Inclement weather continued to threaten the early 2021 season for the Long Island as the Ducks returned home following their first road trip.
Despite some rain, the Ducks hosted the High Point Rockers from North Carolina for the start of a three game series, but fell 7-2 in a contest in which Johnni Turbo’s two extra-base hits were not enough.
After two days of rainouts forced a pair of double-headers in the Flock’s opening series against the Lexington Legends – with the Ducks taking three of four games – the long trip to play the West Virginia Power and the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs saw the third game suspended to be made up in September.
Record Evens
Tuesday’s loss and the 2-2- split on the road left the Ducks with a 5-5 record, and one-half game behind the North Division-leading Lancaster Barnstormers.
Ducks Manager Wally Backman had praise for Rockers starter Mitch Atkins and the Flock’s Johnni Turbo.
“You gotta tip your hat a little [to Atkins]. He can throw all three pitches for strikes,” he noted.
“[Turbo] means a lot to the lineup. When he gets on base, things can happen,” the skipper said of the speedy outfielder. “Nice to see him get a couple of hits tonight,” Backman said after the game.
As to the team’s performance thus far, Backman said “I’m more concerned about our pitching right now.”
“Like we said before, we threw 180 pitches [tonight]. When you make a team throw 150 some pitches, that team loses eighty-something percent of the time. So we went way beyond that and that’s something that’s happened in a number of our losses.”
“We gotta throw more strikes,” the skipper declared.
High Point Hits
The Ducks were defeated by the Rockers 7-2 on Tuesday night in the opener of a three-game series at Fairfield Properties Ballpark.
The Rockers took a 2-0 lead in the first inning on Cesar Trejo’s leadoff solo homer and an RBI single by Logan Morrison. Long Island closed the gap to 7-1 in the sixth when Johnni Turbo tripled and scored on a wild pitch by Rockers starter Mitch Atkins. Rey Fuentes’ solo homer to right in the eighth rounded out the scoring.
Turbo led the Flock offensively with a pair of extra-base hits.
Win Maryland Series
In Game Three on Sunday, June 6, Hector Sanchez’s three-run double in seventh proved to be the difference as the Ducks struck late to take the game 5-1, and the series from Southern Maryland
Sanchez led the team offensively with two hits, three RBIs, a run and a walk. Rey Fuentes added two hits, a run and two stolen bases, while Turbo stole three bases.
Long Island ran up the score on Saturday as they defeated the Blue Crabs 19-3 in the middle game of a three-game series at Regency Furniture Stadium.
The offense erupted for four runs in the fourth to take a 5-1 lead. In the seventh, the Ducks scored eight more run to put the game out of reach. RBI singles by Johnni Turbo and Freeman, Stassi’s three-run double and Sal Giardina’s RBI double highlighted the inning. Two-run home runs by Jackson in the eighth and Turbo in the ninth rounded out the scoring.
In the opener the Ducks blanked by the Blue Crabs 7-0 Long Island, despite seven strikeouts by Long Island starter Chris Reed (1-1).
Offensively, Brock Stassi collected two doubles for the Ducks, while Turbo finished with two singles. Steve Lombardozzi drew a pair of walks.
End WV in Suspense
The Thursday June 3 series finale against the West Virginia Power at Appalachian Power Park was suspended due to unplayable field conditions.
The two sides had played three innings, and the Ducks had two men on with one out in the fourth before the skies opened up. The game will be continued as a seven-inning game on Tuesday, September 28, prior to the originally scheduled game between the two teams.
The Ducks dropped two games in a row to start the year’s first road trip.
On Wednesday June 2, the West Virginia Power won 4-1 in the middle game of the three-game series. West Virginia took an early 2-0 lead against Ducks starter Mike Bolsinger on a run-scoring groundout by Jose Tabata in the first inning and an RBI fielder’s choice off the bat of Chris Salvey in the second. A two-run home run to right field by Rubi Silva in the fifth increased the Power’s lead to four. The Ducks managed their run in the sixth inning as Brock Stassi walked and scored on a two-out RBI double to right-center by Rey Fuentes.
Ryan Jackson led the Ducks offensively with a pair of hits. Justin Kelly tossed two scoreless innings of relief for Long Island, while Clint Freeman pitched a 1-2-3 inning in the eighth.
In the series opener on Tuesday, June 1, Long Island stormed back in the eighth inning but fell to the Power 4-3.
Sal Giardina gave the Ducks a 1-0 lead in the third inning with a long solo home run to right-center field off WV starter David Kubiak. A three-run fourth inning off Ducks starter Brendan Feldmann put West Virginia ahead 3-1.
Long Island rallied to tie the game in the eighth inning on a solo home run to left field by Daniel Fields and a pinch hit RBI single to left by Clint Freeman. However, a two-out RBI single to right by Yovan Gonzalez in the bottom of the eighth put the Charleston nine ahead for good.
LI Ducks and ALPB
The Long Island Ducks are members of the Atlantic League of Professional Baseball (ALPB), a Professional Partner League of Major League Baseball, and are set to play 2021 home games at Fairfield Properties Ballpark (the former Bethpage Ballpark).
For more information on the team, call (631) 940-DUCK or visit the official website at www.liducks.com.
The Atlantic League is the first Professional Partner League of Major League Baseball, a player gateway to the major leagues, and a leader in baseball innovation. The ALPB has sent over 950 players to MLB organizations while drawing 42 million fans to its family friendly ballparks over its 24-year history.
For more about the ALPB, fans can check out www.AtlanticLeague.com
