Long Island falls in homestand opener

(Central Islip, N.Y., Sept. 6, 2013) – The Long Island Ducks were defeated by the Sugar Land Skeeters 5-1 on Friday night in the first game of a four-game series at Bethpage Ballpark.

GAME AUDIO: Josh Barfield and Kraig Binick make spectacular defensive plays

POSTGAME VIDEO: Bobby Blevins and Lew Ford talk about the game

Sugar Land jumped out to a 3-0 lead with a run in the fourth and two in the fifth off Ducks starter Bobby Blevins. A sac fly to right by Aaron Bates and two-out RBI doubles from Travis Scott and Josh Pressley did the damage.

It stayed that way until the ninth inning when two more came home for the Skeeters on a fielding error. Long Island rallied for a run in the ninth on a bases loaded walk to Lew Ford but could not pull even.

Cesar Carrillo (2-2) earned the win for Sugar Land, tossing six innings, allowing just four hits and three walks while striking out four. Blevins (0-1) suffered the loss, yielding three runs on six hits with five strikeouts in six innings. Gary Majewski picked up his 19th save by recording the final three outs.

Ford led the Flock with three hits while Bryant Nelson added two.

The Ducks and Skeeters continue their four-game set on Saturday night. Game time is slated for 7:05 p.m., with the Bethpage Ballpark gates opening at 6:05. Following the game, all fans in attendance will be treated to a Grucci Fireworks Extravaganza, presented by Flushing Bank. It’s also Dick’s Sporting Goods Saturdays at the ballpark! Ducks staffers will be handing out coupons for $10 off a purchase of $50 or more at Dick’s Sporting Goods to fans as they exit the ballpark. Southpaw Bill Murphy takes the mound for the Ducks against Skeeters left-hander Ben Kozlowski.

Tickets for the game and all Ducks regular season home games are now on sale. Fans can purchase their tickets by visiting the Bethpage Ballpark box office, calling 631-940-TIXX or by CLICKING HERE. Those unable to make the game can follow all the action live on the radio home of the Ducks, 103.9-FM, WRCN, and online with streaming video and audio on the Ducks official YouTube channel, www.youtube.com/ducksbaseball.

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Duck Tales: With three hits, Lew Ford has now earned hits in each of the nine games he has played with the Ducks this season. He is batting .405 (15-for-37) in those nine games and has driven in four runs while scoring five runs. The former big leaguer had a hit in 15 of the 19 games he played with the Ducks in 2012 before getting signed by the Baltimore Orioles organization. The three-hit game was Ford’s second three-hit game and fourth multi-hit contest of the season…Bobby Blevins made his season debut with the Ducks, pitching with Long Island for the first time since tossing six strong innings in Game Five of the 2012 Atlantic League Championship Series on October 7, 2012. Including the postseason, the right-hander has now made seven starts with the Ducks and has given up three runs or less in each start…With two hits, Bryant Nelson picked up his 31st two-hit game of the year, tying him with Joash Brodin and Adam Bailey for the team lead. The switch hitter has now totaled 39 multi-hit games in 2013…Bill Hall drew three walks which tied the most by a Duck in a single game this year. Kraig Binick was the last Duck to collect three walks in a game, doing so on July 24 at Camden.

 GAME DATE: 09/06/2013 Sugar Land Skeeters 5 AT Long Island Ducks 1 YTD YTD Sugar Land AB R H BI AVG L Island AB R H BI AVG J.Dominguez 2B 5 0 0 0 .272 L.Ford CF 4 0 3 1 .405 R.Langerhans RF 4 1 1 0 .276 J.Barfield 2B 5 0 0 0 .301 T.Scott 3B 5 1 1 1 .282 B.Nelson 3B 5 0 2 0 .289 J.Pressley DH 3 1 2 1 .268 B.Hall SS 1 0 0 0 .247 S.Moss LF 3 0 1 0 .321 R.Strieby 1B 3 0 0 0 .253 A.Bates 1B 3 1 0 1 .318 A.Bailey RF 4 0 1 0 .259 A.Godwin CF 4 1 2 0 .288 R.Henriquez C 3 1 0 0 .241 K.Clemens C 3 0 0 0 .220 R.Navarrete DH 4 0 1 0 .236 D.Ramos SS 4 0 0 0 .222 K.Binick LF 3 0 0 0 .271 34 5 7 3 32 1 7 1 Sugar Land 0 0 0 1 2 0 0 0 2 - 5 7 0 L Island 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 - 1 7 3 2B--T.Scott (22), J.Pressley (20). RBI--T.Scott (55), J.Pressley (49), A.Bates (56), L.Ford (4). HP--K.Clemens (7). SF--A.Bates (8). SB--R.Langerhans (3), A.Godwin (49). CS--S.Moss 2 (2). E--B.Nelson (30), B.Hall (9), R.Henriquez (5). LOB--Sugar Land 8, L Island 11. DP--K. Clemens(C) - G. Majewski(P) - A. Bates(1B), D. Ramos(SS) - J. Dominguez(2B) - A. Bates(1B). YTD IP H R ER BB SO HR ERA Sugar Land C.Carrillo (W,2-2) 6.0 4 0 0 3 4 0 4.07 C.Hensley 1.0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0.82 R.Giron 1.0 2 0 0 1 2 0 2.18 A.Miller 0.0 1 1 1 2 0 0 4.95 G.Majewski (S,19) 1.0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1.95 9 7 1 1 7 7 0 L Island B.Blevins (L,0-1) 6.0 6 3 3 3 5 0 4.50 A.Hinshaw 1.1 0 0 0 1 2 0 9.82 N.DeBarr 1.0 1 2 0 0 1 0 6.83 D.Herrera 0.2 0 0 0 0 0 0 5.71 9 7 5 3 4 8 0 WP--C.Carrillo 3 (9), R.Giron (7), N.DeBarr (10). HB--N.DeBarr (10). SO--J.Dominguez 2, R.Langerhans, S.Moss, A.Bates, K.Clemens 2, D.Ramos, L.Ford, J.Barfield, B.Nelson, R.Strieby, R.Henriquez, K.Binick 2. BB--R.Langerhans, J.Pressley 2, S.Moss, L.Ford, B.Hall 3, R.Strieby, R.Henriquez, K.Binick. BF--C.Carrillo 24 (186), C.Hensley 3 (40), R.Giron 6 (226), A.Miller 3 (263), G.Majewski 3 (258), B.Blevins 26 (26), A.Hinshaw 5 (7), N.DeBarr 7 (496), D.Herrera 2 (83). P-S--C.Carrillo 97-58, C.Hensley 12-7, R.Giron 18-12, A.Miller 15-4, G.Majewski 17-10, B.Blevins 95-63, A.Hinshaw 20-12, N.DeBarr 26-16, D.Herrera 7-4. T--3:27. A--5310 Umpires: Plate Ump - Matt Beaver, Field Ump #1 - Tim McCaffrey, Field Ump #2 - Dan Kiley