Cuse Game Recap - Syracuse falls short to Lehigh Valley, 4-1, on sunny Saturday night

 

Cody Bohanek homered for Syracuse on Saturday night against Lehigh Valley (Herm Card).

Syracuse, NY – The Syracuse Mets dropped a third straight game to the Lehigh Valley IronPigs on Saturday night, falling by a 4-1 final on a sunny night at NBT Bank Stadium. The IronPigs have won four of the first five games in the week-long, six-game series.  

  

All of the game’s scoring came in the third inning. In the top of the third, Lehigh Valley (17-12) had Dalton Guthrie on first base with one out when Drew Maggi doubled, scoring Guthrie from first for a 1-0 IronPigs lead. Nick Maton followed with a single that plated Maggi to give Lehigh Valley a 2-0 edge. After Austin Wynns flied out for the second out of the frame, Darick Hall doubled to bring home Maton to make it a 3-0 ballgame. Then, Dustin Peterson put the exclamation point in the inning with a triple, scoring Hall and giving Lehigh Valley a 4-0 advantage. 

  

Maton has had a very productive weekend so far, going a combined 4-for-8 with two doubles and two runs driven in. Hall has been a nuisance all week for Syracuse, with six hits and four runs driven in during the first five games of the series. Late production has marked most of the success for the IronPigs the last two nights. Seven of the ten runs that Lehigh Valley has scored combined between Friday and Saturday have come with two outs.  

  

Syracuse (9-19) plated its only run of the night in the bottom of the third. Cody Bohanek led off the frame with a home run that he crushed over the left-field wall. It was the second homer of the season for the former UIC Flame. Syracuse has scored all three of its runs the last two nights on solo home runs.  

  

After the third inning, neither team would score again. Mike Montgomery bounced back from the rough third inning to record a solid start for the Mets, allowing four runs in five and two-thirds innings with four strikeouts. The bullpen was sterling after that. Jake Reed and Eric Orze combined to pitch the final three and one-third innings in scoreless fashion for Syracuse, allowing just one hit in the process. Orze was particularly excellent. The right-handed reliever allowed just one baserunner in his two scoreless relief innings, striking out four IronPigs batters in the process.  

  

However, Lehigh Valley’s pitching staff turned in an even better performance. Five pitchers (Joe Gatto, Jeff Singer, Jonathan Hennigan, Tyler Cyr, and Connor Brogdon) combined to allow just the one run in nine innings, surrendering a scant four hits while striking out 12 Syracuse batters in the process. The IronPigs pitching staff has been a nearly impenetrable wall for Mets batters this weekend. In the past two games, Lehigh Valley’s hurlers have racked up 27 strikeouts while allowing just three runs on ten hits in 18 innings.  

  

Syracuse wraps up the six-game series against Lehigh Valley at NBT Bank Stadium on Sunday afternoon. First pitch is set for 1:05 p.m. on Mother’s Day.