Brooklyn Cyclones Late Rally Downs Jersey Shore

From the desk: THE CONEY ISLAND NINE

Brooklyn vs. Jersey Shore

I - BK 10; JS 4

II - JS 8; BK 5

III - JS 2; BK 1

IV - BK 2; JS 1

V - BK 8; JS 4

Ninth Inning Rally Gives Cyclones 3-2 Series Advantage

Things went wildly wrong for Cyclone starter Mike Vasil in the bottom of the first.  A hit by pitch, two hits, and a balk partly helped stake Jersey Shore to an abrupt 4-0 lead.  

Third baseman Warren Saunders homered for Brooklyn leading off the third, and Jose Mena doubled and scored in the fourth.  Afterwhich, the score remained unchanged through the eighth inning.

Jersey Shore would suffer a fielding and battery implosion in the top of the ninth.  Brooklyn scored six runs, five of which were unearned.  Two fielding errors, a catcher's interference call, and a passed ball aided the cause.  Shortstop Branden Fryman and Joe Suozzi each tripled in the inning.  Suozzi accounted for three of Brooklyn's five hits and delivered home three runs.

After the first inning, Brooklyn pitching limited the Blue Claws to just one hit the rest of the way.  Mike Vasil recovered and escaped with a no-decision, allowing three earned runs on three hits and one walk with seven strikeouts through five.  Left-hander Nathan Lavender threw two scoreless innings.  Right-hander Grant Hartwig closed out the game with two scoreless frames and five strikeouts for the win.

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