6/6/10

Binghamton 13, New Britain 1

Kirk Nieuwenhuis doubled twice and drove in a season-best six men and Eric Niesen fired a season-high, six shutout innings to lead Binghamton to a 13-1 whitewash of New Britain Saturday night. The two teams are going in opposite directions: the B-Mets have won three straight, while the Rock Cats have lost eight in a row.
Kyle Gibson made the start for New Britain and retired the first seven men he faced before Binghamton (27-28) solved the righty. Gibson hung a slider to Mike Nickeas that resulted in a double, ending the hitless start. Jose Coronado followed with a single and took second on a throwing error from centerfielder Ben Revere. Nieuwenhuis plated both men with a double inside the line at first, making it 2-0 B-Mets.

Gibson, the 22nd overall pick in the 2009 draft, permitted two more to score in the fourth. He loaded the bases courtesy of a pair of singles and walk. Lucas Duda plated the first run of the frame on a Gibson wild pitch and the second run came across on a Coronado sacrifice fly.

RBI singles from Coronado and Nieuwenhuis forced Gibson’s exit in the sixth inning. The right-hander departed down 6-0 and was charged with his first Double-A loss. Over 5 2/3 innings, he surrendered a season-worst six runs on seven hits and walked three.

Niesen left after the sixth inning. The southpaw pitched in an out of trouble all night. He got himself out of a bases-loaded, no-out jam in the third and emerged unscathed in the fourth after allowing the first two to reach. Niesen allowed just three hits over six innings and struck out five in the win.

The B-Mets laid it on thick in the seventh with their biggest inning of the season. Binghamton exploded for seven runs on seven hits against reliever Michael Allen. The big hit came from Nieuwenhuis, who cleared the bases with a bases-loaded double to the gap in right. At stretch time, Binghamton led 13-0.

New Britain (14-41) brought its only run across in the seventh. Danny Lehmann led the off the inning with a single off reliever Eddie Kunz. Two groundballs to the right side advanced Lehmann to third, where he scored from on a Brandon Roberts single. Kunz went on to throw the final three innings of the game for his first save.



Coronado smacked three hits and drove in three at the bottom of the order. Every member of the Binghamton starting lineup reached base and the B-Mets outhit the Rock Cats 15-7.

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