L.I. Ducks: Flock Yet to Spread Their Wings

From the desk of:  THE WEBBED SPIKES NINE

Long Island Ducks: Bees Sting Flock in Series Opener.

Liberty Division competitors took the field Tuesday evening at New Britain Stadium in Connecticut where the Bees hosted the Long Island Ducks.

Despite Long Island opening the scoring with an early run in the second, Bees left fielder Conor Bierfeldt connected on a two-run home run in the bottom of the frame off Ducks reliever Jake Dunning.  Bierfeldt was summoned because starter Andrew Barbosa left the game with an injury after just four batters faced.

Right fielder Travis Snider doubled to drive in a run in the top of the eighth, but with a pair of runs in the fifth and an insurance run in the bottom half of the eighth the New Britain Bees cruised to a 5-2 series opening victory over the Ducks whom actually doubled up on the Bees twelve hits to six.

Freshly signed Emilio Bonifacio, an eleven year major league veteran, on Tuesday debuted for the Ducks in center field.  He went 4 for 5 against the Bees with a pair of doubles and a run scored.

Now with an 8-8 record the Flock well stocked with former major leaguers  presently sit at par, and are two games behind the division leading Somerset Patriots.

The Ducks will attempt to get back above .500 in game two against the New Britain Bees.

L.I. Ducks: Pitcher Andrew Barbosa Leads Flock to 10th Straight Victory

From the desk of:  THE WEBBED SPIKES NINE

Ducks lead season series 5-1

I - LID 5; SLS 0

II - LID 10; SLS 2

III - SLS 8; LID 4

IV - LID 4; SLS 1

V - LID 3; SLS 1

VI - LID 2; SLS 0

NEXT

Long Island Ducks

vs.

Sugar Land Skeeters

FROM

The Lone Star State

Long Island Ducks: The Flock and Patriots break out their brooms; no change in division race.

Long Island Ducks Post 2nd 10-Game Win Streak in Month of June.

The Ducks completed a four game sweep of the Bridgeport Bluefish Monday, which also extended their consecutive game winning steak to ten.  It's presently their 2nd such streak in the month of June.

Headlining Monday's 4-1 victory over the Fish was southpaw Andrew Barbosa, whom turned in yet another stellar performance.  He faced 25 Bluefish batters, and threw 105 pitches with 64 going for strikes.  In 7 innings pitched, Andrew allowed one earned run on just 2 hits and 2 walks, and fanned 7 batters before giving way to the bullpen.

Barbosa has been nothing short of a godsend for a rotation that struggled when it still depended on (since departed) reliever Eric Niesen for starts.  In 7 starts since joining the Ducks, Barbosa is now 4-0, with a 1.84 ERA.  In 39 innings he has surrendered just 26 hits, and fanned 45 batters.

With 2-outs in the home 1st, Lew Ford connected on his 6th home run of the season.  In the bottom of the 3rd, Jose Morales and Reegie Corona struck back-to-back RBI doubles giving the Ducks their eventual 4-1 margin of victory.

Bridgeport's lone run of the game came off Barbosa in the 6th, whom walked the first two batters he faced, then surrendered an RBI hit to second baseman Luis Rodriguez.

Closer Ryan Kussmaul recorded his league leading 17th save of the season.

Long Island improved to 39-17, however, Somerset also closed out a sweep of their own over the Sugar Land Skeeters, and thus maintained their slim 1.5 game lead over the Ducks.  The Patriots have now won 6 in a row.

The next challenge facing Long Island will be to stay focused through six long games against the Skeeters in Sugar Land.

The Skeeters have now lost 7 straight, but will no doubt be looking to turn things around with haste.   Their recent slide caused them to fall 5 games back of the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs in the Freedom Division race.  They'll be a highly motivated competitor with as much at stake as the 2nd place Ducks, which should make for an intensely contested series.


ICYMI:
Flock Rolls Another Nine
The Flock's Waddle is Strong



Mike

L.I. Ducks: The Flock's Waddle is Strong

From the desk of:  THE WEBBED SPIKES NINE

LIBERTY DIVISION STANDINGS:

1) Somerset        37-16

2) Long Island   35-17

Long Island Ducks: Flock swat Sugar Land Skeeters to gain their latest series sweep; improve record to 16-1 in June.

The Long Island Ducks remain the Atlantic League's hottest team.

With Thursday night's victory over the Sugar Land Skeeters, the Flock completed their third series sweep in their last four, extended their most recent winning streak to 6 games, and improved their record to 16-1 in June after opening the month with a 10-game winning streak.

On June 1st, the Ducks lay 5 games back of the Liberty Division leading Somerset Patriots.  By close of business Thursday, Long Island cut Somerset's lead to just 1.5 games.  There are just 18 games remaining in the season's first half, and the teams are just 15 games away from what could prove to be a decisive head-to-head showdown for the first half crown.

Despite the Ducks torrid month of June, the Somerset Patriots have remained no less relentless.  They are 7-3 in their last 10 games, and 13-5 in June.  They just split 4 games with the Bridgeport Bluefish, and still lead the circuit with a 37-16 record.

Long Island will now host the Bridgeport Bluefish, whom given the Ducks quite a bit of trouble this season.  The Bluefish lead the season series by a 6-4 margin.  The Ducks were swept in their first meeting, and the Bluefish took 2 of 3 games in their second encounter.  Last weekend, the Ducks rebounded after losing the series opener to sweep the final 3 games.  On Friday they open a 4 game series at Bethpage Ballpark.

