Binghamton 6 - Erie 2

BINGHAMTON, NY – The Binghamton Rumble Ponies earned their third straight win on Saturday evening at UPMC Park, getting past the Erie SeaWolves 6-2. The cold temperatures did not phase Scott Copeland in his Mets organization debut, winning his first appearance since September 2017. The Rumble Ponies have outscored the SeaWolves, 19-3 in the first two games of the three-game set.

For the second straight night Binghamton scored first and led wire-to-wire. A day after having his six-game hitting streak snapped, Levi Michael pushed home the game’s first run with a second-inning single to score Jhoan Urena. 

In the next inning, the Ponies picked up where they left off against starter Kyle Funkhouser. After Jeff McNeil reached on an A.J. Simcox error, Peter Alonso mashed his league-leading sixth home run of the season to right-center field. Alonso’s second home run in as many days pushed his team-lead in RBI’s to 16.

Copeland (1-0), meanwhile, worked quickly and efficiently in his five-plus innings. He didn’t allow a hit through the first eight batters and coughed up just one hit in his first five frames. After allowing a sixth inning lead off walk to Dominic Ficocello, Copeland struck out Gabriel Quintana, but was yanked for Gerson Bautista. The 30-year old Copeland went 5-1/3 innings, striking out three and walking four. He threw just 70 pitches. 

Bautista’s entrance was met with three straight SeaWolves singles and a Simcox sacrifice fly, slicing the Rumble Ponies lead to 3-2. The two sixth-inning tallies, though, would be it for Erie on Saturday evening. 

Funkhouser (0-2) fell to Binghamton for the second time in a week. He tossed 5-2/3 innings, allowing three runs (two earned) with five strikeouts. 

Jeff McNeil provided a pair of insurance runs for Binghamton in the final three innings, blasting a solo shot in the seventh and doubling in John Mora in the ninth. The Rumble Ponies second baseman reached base in four of his five plate appearances. 

Eric Hanhold shut the door on the SeaWolves, posting a pair of scoreless innings to notch his second save of the season. 

Binghamton (10-9) wraps up its three-game set with Erie on Sunday afternoon at UPMC Park. The Rumble Ponies send RHP Joseph Shaw to the bump to face SeaWolves LHP Tyler Alexander with first pitch scheduled for 1:35 PM. 

POSTGAME NOTES:The Rumble Ponies scored first for the seventh time this season and are (7-0) in those games…Binghamton is 5-0 when out-hitting the opponent…The Rumble Ponies lead the Eastern League with 21 home runs…Patrick Mazeika’s hitting streak ends at seven games…Scott Copeland won for the first time since August 22, 2017 as a member of New Orleans (MIA:AAA)