Long Island Ducks: Lancaster Wins Game One

From the desk of:   THE WEBBED SPIKES NINE

LONG ISLAND DUCKS - Strong Pitching Hurls Lancaster Barnstormers Past Ducks In Game One.

GAME ONE FINAL:

Long Island    1

Lancaster       5

In Wednesday's opening game of the 2012 Atlantic League championship series, the league's regular season ERA King did what he does best - win games and make opposing runs a scarce commodity.  Lancaster's Dwayne Pollok, who not incidentally also tied for the circuit lead in wins this season, pitched six innings of shutout ball against the Long Island Ducks.  Pollok surrendered four hits, walked two, and struck out five for the win.


The Ducks finally broke through for a run in the seventh inning against Lancaster's bullpen.  Dan Lyons connected on a double.  Kraig Binick drove him home with a single.  But that's all Long Island would get.  The Barnstormer bullpen combined on three innings pitched, allowing the Ducks their lone run.  Five Lancaster relievers surrendered five hits, walked no batters and struck out four.


Randy Kiesler made the start for Long Island and pitched almost equally as well.  He managed through the first six innings, allowing a run in the second inning, and another in the sixth.  Kiesler surrendered five hits and walked two to that point, while striking out four.  Then after retiring the first two batters in the seventh, Coach Baez made a move to the bullpen.  Jeremy Hill was given the ball.  The first batter he faced singled.  Hill then issued a walk to the second batter, setting up runners at first and second.  In was what still a 2-1 game in Lancaster's favor, the next batter Jeremy Hill faced was Lancaster's DH, Ryan Harvey, who promptly connected on a three run home run, making the game a 5-1 affair.
 

After Game Two, the series will shift back to Long Island for all remaining games.




Mike.BTB

Long Island Ducks: Defeat Blue Crabs; Take 1-0 Series Lead

From the desk of:   THE WEBBED SPIKES NINE

ATLANTIC LEAGUE ~ DIVISION SERIES

 

 

 

Playoff Preview

 

Long Island Lead Series 1-0

I - Ducks 4; Blue Crabs 3

 

II - TONIGHT

 

LONG ISLAND DUCKS:  Eighth Inning Rally Just Enough To Defeat Blue Crabs In Game One.

There's nothing like a little late inning drama to start the playoffs, huh?  In several respects however - mission accomplished.  The idea is to split games on the road, and win at home, right?  Down in the park at Waldorf last night, the Long Island Ducks took a 1-0 lead in their semi final series against the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs.


After just the first three batters of the game, the Ducks were in possession of a two run lead.  Kraig Binick led off the game with a double.  Batting second, Joash Brodin also doubled, scoring Binick.  Ray Navarrete then singled to drive in Brodin.


Ducks starter, Randy Keisler, kept the Blue Crabs scoreless through the first four innings.  He struck out out the side in the bottom of the first inning, with a walk interspersed.  An inning ending  double play got Randy out of the second.  In the third inning, Randy Keisler struck out the side in order.  He pitched himself into big trouble in the fourth, when with one out, he walked two batters and hit a third batter to load the bases.  But he managed to induce a foul pop-up, and a force out to escape the inning.


He wasn't as lucky in the fifth inning.  Southern Maryland struck for two runs on three hits to knot the game at two apiece.


Randy Keisler pitched six innings in all.  He allowed the two runs, and limited the Blue Crabs to four hits.  He had troubles with control as he walked four batters.  But he was also strong with nine strikeouts.


Coach Biaz went to his bullpen in the seventh.  Jared Lansford was first and struck out the side.


In the top of the eighth, Long Island broke the deadlock.  Three doubles led to two more runs.  Dan Lyons led off with the first double.  Joash Brodin followed with another to drive in Lyons.  The Brandon Sing delivered a clutch two out double to drive in Brodin for a 4-2 Ducks lead.


Coach Biaz turned to Eric Niesen for the eighth.  After retiring the lead off batter, Coach Biaz played match-ups and summoned Jeremy Hill.  But a solo home run by Jesse Gutierrez almost thwarted that strategy.  Jeremy Hill was able to complete the inning without further damage.


Leo Rosales pitched a scoreless ninth inning to preserve Long Island's victory, and earned himself the save.  Jared Lansford gets credit for the win.  A fine effort by Randy Keisler ended up in a no decision.


Brandon Sing drove in what wound up being the game winning RBI.

TONIGHT

 

GAME TWO

 

LONG ISLAND DUCKS

(SP - Matt Way)

vs.

