L.I. DUCKS ~ Reaffirming First Place

From the desk of:  WEBBED SPIKES



LONG ISLAND DUCKS:  Veni; Vidi ; Quack!

Long Island Takes First Game In Series Between Liberty Division's Top Two Teams.


They came; The saw; And they Quacked Mightily.  Game one between the first place Ducks and second place Blue Crabs goes to the team invading South Maryland from Long Island.


The Ducks used the long ball; Mike Loree; and a strong effort by the bullpen to trap them some Maryland Blue Crabs Friday evening.  But they needed a mid-game comeback to do it. 


The Ducks and Mike Loree were trailing 2-0 after three innings.  Then in the fourth inning, Matt Esquivel doubled with one out.  Matt Padgett singled advancing Esquivel to third.  J.R. House grounded into a double play but Esquivel scored on the play.


The Ducks blew the game open in the fifth inning.  Javier Colina hit a two run home run scoring himself and Ray Navarrete who doubled.  John Rodriguez singled and scored on Long Island's second home run of the inning when Matt Esquivel pounded a Brian Slocum pitch over the wall for a 5-2 Ducks' lead.


South Maryland came back with a run in the bottom of the fifth, but the Ducks took it back in the sixth.  Leading off, J.R. House greeted new Blue Crabs pitcher; Jason Waddell; by crunching his 3-1 pitch for a solo home run and a 6-3 lead.


Another tack-on run in the ninth and South Maryland was officially 5 games back of Long Island in the first half standings.


The bullpen was dynamite in relief of Mike Loree.  Bob Zimmermann was first out of the pen and pitched two innings of no-hit ball and struck out two.  Ehren Wasserman closed out the game for the Ducks with two innings of one-hit ball.  He struck out one and earned his third save this season.


Ehren Wassermann continues to pitch with authority out of the bullpen.  In 30 innings pitched all in relief this season, he has 31 strikeouts while allowing just 24 hits and only two walks!  He's 3-0 with a 1.50 ERA.


Mike Loree won his League leading eighth game versus just one loss.  But he wasn't as sharp as he's been and got smacked around somewhat.  He surrendered eleven hits to the Blue Crabs and allowed them to get out to a 2-0 early lead.  He lasted only five innings Friday evening.  South Maryland scored three times against him but only two runs were earned.  While he was more hittable in this start, Mike Loree was still just as dominant all the same.  He limited himself to one walk allowed and struck out seven Blue Crabs.  His League leading ERA now stands at 1.99 and his League leading strikeout total now stands at sixty-four.



EXTRA INNING:
Kennard Jones went 0 for 5 which just might precipitate a switching of Kraig Binick from the nine-spot in the line-up, back to the lead-off spot; which is where he batted before suffering a facial injury.



LIBERTY DIVISION STANDINGS:
1st - Long Island Ducks................32-17    .653
2nd - S. Maryland Blue Crabs.....27-22    .551    5 Games Back

TODAY

GAME TWO

LONG ISLAND DUCKS

vs.

South Maryland Blue Crabs

From parts south of New York

Mike.BTB