L.I. Ducks ~ Turn Back The Road Warriors

From the desk of:  THE WEBBED SPIKES NINE



LONG ISLAND DUCKS:  Winning Streak Hits Seven Games.


A first inning 1-0 deficit meant little to Long Island.  Picking up where they left off before Monday's break in the schedule, the Ducks waisted no time erasing that deficit with two runs in the second inning, and for good measure, two more in the third.


Freddie Thon doubled home both runs for Long Island in the second inning scoring Matt Esquivel and Matt Padgett.  In the third inning, back-to-back doubles by J.T. House and Matt Esquivel scored Javier Colina and John Rodriguez respectively, making the game a 4-1 affair favoring the Ducks.


After that first inning, starting pitcher Dave Williams kept things quiet and departed the game on the winning side after five innings against the Road Warriors.  In only his second start for the Ducks in seventeen appearances this season, the Road Warriors touched him for eight hits, but only mustered the one run against him.  He walked one batter and struck out five before giving way to Bob Zimmermann for the sixth.


That's when the Road Warriors made things close.  After pitching a scoreless sixth inning, Zimmermann needed help from Valerio De Los Santos and Jeremy Hill to keep the Ducks on top after being charged with two earned runs in the top of the seventh inning.  De Los Santos allowed a hit and one of those runs while Hill allowed a hit and plunked a batter before getting the third out.


The Ducks struck again in the home half of the seventh.  Kinnard Jones led off the inning with a double.  He advanced to third and then scored on a Javier Colina sac-fly to make it a 5-3 game.


Jeremy Hill stayed in to pitch the eighth inning and struck out two of the three batters he faced.  Then, Ehren Wassermann was called upon to close the game for Long Island in the ninth inning.  The Road Warriors made a go of it.  But Wassermann finally closed out the game after giving up a run for his tenth save of the season.

The Ducks are now winners of seven straight.  They improved their second-half record to 24-7; 4.5 games ahead of second place Bridgeport.  Overall, the Ducks are now 64-30 this year.  So far this season, they are the only Atlantic League team above sixty victories.





Mike.BTB