Minors Stuff

The Herd:

The force was most definitely strong with young Jonathon Niese on Friday
.
The southpaw hurled shutout baseball into the eighth inning and flirted with history as the Bisons blanked the Durham Bulls, 1-0, in front of 12, 422 at Coca-Cola Field on Star Wars Night.
Niese was the star of this game, earning his first victory of the season with a masterful performance. He retired 16 of the first 18 batters he faced and took a no-hitter three batters deep into the sixth inning. Rashad Eldridge broke up the no-no with a clean double to right field with two outs into the sixth.

Prior to that, Niese had allowed just two Durham batters to reach base. Eldridge reached on an error to lead off the game but was left stranded. Chris Nowak drew a walk off the Bisons southpaw in the second inning, but he was quickly erased by a double play two pitches later.
Working with a 1-0 lead, Niese allowed a second hit in the seventh inning, but kept the Bulls off the scoreboard. He finally had to be relieved three batters into the eighth as Brandon Chaves walked and pinch hitter John Jaso reached on an error. Niese ended his gem with seven strikeouts, three walks and only two hits allowed in 7.1 innings.



B-Mets:


Mike Antonini tied a season high with seven innings of work for the second straight start, but Trenton’s Ivan Nova was better going eight scoreless innings in the Thunder’s 1-0 win over Binghamton Friday night at Waterfront Park. Antonini allowed just one run on seven hits with five strikeouts, but gave up a solo homer to Noah Hall in the first inning, which proved to be the defense.

After getting the first hitter in the opening frame, Antonini gave up the homer on an 0-2 pitch to Hall, which went over the left-centerfield wall pitting Trenton (31-28) to a 1-0 lead.

Binghamton (24-25) had its best run-scoring chance in the fourth inning when they loaded the bases with two outs against Nova. However, the stingy righty got D.J. Wabick to ground out to third to end the threat and the inning.

Nova allowed just three hits and struck out a season-high eight men in his eight-inning start, which tied a season best as well. The win was his fifth of the year. Amaury Sanit picked up his seventh save of the year with a scoreless ninth inning, capped by a strikeout of Lucas Duda. On Thursday night, Sanit had given up a walk-off grand slam at Reading.

The win for Trenton ended their season-long five-game skid. The B-Mets have now lost 9 of their last 11 games.



Saturday, June 13 at Trenton 1:05 pm RHP Tobi Stoner (1-2, 3.15) vs. RHP Ryan Pope (2-4, 4.83)

Saturday, June 13 at Trenton 7:05 pm TBA vs. TBA

Sunday, June 14 at Trenton 1:05 pm TBA vs. LHP Wilkin De La Rosa (3-3, 3.66)

Tuesday, June 16 at Harrisburg 7:00 pm TBA vs. TBA


Lucy:


The Mets dropped their third of four games with the Dunedin Blue Jays Wednesday night at Tradition Field. Mets starter Angel Calero struggled yet again allowing five earned runs on seven hits while striking out two batters and issuing four walks over 3.2 innings of work. The Jays struck first on an RBI single by Jesus Gonzalez that scored Moises Sierra in the first inning. The Mets stormed right back in their half of the first inning. Zach Lutz singled and scored on a two-run double off the bat of Francisco Pena that also scored Ike Davis giving the Mets a 2-1 lead. The lead would not last long. The Jays tacked on two more runs in the second inning putting the Blue Jays up 3-2. The Mets would not get any closer. Calero was chased from the game after allowing a two-run double in the fourth inning making the score 5-2. Nick Waechter tossed 2.1 innings in relief of Calero allowing two more runs giving Dunedin a commanding 7-2 lead. Lutz drove Greg Veloz in on an RBI single in the seventh inning, but the Mets gave that run back in the Blue Jay eighth. The Mets trailed 8-3 heading into the ninth. Ike Davis pulled the Mets to within three when he crushed a moon shot over the right field wall with Kirk Nieuwenhuis on base making it an 8-5 game, but that was all the Mets could do against the Blue Jays. Lutz, Davis and Brahiam Maldonado each had two hits while Francisco Pena had three hits on the evening. The Mets stranded six runners in scoring position on the night.


Gnats:

Jean Luc Blaquiere's walk-off single capped a two-run, ninth-inning rally for the Savannah Sand Gnats as they defeated the Augusta GreenJackets, 3-2, in front of 1,613 at Historic Grayson Stadium Friday night.
Raul Reyes led off the ninth with a single and came all the way around to score after Augusta's pitcher Chris Wilson threw wildly and up the first base line on Matt Gaski's sacrifice attempt. Blaquiere's blow, a drive to deep center field, came with five GreenJackets in the infield and just two in the outfield after Vladimir Frias was inserted into the game prior to Blaquiere's at bat.
Wilson (1-2) takes the loss for Augusta with Manny Olivares (1-3) notching his first win of the year after 2.2 shutout innings of relief.
The GreenJackets (29-31) re-took the lead in the seventh with Johnny Monell's bases-loaded groundout to first base in the seventh inning. Olivares induced an inning-ending flyout to wipe out the threat.
Savannah starter Chris Schwinden settled for a no decision despite a quality start with 6.1 innings pitched allowing two runs on six hits with four strikeouts.


Clones:


On Tuesday, June 16th and Wednesday, June 17th, fans will have a chance to meet the 2009 Cyclones before the season starts.

On Tuesday, the Cyclones players, coaches, mascots, and Beach Bums will be at Prospect Park to meet and interact with fans. The team will be on the Long Meadow, at the 9th Street entrance of the park, from 2pm to 4pm, and will be handing out goodies, signing autographs, and taking pictures.

On Wednesday, the Cyclones will be at Borough Hall from 11:30am to 1:30 pm, again meeting with Brooklyn fans.

Meet the new members of Brooklyn's favorite team in the week leading up to Opening Day, and welcome them to the greatest city in the world!

For Season Tickets, Mini Plans, and Group Tickets, call 718.37.BKLYN
For individual game tickets, call 718.507.TIXX
www.brooklyncyclones.com

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