5/9/10

Binghamton 13, New Hampshire 5

For Immediate Release

B-Mets Tie Franchise Record with Eight Doubles in 13-5 Rout of Fisher Cats

Binghamton tied a franchise record with eight doubles, three of which came from Mike Nickeas, in a 13-5 whitewash of New Hampshire at NYSEG Stadium Saturday afternoon. The eight-double day ties the 1999 Binghamton Mets who accomplished the feat July 29 of that season at home against Trenton. Nickeas, who went 3-5 with the trio of two-baggers, has recorded two hits or better in four of his last five games.

The weather conditions were conducive for a big day offensively, with the wind howling out to right for the duration of the game. The teams combined for 25 hits, but none left the yard.

Binghamton (17-12) cracked the scoreboard first with a two-run second off starter Bobby Bell. After the first two men in the frame reached, Nickeas doubled down the line in left plating the game’s first run. The B-Mets second run came courtesy of a throwing error committed by New Hampshire (20-9) leftfielder Eric Thames.

The Fisher Cats rallied to tie in the fourth off starter Eddie Kunz on a sac fly from David Cooper and an RBI double from Adam Calderone. Calderone was the top performer for New Hampshire with three hits, including a pair of doubles, and two RBI.

In the fifth, the Fisher Cats took their only lead of the game, 3-2, courtesy of a Darin Mastroianni sac fly to right. Mastroianni extended his hitting streak to 14 games and his on-base streak to 33 games dating back to last season.

The B-Mets took the lead for good in the bottom of the fifth. Kirk Nieuwenhuis singled to reach with one out and was joined on base by Nick Evans, who singled off Bell after a 14-pitch at-bat. Evans’ plate appearance proved to be a turning point. Lucas Duda followed with an RBI double that tied the score. After Bell hit Zach Lutz with a pitch to load the bases, Marshall Hubbard hit a sac fly to right to give Binghamton the lead back at 4-3. The inning’s run-scoring concluded with a two-run double from Nickeas, which upped the lead to 6-3.

Binghamton wouldn’t look back from there, plating seven more runs in the next three innings to take a commanding 13-4 lead. Eddie Kunz departed in the sixth after permitting the first two hitters of the frame to reach. The righty fired five-plus innings and allowed four runs on five hits for his third win. Roy Merritt and Edgar Ramirez fired the final four innings to nail down the victory.

Bell was charged with the loss. The righty gave up six runs, five earned, over 4.2 innings to lose for the second time in 2010.

Nieuwenhuis managed a three-hit performance with three runs scored. He leads the Eastern League with 31 runs scored. Evans, Duda and Hubbard all scored two-hit days to drive the B-Mets winning charge.

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