South Maryland Blue Crabs

(SP - Matthew Vasquez)

 

FROM

The Baseball Grounds at Waldorf

 

 

 

 

Mike.BTB

L.I. Ducks ~ Salvage Game Versus Bridgeport; At The Game

From the desk of:   THE WEBBED SPIKES NINE
*Corrected on Tuesday

LONG ISLAND DUCKS:  Another Fine Day in The Pond.

The Ducks salvaged a win versus the Bridgeport Bluefish Sunday afternoon in the second installment of this season's Ferry Cup Series.  The Bluefish now lead the benefit series four games to one.  Game Three will be Monday.

Play Ball!  First Pitch

Long Island's starter, Randy Keisler, labored through 102 pitches in six innings.  He was touched for six hits and three earned runs.  And struggled with control, walking four, and struck out three.


Bridgeport took a 2-0 lead in the fourth inning on a two run home run by third baseman, Brock Peterson.  But Long Island struck back for three runs in their half of the inning.  Ray Navarrete led off the home half of the fourth with a walk.  Brandon Sing followed with a single.  Then Shawn Williams drove them both home with a one out triple.  Ried Gorecki lofted a fly ball to center for a sacrifice fly RBI, and a 3-1 Ducks lead.  Bridgeport tied the game however in their next at-bat off Randy Keisler.

By the sixth inning, Randy Keisler's day was through.  But not before the Ducks supplied him with four more runs in the bottom of the sixth, to put Keisler on the winning side of the game again.  This was Randy's third win of the season against just one loss.


After Shawn Williams led of with another extra-base hit; a double this time; Ried Gorecki drove him home with a single.  Josh Johnson followed with another single to score Gorecki who had previously advanced to second.  Yet another single by Bryant Nelson later delivered Josh Johnson.  A sac-fly by Brandon Sing drove home Kraig Binick, and the fourth Ducks' run of the frame.  An error led to one more Long Island run in the eighth, giving them an 8-3 lead, and eventual final.

Kraig Binick and Ray Navarrete

Brandon Sing

In the lead-off spot, Kraig Binick was 3 for 4 Sunday, with a walk, and two runs scored.  First baseman Shawn Williams, was 2 for 4, with a double, triple, and two RBI.  Ried Gorecki also had two RBI.


After Randy Keisler, Long Island's bullpen took care of the final three innings.  Jason Monti pitched two innings, allowed three hits and two walks, and struck out three.  Jeremy Hill closed out the ninth inning, surrendering a hit, and a walk


The Ducks begin a four set in Camden against the River Sharks Tuesday evening.

My Sixth Inning Foul Ball.

Mike.BTB

L.I. Ducks ~ Next Up; The Bluefish in a Battle for First

From the desk of:   THE WEBBED SPIKES NINE

LONG ISLAND DUCKS:   After Dropping Opening Game, Ducks Comeback to Take Series from Lancaster.  Next, the Bluefish Invade The Pond in a Clash For First Place.

The Ferry Cup Series Resumes.

What do you do when the Barnstormers ruin your home winning streak at nine?  You start a new streak by winning the next two.  And so, the Ducks came back to win the final two games in their series against Lancaster.


In Tuesday's game, Randy Keisler, Jeremy Hill, and Dan Meyer, all pitched brilliantly against former major leaguer, John Halama and company.  Randy Keisler tossed seven innings of seven hit, shut-out ball.  He walked one and struck out eight.  After 103 pitches, Randy gave way to Jeremy Hill staked to a 6-0 lead.


In the first inning, Kraig Binick led off the game with a double, and scored on Bryant Nelson's single, and an error by the third baseman.  Reid Gorecki later singled home Bryant Nelson for a 2-0 Ducks' lead.


It stayed that way until the bottom of the seventh inning.  For John Halama's part, he was snake bit by errors over 6.2 innings.  Of the six runs charged to him, only two were earned.  He did surrender nine hits however, and walked three.


After a good seventh inning stretch, the Ducks beefed up their lead with four more runs.  After an E-5, a wild pitch, a walk, and a single by Bryant Nelson to load the bases, John Halama was on the ropes.  After missing some time, Brandon Sing made his return to play in time for this series, and said hello to John Halama with a grand slam home run, for a 6-0 Ducks' lead.  It was Brandon's first home run since returning over the weekend, and his sixth of the season.


The Ducks tacked on one more run in the eighth on Wilberto Ortiz' second home run of the season.


Jeremy Hill pitched a scoreless eighth and struck out two.  And Dan Meyer pitched a scoreless ninth to finish off the win.




On Wednesday, the Ducks picked up where they left off.  Jason Monti hung in and pitched five innings of four hit ball.  He gave up one earned run and struck out three with no walks on the way to recording his third win of the season.  Jason trails Mike Loree by one strikeout (21/22) for the team lead.


By the fourth inning, the Ducks already posted their ten runs.  Brandon Sing seems to be getting his swing in order.  He was 3 for 5, with a double and a run scored.  Along with Sing.., Kraig Binick, Bryant Nelson, Ray Navarrete, and James McOwen, all had multiple hits.  Shawn Williams was the only Duck to homer Wednesday and had three RBI.  Bryant Nelson drove in his team leading 19th RBI.  And Ray Navarrete was 2 for 4 with four RBI and two runs scored.  In all, the Ducks had fifteen hits.


Once Jason Monti was out of the game, the bullpen had some trouble closing out.  Connor Graham, and Eric Niesen, combined to pitch four innings (two each), and surrendered four runs on six hits, and walked four.


So a flaky bullpen and two errors get covered up by ten runs for a day...  Winning can do that.


The Ducks are now 17-8, and remain the only team with single digit losses.  They maintain a 3.5 game lead over the Bridgeport Bluefish in the Liberty Division, who conveniently swim into The Pond Thursday night for a four game series in what is now a battle for first place.  But Bridgeport is 3-7 in their last ten, while the Ducks are just the opposite with a 7-3 record in their last ten games.  The Bluefish were 4-2 losers to Southern Maryland Wednesday.  The Ducks are now 11-1 at home.


The Ferry Cup Series continues.  In the last meeting between these teams, the Bluefish swept a three game series in Bridgeport.





Mike.BTB

L.I. Ducks ~ First Taste of Sugar Land Not So Sweet

From the desk of:   THE WEBBED SPIKES NINE

LONG ISLAND DUCKS:  Skeeters Outlast Long Islanders in First Ever Meetings Between Teams.


First Ever Final:
Ducks     1
Skeeters  2


For the Ducks, it was hello Texas, and good-bye six game winning streak.  Long Island's first taste of Sugar Land wasn't so sweet.  Locked in a 1-1 battle, the Skeeters walked off with their first ever win over the Long Island Ducks with a game winning base hit in the ninth.  And for the Skeeters, who just came off a dreadful road trip, it guess it was just good to be home.


Lew Ford scored the only Long Island run of the night in the second inning on James McOwen's rbi single.  Sugar Land tied the game in the fifth, off a Dan Lyons error.


Otherwise, starting pitcher, Randy Keisler, surrendered only two hits over five innings pitched.  He walked one, struck out five, and allowed no earned runs.  Eric Niesen pitched a perfect sixth.  Jeremy Hill took care of the seventh and eighth innings allowing only a hit.  The Skeeters rallied against Connor Graham in the ninth.


Because of the travel involved, Friday night's game was only Game One of what will be an unconventional six game series in Sugar Land between May 11th through May 16th.

TONIGHT

GAME TWO of SIX

LONG ISLAND DUCKS

vs.

Sugar Land Skeeters

From

CONSTELLATION FIELD

in BIG TEXAS

Mike.BTB

L.I. Ducks ~ The Power Co. is Open for Business

From the desk of:   THE WEBBED SPIKES NINE

LONG ISLAND DUCKS:  Opening Day is a Big Hit!

Before the evening's game commenced, there was a tribute to Hall of Famer; Montreal Expos and Mets great; and former Long Island Ducks' manager; Gary Carter; who passed away earlier this year.  The club will be honoring Gary Carter all season.

Opening Day Final:

Camden River Sharks  2

Long Island Ducks      13

Well..., the fans at Bethpage Ballpark last night can't complain.  The weather held up; there were Opening Day festivities and new kid friendly fun features in the park; they got two games for the price of one, and came away with one really big win.  After a tough series against the Bluefish, the Ducks are now back at the .500 mark and apparently happy to be back home as well.


Figuratively speaking the "first" game was a pitcher's duel between Camden's Keith Weiser, and Long Island's Bob Zimmermann.  After the Ducks scored once in the bottom of the first, the game remained a tight 1-0 affair until Camden scored once off Zimmermann in the top of the sixth to tie.


Brandon Sing is coming to Long Island as advertised.  The over-all independent circuit's top slugger over the past few years hit his third home run this season.  It came in the first, and tied him for the early season league lead.


That's all the Ducks would score though, until the sixth inning.  Bob Zimmermann took care of that problem however, by pitching five superlative innings before surrendering the tying run in the top of the sixth on a solo home run by Felix Lie.  Through six, Zimmermann allowed only four hits and one earned run; walked none, and struck out seven.


