Brooklyn Cyclones Still Chasing The Leader

From the desk of:  THE SURF AVENUE SLUGGERS

Cyclones defeat Connecticut 2-1

I - BKN 3; CON 2

II - BKN 12; CON 1

III - CON 5; BKN 2

Brooklyn Cyclones

vs.

Staten Island Yankees

FROM

Ballpark at St. George

The Cyclones win their series against the Connecticut Tigers but lose a game in the standings after Saturday's 5-2 loss at Coney Island.  Despite center fielder Kennie Taylor's first inning home run, the best Brooklyn can manage is a two all tie through four.  Catcher Jose Mena singles in Brooklyn's second run in the fourth.  Cyclones starter Frank Valentino surrenders a home run in the fourth.  But the game gets away from him in the sixth.  Valentino winds up allowing four earned runs on six hits and one walk with four strikeouts.  He record falls to 1-3 with a 3.96 ERA.  Dan Goggin allows a run on two hits and a walk through 2.1 innings in relief of Valentino.  Matt Mullenbach pitches a scoreless ninth but the Cyclones comeback would not come.  Brooklyn is just 5-5 over their last ten games and just 8-7 over their last 15 games with just 21 games left in the regular season.

Meanwhile the Hudson Valley Renegades have spent the last three days trouncing the Tri-City Valley Cats.  The Renegades are winners of four in a row and own a two game lead over Brooklyn.  Despite losing their series finale against Aberdeen, Staten Island wins that series and moves into third place ahead of the Ironbirds just 3.5 games back of Hudson Valley.

Staten Island and Brooklyn resume the Battle of the Boroughs Sunday at the Ballpark at St. George.  They flip venues on Monday, and conclude the series back at Staten Island on Tuesday.  The Yankees have hit the most home runs in the New York Penn League this season.  They own the second highest OPS and scored the third most runs.  Brooklyn is eighth in home runs, tenth in team OPS, and seventh in runs scored.  However Brooklyn is second (2.96) in overall team ERA.