L.I. Ducks: Reliever Bruce Kern Working Overtime

From the desk of:  THE WEBBED SPIKES NINE

Ducks @ Barnstormers tied 1-1

I - LAN 5; LID 4

II - LID 5; LAN 0

III - Wednesday

IV - Thursday

Long Island Ducks: Reliever Bruce Kern gives his bullpen mates the night off.

The Ducks evened their series in Lancaster, as newcomer Darin Downs and reliever Bruce Kern combined on a 2-hit whitewashing of the Barnstormers.

Downs, who started just 1/3 of his 296 career minor league starts, faced 11 batters over 3 scoreless innings in his Ducks debut.  He threw 51 pitches with 29 (57%) going for strikes.  He allowed just one hit, walked a pair, and fanned 3 batters before exiting on the winning side of a 1-0 game.

Reliever Bruce Kern then delivered 6 brilliant innings for the victory.  He faced 19 batters, and threw 68 pitches with 49 (72%) going for strikes.  He allowed just one hit, issued one walk, and fanned 3 batters.

• This was Kern's 27th appearance of the season, and his second 6-inning performance in his last 3 games.  He gained a victory on July 5th with 6 innings, and 8 strikeouts.  He also put in a 5 inning effort back on June 8th.  Kern is now 5-1 this season with a 2.67 ERA, down from a 3.11 mark.  He has 40 strikeouts with an 0.960 WHiP in 43.2 innings pitched, while hitters are batting a mere .194 against Kern.

• Bruce Kern, 27, is a Stony Brook, L.I. native, whom attended St. John's University.  He came to the Ducks after 5 seasons in the Colorado Rockies lower system.

Randy Ruiz' RBI single in the 1st inning was all the Ducks needed.

A lead-off single by Jon Griffin, and doubles by Mike Blanke and Dan Lyons gave Long Island a 3-0 lead in the 7th.  Bryan Sabatella's base hit in the 9th then plated a pair of unearned runs to give the Ducks their 5-0 margin of victory.

Long Island improved to 49-26 overall, and trail Bridgeport by 0.5 games in the second half standings.  They remain 10.5 games ahead of the Sugar Land Skeeters for the Wild Card.



Mike