STATEN ISLAND- Last year, they were the Kings of late inning dramatics en route to a third New York-Penn League championship. Keeping with appearances, the Staten Island Yankees used a six-run eighth inning to comeback and beat the Cyclones 8-7 in their 2006 home opener before 6,548 at Richmond County Savings Ball Park Wednesday night.
"We got some guys that were on that team last year," noted new skipper Gaylen Pitts. "If you can do that, fine but you're not going to do that a lot unless you got some real good players and the other team helps you out."
"You don't like to get in that position where you have to comeback like that."
Trailing 7-2 after Brooklyn third baseman Tim Grogan connected for a three-run home run off reliever Toni Lara in the top half of the eighth, the Baby Bombers responded by batting around to make Lara (1-0) a winner.
"It was big. It reminded me a lot of last year," returning DH/first baseman Kyle Larsen said after a second consecutive productive night against the Cyclones, finishing 2-for-3 with a homer and three RBI's, including a key single to right which plated centerfielder Wilkins DeLaRossa to cut the deficit to 7-3.
"You're down late and rally up and win. So it's good to see."
After another returnee left fielder James Cooper's infield single with the bases loaded made it 7-4, Staten Island caught a break when Brooklyn second baseman Luis Rivera booted a Tim O'Brien routine grounder allowing another run to come in and keeping the bases loaded with nobody out. First baseman Kevin Smith followed by delivering Brooklyn reliever's Joseph Smith's (0-1) first offering into center to suddenly tie the game.
"We were getting all the breaks in the eighth inning. I'm glad to see it go our way," the Staten Island first baseman said. "Everybody in front of me just kept putting the ball in play and kept getting key hits, key hits, key hits. It was a great job by everyone."
A one out DeLaRosa fielder's choice gave the Baby Bombers their first lead since the first inning when Larsen connected for his third homer in two games.
New closer Nick Peterson made it stand up by retiring the Cyclones in order to keep Staten Island perfect for the new season.
"A little nervewracking. First outing at this level," the former University of Tampa star said of picking up his first professional save.
"It was exciting watching your team comeback and it was a pressure situation. I was excited to get out there....It felt great. I think that's what the team needed and it feels good to help out the team."
It didn't look good for the Bombers early on. Ahead 2-0 on the strength of a Larsen two out first inning blast to right, some sloppy play in the field spoiled Tim Norton's first career start. After the 2006 seventh round pick out of the University of Connecticut retired the first seven batters, it fell apart. Errors by Mitch Hilligoss and DeLaRosa contributed to a four run Brooklyn third. Mark Smith's ground rule double to right put them ahead 4-2 before Staten Island reliever Justin Keadle got out of further trouble.
Notes: Before the game, the Staten Island Yankees held a special ceremony commemorating the 2005 NY-Penn League championship. They honored the seven remaining players from last year's team by presenting each with championship rings. The recipients were Cooper, Lara, Larsen, John Poterson, Keaton Everitt, Tony Roth and Rolando Japa. ... Pedro Castillo struckout six in four plus innings of solid relief work to keep his team alive. ... Baby Bombers (2-0) conclude a three-game series with archrival Brooklyn (0-2) at Keyspan Park tonight. They took the season opener there 18-0 on Tuesday.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment