(Central Islip, N.Y., May 6, 2012) – The Long Island Ducks defeated the Camden Riversharks 2-1 in 11 innings on Sunday afternoon to sweep the three-game series at Bethpage Ballpark.
GAME VIDEO: Lew Ford’s solo homer and Kraig Binick’s waddle-off base hit
POSTGAME VIDEO: Binick, Kevin Baez and Mike Loree talk about the waddle-off win and preview upcoming series vs. York
Both teams exchanged scoreless innings until the sixth when Chris Walker’s RBI groundout put Camden ahead 1-0. The Ducks answered back in their half of the seventh on a solo homer to left from Lew Ford to tie the game at one.
It stayed that way until the bottom of the 11th when Wilberto Ortiz doubled to lead off the inning and moved to third on a sacrifice bunt from Dan Lyons. That set the stage for Kraig Binick, who drove in the winning run with a walk-off single to left-center field.
Both starters pitched well but neither factored into the decision. Mike Loree tossed seven innings, allowing a run on four hits while striking out six, and Mike McGuire also gave up just one run on eight hits with three punch-outs in seven innings of work. Jeff Lyman (2-2) picked up the win, tossing a scoreless inning of relief with two strikeouts, while John Lujan (0-1) suffered the loss, surrendering a run on three hits in one and one-third innings of relief.
Binick’s waddle-off hit capped a four hit day to lead the Flock. Ford, Ortiz, Ryan Garko and James McOwen each added two hits for Long Island.
Following a day off on Monday, the Ducks will open up a three-game series against the York Revolution in a rematch of last year’s Atlantic League Championship Series. Game time is slated for 6:35 p.m., with the Bethpage Ballpark gates opening at 5:35. The first 3,500 fans in attendance will receive Ducks Magnetic Schedules, courtesy of The QuackerJack Foundation. It’s also a peanut-free day at the Duck Pond. There will be no sale of peanuts at the ballpark, giving fans struggling with peanut allergies the opportunity to attend a baseball game. Baldwin native Joe Esposito gets the start for Long Island against York southpaw Ryan Feierabend.
Tickets for the game and all Ducks home games are available by visiting the Bethpage Ballpark Box Office, calling (631) 940-TIXX, or visiting www.liducks.com. Fans unable to attend the game can follow the action live online at LIDucks.com by clicking the Watch Live icon on the homepage. Streaming video and audio will be available on the Ducks’ official YouTube channel, www.youtube.com/ducksbaseball, courtesy of the Internet Broadcast Network.
DUCK TALES: Binick’s walk-off base hit was his second walk-off hit as a member of the Ducks. The Hicksville native hit a waddle-off two-run home run against the York Revolution on August 26, 2011. Today’s hit was the Ducks’ first walk-off win of the season…With two hits, Ryan Garko extended his team-leading hitting streak to nine games. He’s also reached base safely in all ten games this year. Garko entered the game fifth in the Atlantic League in batting (.417), third in hits (15) and seventh in on-base percentage (.475)…With his home run in the seventh, Lew Ford has now homered in back-to-back games. That marks the first time he has homered in back-to-back contests while playing in the United States since August 19-21, 2005 when he homered in three consecutive games as a member of the Minnesota Twins. It was the outfielder’s third home run of the year and the Ducks’ 10th longball this season…Ducks pitchers struck out 13 Riversharks batters, which set a new season-high for the pitching staff. The previous mark was 11, done on May 2 at Bridgeport…Mike Loree continued his dominance at Bethpage Ballpark as a member of the Ducks by allowing just one run in seven innings of work. Loree was 9-2 with a 2.05 ERA and 79 strikeouts in 14 games (12 starts) at the Duck Pond in 2011.
GAME DATE: 05/06/2012 Camden Riversharks 1 AT Long Island Ducks 2 (EXTRA INNINGS) YTD YTD Camden AB R H BI AVG L Island AB R H BI AVG C.Walker DH 4 0 0 1 .175 K.Binick LF 6 0 4 1 .234 L.Turner 2B 5 0 0 0 .333 B.Nelson 3B 4 0 1 0 .256 D.Macias RF 4 0 0 0 .118 B.Sing DH 4 0 0 0 .200 B.Burgamy 1B 3 0 1 0 .400 R.Garko C 5 0 2 0 .415 E.Perez 3B 4 0 0 0 .297 J.Johnson C,PR 0 0 0 0 .292 C.Roberson LF 4 0 0 0 .048 R.Navarrete 1B 4 0 0 0 .256 B.Rice CF 4 1 1 0 .182 L.Ford CF 4 1 2 1 .366 J.Eigsti SS 4 0 3 0 .342 J.McOwen RF 5 0 2 0 .300 C.Caves C 3 0 0 0 .250 W.Ortiz 2B 4 1 2 0 .214 D.Lyons SS 3 0 1 0 .310 35 1 5 1 39 2 14 2 Camden 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0 - 1 5 0 L Island 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 - 2 14 0 2B--W.Ortiz (1). HR--L.Ford (3). RBI--C.Walker (3), K.Binick (5), L.Ford (9). SH--C.Caves (0), D.Lyons 2 (0). SB--B.Burgamy (2). CS--J.Eigsti (1). LOB--Camden 4, L Island 13. DP--D. Lyons(SS) - W. Ortiz(2B) - R. Navarrete(1B), L. Turner(2B) - J. Eigsti(SS) - B. Burgamy(1B), L. Turner(2B) - J. Eigsti(SS) - B. Burgamy(1B), L. Turner(2B) - J. Eigsti(SS) - B. Burgamy(1B). YTD IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA Camden M.McGuire 7.0 8 1 1 3 3 1 2.95 Z.Hammes 2.0 3 0 0 1 3 0 0.00 J.Lujan (L,0-1) 1.1 3 1 1 1 1 0 3.38 10.1 14 2 2 5 7 1 L Island M.Loree 7.0 4 1 1 1 6 0 2.08 J.Hill 1.0 1 0 0 0 2 0 11.25 J.Meloan 2.0 0 0 0 0 3 0 1.50 J.Lyman (W,2-2) 1.0 0 0 0 1 2 0 4.70 11 5 1 1 2 13 0 WP--J.Lujan (2). PB--C.Caves. SO--C.Walker 2, L.Turner, B.Burgamy, E.Perez 2, C.Roberson 2, B.Rice, J.Eigsti, C.Caves 3, K.Binick, B.Nelson, B.Sing 2, L.Ford 2, W.Ortiz. BB--C.Walker, B.Burgamy, B.Nelson, B.Sing, R.Navarrete, L.Ford, W.Ortiz. BF--M.McGuire 29 (76), Z.Hammes 9 (28), J.Lujan 8 (25), M.Loree 24 (69), J.Hill 4 (20), J.Meloan 6 (24), J.Lyman 4 (35). P-S--M.McGuire 115-72, Z.Hammes 34-21, J.Lujan 39-23, M.Loree 95-58, J.Hill 16-12, J.Meloan 18-14, J.Lyman 18-9. T--3:12. A--5020 Umpires: Plate Ump - Mark Facto, Field Ump #1 - James Pattison, Field Ump #2 - Ronnie Whitting