10 times but that was offset by drawing 6 walks and making the most of their 7 hits on the night.
Batavia 5 Auburn 4 (10 Innings)
Batavia, NY - The Muckdogs threatened to break this one wide open in the 1st against Auburn lefty Luis Perez. The Cardinals affiliates loaded up the bases with one out on a single, a Darin Mastroianni throwing error at 2nd and a walk. However, only one run crossed the plate on a run scoring groundout before Perez got out of the frame with a punchout. The Doubledays would tie the game in the top of the 2nd when Manny Rodriguez launched his 8th homer of the season. Luis Perez got the Muckdogs 1-2-3 in the 2nd but was burned for a triple and single and Batavia again grabbed a one run lead. A wild pitch and a fly ball advanced a runner to 3rd and Perez uncorked another pitch that J.P. Arencibia had trouble handling. However, Arencibia got to the ball and flipped it over to Perez, who got the final out of the frame by tagging out the runner at the plate to keep the score 2-1 Batavia. Perez worked a one-hit 4th inning but ran into more problems in the 5th. He got the first two hitters but gave up a single. He compounded that by making a throwing error on a pickoff attempt, advancing the runner all the way to 3rd. Perez then plunked a batter before giving up a single that plated the two runs, also helped in part by an error by right fielder Shawn Scobee. That made it 4-1 Batavia after 5.
The D-Days would rally for a pair of runs in the 6th. An Adam Calderone walk and a Darin Mastroianni single were advanced 90 more feet on an errant pickoff throw from the mound. Brad Emaus would double those runs home but would be stranded as the D-Days could not cash in the tying run with nobody out. Luis Perez would plunk his 2nd hitter of the night to lead off the home half of the 6th and he was relieved by Adam Rogers, who got a double play ball and a fly out to end the frame. Rogers only gave up a single in the 7th and the D-Days got the tying run in the top of the 8th thanks to two walks and two wild pitches as Darin Mastroianni came in to count to tie the game at 4-4. Rogers surrended just a double in the 8th and Ryan Bird forced the game into extra innings by striking out a pair in the 9th. He struck out two more batters in the 10th but the ill-tempered Muckdogs flipped Bird the bird with a walk off homer to send the fans at Dwyer Stadium home happy (except for the ones who made the trip from Auburn).
Manny Rodriguez, Darin Mastroianni and J.P. Arencibia each got on base twice with Man-Rod enjoying the only 2 hit night for the D-Days. However, much like their double-A counterparts, their plate discipline left skid marks on the porcelain as they struck out a whopping 13 times while drawing just 5 walks.
On the mound, Luis Perez had a shaky night by allowing 9 baserunners (6 hits, 1 walk, 2 HBP) through 5 innings, giving up 4 runs (1 earned). However, his errant pickoff throw contributed to the unearned runs. He did strike out 4. Adam Rogers gave the D-Days a chance to rally with 3 scoreless innings of 2 hit ball, striking out one.
Dunedin, FL - The Gulf Coast Jays completed the Florida sweep against the Tigers as they wrapped up their regular season on a winning note. Brandon League (you might've heard of him!) got the start in this one. League surrendered a leadoff single but got a strikeout and a groundball double play to end the inning and his day. Marcus Walden took over for League in the 2nd, giving up only a single. The G-Jays got on the board in their half of the 2nd as Kevin Ahrens singled home a Jonathan Del Campo double and Ahrens scored on a bases loaded walk by Tony's boy, Luis Fernandez. Marcus Walden loaded the bases in the top of the 3rd on a double and two walks but only gave up one run, which came in after a ground ball double play and that cut the G-Jays lead to 2-1. The G-Jays would put the game away with a 5-run 4th inning on an Eric Eiland RBI single, a two run single by Bartolo Nicolas, an RBI base knock by John Tolisano and a run scoring double by Jonathan Del Campo.
Marcus Walden pitched a perfect 4th and 5th inning before turning the ball over to Jason Monti, who only gave up a leadoff single. A single, error, passed ball and a sac fly led to an unearned run off Ontario lefty Mike Lynch in the 7th, lefty Jacob Cook had a one walk 8th and Robert Leffler ended his GCL season in style by striking out the side in the 9th. Marcus Walden got the win with 4 innings of one run ball on 2 hits and 2 walks while striking out 2. He got also 7 groundouts.
Jonathan Del Campo and Eric Eiland led the Jays attack with 2 hits each. Del Campo had a double, a walk, an RBI and a run scored while Eiland stole a base, reached base for a third time after being plunked and drove in a run.
*** 3 Stars!!! ***
3. Josh Banks, Syracuse - 6IP, 6H, 3R, 3ER, 1BB, 4K, 8 groundouts, 70 Strikes/105 Pitches
2. Kyle Ginley, Lansing - 7IP, 4H, 2R, 2ER, 1BB, 8K = W
1. Brandon Magee, Dunedin - 6.2IP, 3H, 0R, 0ER, 0BB, 5K, 15 consecutive batters retired = W
Honourable Mentions.........
Syracuse - Josh Banks, Scott Sauerbeck, Hector Luna, Wayne Lydon, Chad Mottola, Mike Vento, Kevin Barker.
New Hampshire - David Smith, Dustin Majewski, Ty Taubenheim, Jesse Carlson.
Dunedin - Eric Nielsen, Brian Jeroloman, Luke Hetherington, Carlo Cota, Chris Gutierrez, Daryl Harang, Chad Blackwell, Connor Falkenbach.
Lansing - Raul Barron, Kevin Nelson, Travis Snider, Sean Shoffit, Matt Liuzza, Brian Pettway, Jonathan Baksh, Edgar Estanga.
Auburn - Manny Rodriguez, Brad Emaus, Darin Mastroianni, J.P. Arencibia, Adam Rogers, Ryan Bird.
GCL Blue Jays - Jonathan Del Campo, Eric Eiland, Luis Fernandez, Bartolo Nicolas, John Tolisano, Kevin Ahrens, Jeff Paquette, Brandon League, Marcus Walden, Jason Monti, Jacob Cook, Robert Leffler.
Standings/Streaks.........
Syracuse 60-77, 18.0 GB - Scranton WB, 2L
New Hampshire 68-66, 10.5 GB - Trenton (tied w/ Portland for 2nd), 1L
Dunedin 41-24, 2.0 GA - Clearwater, 1W
Lansing 37-26, 4.5 GB - West Michigan (clinched playoff spot) , 5W
Auburn 39-26, 4.0 GA - Mahoning Valley, 1L
GCL Blue Jays 36-24, 6.5 GB - GCL Yankees, 8W
Today's Schedule........
New Hampshire @ Connecticut (DH), 6:05 p.m.
Syracuse @ Buffalo, 7:05 p.m.
Dayton @ Lansing, 7:05 p.m.
Mahoning Valley @ Auburn, 7:05 p.m.
Dunedin - Scheduled Day Off
GCL Blue Jays - End of Regular Season
Bonus Material......
Game Story on New Hampshire's crushing loss from nhfishercats.com
On a happier note, Dustin Majewski makes it back to back EL Player of the Week awards for the F-Cats
Game Story on Lansing's solid victory from lansinglugnuts.com
A feature on the Doubledays C.J. Ebarb from the Auburn Citizen.
