Blue Crabs lose first two in Long Island
Rally to tie in top of the 9th only to fall in bottom half in middle game of 3-game series
Travis Snider connected on an RBI single in the bottom of the ninth inning to give the Long Island Ducks a 7-6 win over the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs on Wednesday night at Bethpage Ballpark in Central Islip, N.Y.
Snider’s hit capped off a game that saw the Blue Crabs tie twice in the late innings only to see the Ducks win it and take the first two games of a three-game series, which concluded Thursday night.
Blue Crabs left fielder Ryan Strausborger hit a two-run home run in the seventh to tie the game at 4, which ended the night of Long Island starter Jake Fisher.
Taylor Ard put the Ducks back in front in the bottom of the eighth with a two-run blast down the left-field line off Southern Maryland reliever Ryan Chaffee to give the hosts a 6-4 lead.
Long Island brought in closer Francisco Rodriguez looking for the save in the ninth, but the Blue Crabs had other ideas.
Austin Green walked after an 11-pitch at-bat to lead off the inning and went to second base when Strausborger walked with one out. Both runners came around to score as Edwin Garcia hit Rodriguez’s first pitch to right field for a double, tying the game at 6.
David Wayne Russo, the Blue Crabs’ sixth pitcher of the night, came on for the bottom of the ninth. After a strikeout to start the inning, Russo allowed backto-back walks to Jordany Valdespin and Emilio Bonifacio to bring Snider to the plate.
Snider singled up the middle and Valdespin scored to give Long Island the win, its fifth in a row.
The loss for the Blue Crabs (15-26 overall, 13 games behind Lancaster in the Freedom Division first-half standings) was their third straight after winning five in a row. After finishing up with Long Island on Thursday night, they return home to Regency Furniture Stadium in Waldorf for a weekend series with York starting at 6:35 tonight.
Southern Maryland scored the first run of the night in the top of the first. Strasborger led off the game with a single to left and scored on Angelo Songco’s base hit to right.
The first three Long Island hitters reached to begin the bottom of the first and the Ducks tied it when Valdespin scored on a double play grounder from Lew Ford.
Jon Griffin led off the fourth with a home run to give the Blue Crabs the lead back at 2-1.
Blue Crabs starter Paul Clemens lasted the first five innings, allowing one run on three hits with three walks and three strikeouts. Joey Wagman came on for the sixth and gave up three runs in two-thirds of an inning, with Alec Sole’s two-RBI triple giving the Ducks a 4-2 advantage.
Southern Maryland outhit Freedom Division Lancaster Sugar Land York Blue Crabs Liberty Division Somerset Long Island New Britain Road Warriors W 28 25 20 15 W 25 24 19 11
Long Island 11-8. Strausborger, one night removed from striking out five times, was 2 for 4 with the home run, two RBIs, a walk and three runs scored. Garcia and Devon Rodriguez each had two hits.
Tuesday night, the broke a 2-2 tie with a fifth and won 7-2.
Trailing 2-0, Garcia led off the fourth with a single to right and came home on a one-out Songco double to right to put the Blue Crabs on the board.
Southern Maryland tied it in the top of the fifth as Ryan Wagner, playing in his first game as a Blue Crab, singled to right to lead off the frame and later scored on a two-out single to center by Teodoro Martinez, tying Ducks five-run
the game at 2.
Long Island then sent eight hitters to the plate in the bottom of the fifth, scoring five runs on four hits. Ford’s two-run homer to left capped the inning to make it 7-2.
Blue Crabs starter Drake Britton had his night ended after five innings, allowing seven runs on seven hits with a walk and three strikeouts.
Long Island starter Bennett Parry came into the contest as the Atlantic League’s leader in strikeouts and he continued with that honor after striking out 12 Blue Crabs in seven innings. Parry, who gave up just two runs and six hits with two walks, threw 117 pitches, 77 for strikes.