Ford finishes season with league-high 189 hits

(Central Islip, N.Y., Sept. 21, 2014) – The Long Island Ducks were defeated by the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs 8-5 on Sunday afternoon at Bethpage Ballpark in the final game of the 2014 regular season.

GAME AUDIO: Highlights from the Ducks’ final game of the year

POSTGAME VIDEO: Kevin Baez reflects on the 2014 season

Southern Maryland took a 4-0 lead in the top of the fourth off Ducks starting pitcher Shaun Garceau. A two-run home run to left from C.J. Ziegler, RBI double from Jamar Walton and a RBI single from Junior Arrojo highlighted the inning.

Long Island trimmed the deficit to three in the bottom of the frame with a C.J. Retherford RBI single off Blue Crabs starter Ian Marshall. Solo home runs from Jake Opitz and Jamar Walton in the fifth and sixth innings, respectively, extended the Blue Crabs lead to 6-1. Walton added a RBI single in the seventh to increase the lead to 7-1.

The Ducks plated three runs, all with two outs, in the bottom of the seventh inning to pull within three runs. RBI singles from Brendan Harris and Lew Ford along with a run-scoring error did the damage. Both teams later exchanged runs in the eighth inning to finalize the scoring.

Marshall (10-10) earned the win, tossing six innings of one-run ball on five hits and one walk with two strikeouts. Garceau (13-4) took the loss, yielding five runs on eight hits and one walk with five strikeouts over five innings of work. Jorge Marban earned his second save of the season with a scoreless ninth inning.

Ford led the Ducks with three hits, while Cody Puckett and Fehlandt Lentini each added two hits.

The Ducks would like to thank all of the fans for their support throughout the 15th Anniversary Season of baseball on Long Island. To view a special Thank You video from Ducks players, coaches and front office staff, please CLICK HERE. Season tickets for the 2015 season are now available. For more information, please CLICK HERE.

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Duck Tales: With two more hits on Sunday, Cody Puckett finished the season with hits in 11 consecutive games, having earned multi-hit games in six of his last seven contests. During the streak, he is batted .465 (20-for-43) with three doubles, two homers, five RBI, five runs and four walks. It also marked the 31st two-hit and 47th multi-hit game of the year for Puckett…With three hits on Saturday, Lew Ford earned his team-leading 17th three-hit and team-leading 56th multi-hit game of the season. The fifth-year Duck set a new Atlantic League record for hits in a single season with 189. In addition, Ford’s double in the sixth inning was his league-leading 40th of the year. Ford finished his season with hits in each of his last five games…C.J. Retherford extended his hitting streak to six games with a single in the fourth inning on Sunday. The first-year Duck hit safely in 15 of his 18 games since joining the team on September 2…The Ducks finished the 2014 season with a 73-67 record. It marked the 11th time in the team’s 15-year history that the Flock finished the regular season with a record above .500. The .521 winning percentage is the highest since the team went 78-47 (.557) in 2011.

 Game Date: 09/21/2014 Southern Maryland Blue Crabs 8 AT Long Island Ducks 5 YTD YTD S Maryland AB R H BI AVG L Island AB R H BI AVG B.Stevens SS 5 1 2 0 .259 F.Lentini RF 5 1 2 1 .290 A.DeJesus CF 5 0 2 0 .250 B.Harris 3B 5 1 1 1 .286 J.Opitz 2B,3B 5 1 2 2 .282 L.Ford CF 4 1 3 1 .347 S.Moss DH 3 2 1 0 .294 A.Bailey LF 3 0 1 0 .301 C.Ziegler 1B 4 1 1 2 .276 B.Hall PH 1 0 0 0 .239 M.Schwartz LF 5 1 2 0 .269 C.Retherford DH 5 0 1 1 .314 J.Walton RF 5 2 4 3 .236 C.Puckett 2B 4 0 2 0 .298 A.de San Miguel C 5 0 0 0 .203 J.Brodin 1B 5 1 0 0 .254 J.Arrojo 2B 3 0 2 1 .600 J.Vazquez C 3 0 1 0 .229 A.Chavez 3B 1 0 0 0 .269 D.Lyons SS 3 1 1 0 .256 41 8 16 8 38 5 12 4 S Maryland 0 0 0 4 1 1 1 1 0 - 8 16 1 L Island 0 0 0 1 0 0 3 1 0 - 5 12 1 2B--S.Moss (11), M.Schwartz (4), J.Walton 2 (9), J.Arrojo (1), L.Ford (40). HR--J.Opitz (18), C.Ziegler (17), J.Walton (2). RBI--J.Opitz 2 (78), C.Ziegler 2 (79), J.Walton 3 (23), J.Arrojo (2), F.Lentini (63), B.Harris (53), L.Ford (95), C.Retherford (8). HP--D.Lyons (6). SB--B.Stevens (17), J.Arrojo (2). E--J.Opitz (13), J.Vazquez (7). LOB--S Maryland 9, L Island 11. DP--B. Stevens(SS) - C. Ziegler(1B), C. Puckett(2B) - B. Harris(3B) - J. Brodin(1B). YTD IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA S Maryland I.Marshall (W,10-10) 6.0 5 1 1 1 2 0 4.09 J.Brown 0.2 4 3 2 1 0 0 4.11 O.Santos 0.1 0 0 0 0 0 0 2.41 J.Berg 1.0 3 1 1 0 1 0 3.20 J.Marban (S,2) 1.0 0 0 0 2 2 0 1.13 9 12 5 4 4 5 0 L Island S.Garceau (L,13-4) 5.0 8 5 5 1 5 2 4.99 T.Organ 2.0 4 2 2 2 1 1 2.29 B.Lorin 1.0 3 1 1 0 1 0 2.77 K.Regas 1.0 1 0 0 0 0 0 3.86 9 16 8 8 3 7 3 WP--I.Marshall (9), B.Lorin (5). PB--J.Vazquez. HB--I.Marshall (14). SO--S.Moss 2, M.Schwartz 2, J.Walton, A.de San Miguel 2, A.Bailey, B.Hall, J.Brodin 2, D.Lyons. BB--S.Moss 2, C.Ziegler, L.Ford, A.Bailey, C.Puckett, J.Vazquez. BF--I.Marshall 24 (694), J.Brown 7 (378), O.Santos (74), J.Berg 6 (114), J.Marban 5 (34), S.Garceau 24 (724), T.Organ 11 (78), B.Lorin 6 (226), K.Regas 3 (28). P-S--I.Marshall 86-50, J.Brown 23-13, O.Santos 1-1, J.Berg 20-14, J.Marban 17-7, S.Garceau 81-52, T.Organ 40-24, B.Lorin 29-21, K.Regas 4-3. T--3:04. A--5038 Top 7: Ducks mound visit by catcher...Bottom 7: Blue Crabs mound visit by pitching coach Plate Umpire - John Grasso, Field Umpire #1 - Derek Moccia, Field Umpire #2 - Dave Speranza