L.I. Ducks: Mickey Jannis Tosses One-Hitter Over York

From the desk of:  THE WEBBED SPIKES NINE

Long Island Ducks: Mickey Jannis Loses No-Hit Bid After 7.2 Innings Pitched; Flock Win Rubber Game Over York.

On an atypically dank night for June baseball, Long Island Ducks right hand starter Mickey Jannis toed the rubber at Bethpage Ballpark in Tuesday's rubber game against the York Revolution.

The Ducks needed a win in order to keep pace with Somerset, whom won earlier in the day to extended their 1st place lead over Long Island by 5.5 games.

The Ducks promptly gave knuckle-baller Jannis a 3-0 lead in the 1st inning with help from opposing starter Rommie Lewis, whom walked in 3 straight runs with the bases loaded.  He issued 5 walks overall and 4 hits before being relieved after 5 innings

Meanwhile, Mickey Jannis enjoyed a far better experience.  He allowed no runs and no hits over his first 6 innings pitched, issued 3 walks and fanned 7 batters.  He walked 2 in the opening frame and another in the 2nd, then gained control, and struck out the side in the 5th.

Jannis walked his 4th batter in the top of the 7th, but remained untouched for a hit after 25 batters faced.

Mickey returned to the hill for the 8th inning already having exceeded 105 pitches for the night.

He quickly fanned York's first batter, third baseman Steve Proscia, to tie his season high of 8 strikeouts.  Next, number nine hitter and center fielder Sean Smith drew the 5th walk issued by Jannis.  Back to the top of the order, right fielder Shannon Wilkerson popped out foul to first baseman Jon Griffin.  Ironically, shortstop Wilson Valdez then grounded a weak tapper to short that left Dan Lyons little chance for throwing out the speedy Valdez.  Unfortunately, he indeed legged out an infield hit to spoil Mickey Jannis' no-hit bid.

Jannis then fanned his 9th and final batter of the evening to establish a season high.  He departed on the winning side of a 3-0 game, after having faced 30 batters, and tossing a stellar mix of 134 pitches, of which 84 (63%) went for strikes.

• Mickey Jannis is now 3-2 and leads the Atlantic League with a 1.55 ERA and a .189 BAA.  He is 4th with 38 strikeouts in 46.1 innings pitched, and owns a 0.970 WHiP.

Ryan Kussmaul entered the game to close out the 9th in relief of Jannis, and earned his league leading 10th save of the season.

The victory gives the Ducks a series win over York, lifts their record to 21-16, and gets them back to within 5 games of the 1st place Patriots, whom won Tuesday over Bridgeport.

Long Island has 32 games left with which to close the gap with Somerset before the first half expires.


Mike