The Patriots will open a weekend series against the Sugar Land Skeeters in Somerset.

Ducks win series over Skeeters 3-0

I - LID 4; SLS 1

II - LID 3; SLS 1

III - LID 2; SLS 0

Mickey Jannis toed the rubber Thursday night for Long Island, and was opposed by Sugar Land's Roy Merritt.  The two dueled for 7 innings.

Jannis faced 24 batters and threw 94 pitches, with 55 going for strikes.  He allowed no runs on just 3 hits, walked 3 and fanned 5 batters before exiting on the winning side of a 2-0 game.

Merritt faced 25 batters and threw 91 pitches with 62 going for strikes.  Ducks DH Randy Ruiz hit Merritt's only mistake of the evening over the left field wall to give the Ducks their 2-0 margin of victory.   Lew Ford, who previously singled, scored.  Merritt otherwise limited the Ducks to 5 hits, walked none, and fanned 3 batters.

Mickey Jannis improved his record to 5-2, lowered his league leading ERA to a 1.31 mark, and now boasts the league's lowest (.183) batting average against.  He is also 4th in the league behind his team mate John Brownell with 49 strikeouts in 68.1 innings pitched, and owns a .950 WHiP.

Randy Ruiz's double in the second game of Wednesday's double-header proved to be the game winning RBI, as did his 2-run clout on Thursday.

Delta Cleary Jr., has batted lead-off the last 2 games, while Bryan Sabatella nurses a leg injury incurred during the first game of Wednesday's double-header against the Skeeters.  He went 3 for 4 in Wednesday's first game while batting the second slot, but went 0 for 7 in 2 games batting lead-off and watched his average dip from .339 to a .319 mark.

Lew Ford, however, is tied for the league lead with a .340 average, and still leads the circuit with 44 RBI.  First baseman Jon Griffin remains right behind him with 36 RBI.

Dan Lyons went 3 for 7 with 3 RBI in 3 games against the Skeeters.  He is now 6th in the league with 26 RBI, and kept his average hovering at the .300 mark.

On the mound, pitcher Andrew Barbosa continues providing the Ducks with high quality starts.  He started in Wednesday's first game of a double-header, pitched 6 innings, allowed no runs on just 3 hits, walked 3 and fanned 7 batters en route to his 3rd victory of the season.  He is 3-0 since joining Long Island with a 1.96 ERA.  Moreover, the Ducks are 6-0 in games he pitched.

Closer Ryan Kussmaul earned a save in each Long Island's 3 victories over Sugar Land, which included a pair during Wednesday's double-header.  He has a 2-0 record with a 2.03 ERA, and a league leading 16 saves.  He has struck out 23 batters in 26.2 innings pitched.

The Ducks offense have scored the most runs in the Atlantic League to date.  They also own the league's best team slash with a .279/.349/. 384 mark, and have stolen the most bases.

On the mound, Somerset and Long Island are running first and second in team ERA, batting average against, slugging against, and team WHiP.  However, Patriots pitchers have tossed 5 complete games, while the Ducks have tossed none.



Mike

L.I. Ducks: Salvage Split Against Somerset Patriots.

From the desk of:  THE WEBBED SPIKES NINE

Ducks and Patriots split series 2-2

I - LID 7; SOM 6

II - SOM 1; LID 0

III - SOM 3; LID 0

IV - LID 3; SOM 0

LIBERTY DIVISION

1) Somerset       23-11

2) Long Island  19-15

Long Island Ducks: Flock enters the second leg trailing the Somerset Patriots by 4 games.  After Saturday's performance, Andrew Barbosa appears poised to help close the gap,

Starter Andrew Barbosa delivered a message Saturday, which Somerset heard loud and clear.  His Game Four performance boldly proclaimed - Careful how you proceed forward, the Ducks can pitch too!

Andrew Barbosa's signing allowed Eric Niesen, whom struggled as a starter, to return to his customary reliever role.

Making his third appearance as a Duck, Barbosa out-dueled Somerset starter Matt Zielinski for 7 innings.  He allowed no runs on just 4 hits, walked 2 and fanned 10 Patriots batters.  He exited on the winning side of a 3-0 game.

His opponent threw 7 innings as well, but allowed 3 earned runs on 9 hits.  He walked none and fanned 4 batters before exiting on the losing side.

Jon Griffin put the Ducks ahead with a 2-run home run in the top of the 4th, and Mike Blanke's base hit in the top of the 7th scored Reegie Corona to give the Ducks their 3-0 margin of victory.

Ryan Kussmaul earned his league leading 9th save.

The Ducks are now 19-15 for the season, and with a series split in Somerset they've gotten back within 4 games of the 1st place Patriots again.

While starter Mark Rogers continues trying to straighten himself out, Andrew Barbosa joins John Brownell, Mickey Jannis, and Ian Marshall to form an effective quartet as the Ducks try and chase down Somerset in the second leg of their race for a first half flag.

These teams will meet again over the 4th of July weekend.  The series also closes out the first half, and might even decide who captures the first half flag.

The Ducks second leg starts Sunday against the visiting York Revolution.  The Patriots head to Bridgeport for an encounter with the Bluefish.

Mike