Staten Island 9 - Brooklyn 3

All season long, the Cyclones starting pitchers – particularly All-Star hurler Rob Gsellman - have carried the team, but tonight they quickly found themselves in a hole as Brooklyn fell to the Staten Island Yankees 9-3 on Friday night.

After matching zeroes in the first and second inning, the Baby Bombers drew first blood in the bottom of the third.  Trent Garrison singled to start the frame, and Derek Toadvine walked to put a pair of runners aboard.  Brooklyn starter Rob Gsellman retired Brandon Thomas on a fly ball and struck out Eric Jagielo, finding himself on the verge of getting out of the frame.  But Staten Island struck together four consecutive two-out hits to push across four runs and chase Gsellman from the game.

The Cyclones sliced into the lead in their next turn at-bat as Jonathan Clark manufactured a run, nearly on his own.  The speedy outfielder started the fourth with a line drive single, Brooklyn’s first hit of the game, and then stole second base to move into scoring position.   Gavin Cecchini moved Clark to third with a deep fly ball that went for the first out of the frame, and L.J. Mazzilli grounded out to second base, allowing Clark to score and trim the Staten Island lead to 4-1.

In the bottom of the frame, Cyclones reliever Ricky Knapp found himself in trouble, as the Yankees mounted a two-out rally for the second time.  Eric Jagielo and Mike Ford started the two-out trouble with back-to-back singles before Yeicok Calderon connected on his ninth home run of the season as Staten Island’s lead swelled to 7-1 after four innings.

Brooklyn used a pair of fifth inning doubles from Alex Sanchez and Tomas Nido to cut the deficit to 7-2.  In the eighth inning the Cyclones looked like they might be able to take a bigger chunk out of the Yankees lead when they loaded the bases with nobody out, but Matt Oberste grounded into a double play, which scored a run, but also put an end to the Brooklyn threat.

The Cyclones had another chance in the eighth inning, as a pair of one out singles, coupled with a wild pitch, put runners on second and third but Mazzilli and Jared King were retired to end the threat without Brooklyn getting a run across.
In the bottom of the frame, the Yankees put a bow on the game with a two-run shot from Jagielo to make the final score 9-3.  This season, the Cyclones pitching staff has allowed just 20 home runs, but the Yankees have hit nine of them in 15 games.

Press Release