In the bottom of the sixth inning, his team mates put him back on the winning side.  And that's when the second game started.  Or should I say the fireworks?  In the bottom of the sixth, the Ducks exploded for eleven runs.  It wasn't a new team record.  But it was a hell of a way to treat the home crowd and say hello again after a long winter.


The Ducks pounded out eight hits against three different pitchers in the inning.  But most of the damage came at the expense of Camden's Joey DAlessandro, who got tagged for seven of those runs.  Long Island's offensive outburst was highlighted by Bryan Nelson's inning topping grand slam home run.  Overall, Long Island's new third baseman was 3 for 5 on the night with 5 RBI.

TONIGHT

Camden River Sharks

SP - Humberto Sanchez

vs.

LONG ISLAND DUCKS

SP - Randy Keisler

From

Bethpage Ballpark

LONG ISLAND, NY

Mike.BTB

L.I. Ducks ~ The Pond Hurlers; 2012 Ducks Pitching

From the desk of:   THE WEBBED SPIKES NINE

Long Island Ducks

2012 Positional Players - Preview

Long Island Ducks; Gearing Up For Another Run at Title

LONG ISLAND DUCKS:  The Ducks' Ace Pitcher and 2011 Atlantic League Pitcher of the Year, Returns for a Second Season in the Pond.



Last season, if there were questions regarding the Ducks' pitching, it centered around Mike Parisi and Mike Loree.  And the question was - How long would they last?  With the fine seasons both were having, it was only a matter of time before affiliated baseball came seeking their services.  And sure enough, Mike Parisi was the first to go.  Mike Loree followed.  Only, Mike Loree came back for the playoffs, and pitched Long Island into the championship round against York.


After Mike and Mike, the Ducks were desperately thin at starting pitching last season.  But Long Island possessed a rather remarkable bullpen that over came many deficiencies in the starting rotation.  In the end, Long Island's pitching held up.  It was the offense that disappeared against the York Revolution in the Finals.


That's all behind us now.  The 2012 season is here.



Last season's Atlantic League Pitcher of the Season; Mike Loree; returns to the Long Island Ducks for his second season.  He won the League's pitching triple crown last season with 14 wins, 131 strikeouts, and sported a league low 1.98 era.  Mike will start the season off against the Somerset Patriots this evening.


Gustavo Chacin will most likely serve as the number two starter behind Loree.  In 2005, he went 13-9 with the Toronto Blue Jays.  Over 58 major league starts, the 31 year old owns a 27-17 overall record.  Last year, he split time between AAA-Buffalo, and Oklahoma City of the Pacific Coast League.


Jason Monti returns to the club after pitching in 20 games out of the bullpen for the Ducks last year. He did not start a game last season, but in his two previous seasons; one with Somerset, and one spent in the Frontier League, he made 36 starts in 45 appearances.


Eric Niesen is no stranger to me.  Drafted by the New York Mets, he played his first season in Brooklyn with the Cyclones; A-NYPL.  Raised through the Mets' system as a starter, in 2011, he appeared in 51 games, all in relief.




Randy Keisler is a 36 year old lefty.  He played for Long Island in 2010, and is a veteran of 13 seasons mostly in AAA.  Last season he played in the L.A. Dodgers organization.  He made 19 starts and posted a 7-7 win/loss record.


Joe Esposito started 14 games for Reading of the Eastern League last season.  But the 33 year old is most likely headed for the Ducks' bullpen.  In 375 career minor league innings pitched, he has amassed 405 strikeouts.


Connor Graham spent the last two seasons playing for the Cleveland Indians' affiliate in AA-Akron.  He appeared in 43 games last season; 39 came in relief.  In 79 innings, he struck out 65 batters, and posted a 3.43 era.



Jeff Lyman started the 2011 season playing Rookie Ball, and eventually made his way to AA-Springfield.  The 25 year old made 35 appearances, all in relief.  In 49 innings pitched, he struck out 39 batters, but also walked 32 batters as well.


Jon Meloan comes to the Ducks with loads of AAA experience.  This may be Long Island's closer this season.  Over 372 innings pitched in his 6 year minor league career, he has amassed 433 strikeouts, while issuing 180 base on balls.


Dan Meyer will be another potential high strikeout pitcher.  But he walks far too many batters.  He has 103 games, and 113 innings pitched worth of MLB experience.


Travis Minix appeared in 11 games for the Somerset Patriots last season.  He also pitched for Somerset's 2008 and 2009 championship teams.  He has 6 seasons of AAA experience.


Retuning from last season to bolster the bullpen once again, will be the dependable duo of Jeremy Hill and Bob Zimmerman.  Hill, the ten year baseball veteran posted an 8-2 record with a 2.91 era for the Ducks out of the pen last season.





Mike.BTB