Sugar Land avoids sweep with 12-5 victory

(Central Islip, N.Y., June 23, 2014) – The Long Island Ducks were defeated by the Sugar Land Skeeters 12-5 on Monday night at Bethpage Ballpark in the final game of a four-game series.

GAME AUDIO: Highlights from the series finale

POSTGAME VIDEO: Kevin Baez and Bobby Blevins talk about the game

Sugar Land struck first in the third inning with back-to-back solo home runs from Neil Medchill and Dominic Ramos off Ducks starter Bobby Blevins to take a 2-0 lead. The Skeeters increased their lead to four in the fourth inning on a two-run home run from Nick Stavinoha.

The Ducks trimmed the lead to three in the bottom of the fourth with a Joash Brodin RBI single off Skeeters starter Matt Wright. Sugar Land responded in the top of the fifth with a solo home run from Ryan Langerhans to extend their lead back out to four.

Six more runs in the seventh increased the Skeeters lead to 11-1. A two-run triple from Langerhans, a sacrifice fly from Taylor Harbin and a fielding error from Fehlandt Lentini which allowed three runs to score did the damage. Long Island tallied three runs in the bottom of the seventh on a sacrifice fly from Cody Puckett and a two-run double from Randy Ruiz. Both teams added a run in the eighth inning, but that would cap the scoring.

Wright (5-5) earned the win, yielding four runs on eight hits with four walks and four strikeouts in six and two-thirds innings. Blevins (4-2) suffered the loss, allowing nine runs (eight earned) on 11 hits with five strikeouts in six and one-third innings of work.

Ruiz, Puckett and Lentini led the way for Long Island with two hits each.

The Ducks will have off Tuesday and Wednesday before they hit the road for a four-game series with the York Revolution on Thursday night. Game time is slated for 6:30 p.m. at Santander Stadium. Fans can follow all the action live on the Ducks official YouTube channel, with live streaming audio available by CLICKING HERE.

Long Island returns home on Monday, June 30 for a single admission doubleheader against the Bridgeport Bluefish. First pitch for game one is slated for 6:00 p.m., with the Bethpage Ballpark gates opening at 5:35. It’s Quacker Night at Bethpage Ballpark! The first 1,500 fans in attendance will receive Ducks Quackers, courtesy of Newsday. Game two will begin approximately 30 minutes after the completion of game one, and both games are slated for seven innings. Tickets for the game and every Ducks regular season home game are now on sale. Fans can purchase their tickets by visiting the Bethpage Ballpark box office, calling 631-940-TIXX or by CLICKING HERE.

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Duck Tales: With a single in the third inning, Fehlandt Lentini extended his hitting streak to 19 consecutive games, the longest on the Ducks this year. During the streak, Lentini is batting .375 (30-for-80) with six doubles, one homer, 10 RBI and 13 runs. He also leads the league in stolen bases (24), doubles (18) and at-bats (241)…With two hits apiece, Cody Puckett and Fehlandt Lentini both recorded their 21st multi-hit game of the year, while Randy Ruiz added his ninth multi-hit game. Ruiz now has seven two-hit games this year, while Puckett and Lentini now both have 14 two-hit games…Bob Zimmermann made his 2014 debut with the Ducks Monday night, allowing an unearned run in one inning of work. The righty has played three seasons for the Ducks and was a part of Long Island’s back-to-back championship teams in 2012 and 2013. He was 4-4 with a 4.46 ERA during the 2013 regular season and 1-0 with a 2.38 ERA in the playoffs.

 Game Date: 06/23/2014 Sugar Land Skeeters 12 AT Long Island Ducks 5 YTD YTD Sugar Land AB R H BI AVG L Island AB R H BI AVG R.Langerhans LF 5 2 3 3 .282 F.Lentini RF 4 1 2 0 .324 T.Harbin SS 3 0 1 2 .338 C.Puckett 2B 4 0 2 1 .295 D.Young 2B 4 1 1 0 .243 L.Ford CF 4 0 1 0 .373 B.Barton CF 5 1 1 0 .198 R.Ruiz DH 5 0 2 2 .284 T.Scott C 4 1 0 0 .256 B.Harris 3B 4 1 0 0 .272 C.Lambin DH 5 1 1 0 .171 A.Bailey LF 5 0 1 0 .273 N.Stavinoha 1B 4 1 2 2 .231 J.Brodin 1B 3 1 1 1 .253 N.Medchill RF 5 2 2 1 .200 K.Castillo C 3 1 0 0 .265 D.Ramos 3B 4 3 2 1 .299 D.Lyons SS 3 1 1 1 .256 39 12 13 9 35 5 10 5 Sugar Land 0 0 2 2 1 0 6 1 0 - 12 13 0 L Island 0 0 0 1 0 0 3 1 0 - 5 10 2 2B--R.Ruiz (7). 3B--R.Langerhans (3). HR--R.Langerhans (2), N.Stavinoha (5), N.Medchill (2), D.Ramos (1). RBI--R.Langerhans 3 (18), T.Harbin 2 (9), N.Stavinoha 2 (22), N.Medchill (4), D.Ramos (12), C.Puckett (33), R.Ruiz 2 (28), J.Brodin (31), D.Lyons (13). SF--T.Harbin 2 (3), C.Puckett (3). E--F.Lentini (3), D.Lyons (12). LOB--Sugar Land 5, L Island 10. YTD IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA Sugar Land M.Wright (W,5-5) 6.2 8 4 4 4 4 0 3.75 J.Wells 1.1 1 1 1 2 2 0 1.42 G.Majewski 1.0 1 0 0 0 1 0 1.17 9 10 5 5 6 7 0 L Island B.Blevins (L,4-2) 6.1 11 9 8 0 5 4 4.09 D.Kopp 0.2 1 2 0 1 2 0 1.29 B.Zimmermann 1.0 0 1 0 1 0 0 0.00 J.Accardo 1.0 1 0 0 0 0 0 4.88 9 13 12 8 2 7 4 WP--J.Wells (2). PB--K.Castillo. SO--R.Langerhans, D.Young, C.Lambin 3, N.Stavinoha, N.Medchill, C.Puckett, R.Ruiz, B.Harris 2, A.Bailey, J.Brodin, K.Castillo. BB--D.Young, T.Scott, F.Lentini, L.Ford, B.Harris, J.Brodin, K.Castillo, D.Lyons. BF--M.Wright 31 (305), J.Wells 7 (105), G.Majewski 4 (89), B.Blevins 30 (304), D.Kopp 4 (29), B.Zimmermann 5 (5), J.Accardo 4 (102). P-S--M.Wright 118-73, J.Wells 29-13, G.Majewski 12-9, B.Blevins 95-73, D.Kopp 22-14, B.Zimmermann 20-11, J.Accardo 15-10. T--3:08. A--5278 Plate Umpire - Warren Nicholson, Field Umpire #1 - Fred DeJesus, Field Umpire #2 - John Torres