Brooklyn 5, Staten Island 4

The Brooklyn Cyclones (24-11) defeated the Staten Island Yankees (19-16) by a score of 5-4 on Saturday night, in front of a crowd of 9,268 at KeySpan Park.The Cyclones scored three runs in the first inning to take an early 3-0 lead. The first run came on an RBI single by DH Ralph Henriquez (pictured by George Napolitano) that scored 3B Tyler Vaughn. Later in the inning, SS Robbie Shields earned his first two RBI of the '09 campaign on a single that scored 1B Sam Honeck and RF Luis Rivera. LHP Darin Gorski battled through six innings, and although he was pitching a scoreless game through four, Gorski allowed four runs in the fifth inning to surrender Brooklyn's 3-0 lead. Gorski remained in the game and pitched a scoreless sixth inning. He allowed four hits, four earned runs, one walk and struck out three. In the sixth inning, with the Cyclones trailing 4-3, LF Nick Santomauro hit an opposite-field solo home run to left that tied the game at 4-4. In the seventh, Henriquez struck again with an RBI double that scored Vaughn to give the Cyclones a 5-4 lead which they would not relinquish. For the day Vaughn and Henriquez had two hits apiece. Honeck, Santomauro, and Shields each had one hit. LHP Brandon Sage relieved Gorski to start the seventh inning, and although he put runners on base in the seventh, he pitched out of trouble and pitched a perfect eighth inning. Sage pitched two innings, surrendered one hit and two walks. He had one strikeout, and earned his first win of the season. RHP Michael Powers came on in relief in the ninth inning and struck out two batters in a perfect frame to record his league-leading seventh save of the season. The Cyclones return home on Monday, July 27th to take on division-rival Aberdeen Ironbirds on Italian Heritage Night. The team will be wearing special Italian Heritage jerseys, and the evening's entertainment will be Italian-themed. The game is presented by Local 926.