Brooklyn 6, Vermont 4
Brooklyn came out victorious in a back-and-forth game with the Vermont Lake Monsters, 6-4. Rob Gsellman was once again brilliant, going 7.0 IP, giving up one run, zero earned, on four hits one walk and five strikeouts.
Vermont struck first in this game as they took a 1-0 lead in the top of the second inning. Ryan Huck started things off by hitting a soft liner to Matt Oberste, but Oberste mishandled the ball allowing Huck to reach first. Chad Pinder then singled, moving Huck to second base with no outs. Rob Gsellman then appeared that he would get out of the inning unscathed as he retired the next two batters, but Ryan Gorton singled through the left side to score Huck from second for the first run of the game.
Brooklyn answered in the bottom of the third inning with a run of their own to tie the game at 1-1. Matt Oberste doubled down the right field line to start the inning off, and moved to third on a single by Colton Plaia, bringing up Anthony Chavez with nobody out. Chavez was able to lift a fly ball to deep left field that allowed Oberste to tag-up and score from third to tie the game at 1-1.
The Cyclones took the lead in the bottom of the fifth inning by putting up two runs to go ahead 3-1. With one out, Patrick Biondi singled and advanced to second on a stolen base with Gavin Cecchini up to bat. That would prove to be a big stolen base because after Cecchini struck out for out number two, L.J. Mazzilli came up and doubled to the left field corner, easily scoring Biondi from second to give Brooklyn the 2-1 lead.Jared King then singled over shortstop to score Mazzilli from second to extend Brooklyn’s lead to 3-1.
Vermont came storming back in the top of the eighth inning by scoring three runs, two of which came on an error by James Roche. David Wynn came in relief forGsellman and gave up a leadoff single to Boog Powell. B.J. Boyd then singled to right advancing Powell to third and on the throw from Roche to third, Boyd was able to advance to second. Huck then walked and with the bases loaded, Pinder drew a walk to narrow their deficit to 3-2. Tyler Marcinov then hit a sac fly to right allowing Boyd to score from third, and Ryan Huck also tagged up in hopes of reaching third base. Rochegathered himself after making the catch and threw into third, but his throw went into the seats allowing Huck to score and give Vermont the 4-3 lead.
Brooklyn had a tough task as reliever Sam Bragg was on the mound, who had only given up one earned run in 17.2 IP, but Brooklyn changed that stat. Jared King,James Roche and Alex Sanchez all singled to load the bases for Oberste with no outs. On a 2-2 count, relief pitcher Sam Bragg bounced an off-speed pitch that caromed away from catcher Ryan Gorton, allowing each runner to advance one base and tie the game up at 4-4. Oberste then hit a sacrifice fly to deep right field that scored Rochefrom third and give Brooklyn the 5-4 lead. The Cyclones didn’t stop there as they added an insurance run on an RBI single by Colton Plaia that scored Sanchez from third to give the Cyclones the 6-4 lead. After a Chavez strikeout, and a bunt single fromBiondi to move Plaia to second with two outs, Cecchini came up in hopes of extending his hit streak to 16 games. Cecchini did just that as he singled to center, giving Plaia a chance to score from second but Powell threw him out at the plate to keep the score at 6-4 in favor of Brooklyn.
Brooklyn will play a doubleheader tomorrow, August 19 starting at 5:30 PM against the Staten Island Yankees.
Key Stats
Patrick Biondi: 2-for-5, 1 SB, 1 R
Jared King: 3-for-3, 1 BB, 1 RBI, 1 SB, 1 R
L.J. Mazzilli: 2-for-4, 1 2B, 1 RBI
Colton Plaia: 2-for-4
Robert Gsellman: 7.0 IP, 5 H, 1 BB, 1 R, 0 ER, 5 K
Juan Urbina: 1.1 IP, 1 H, 0 BB, 0 ER, 2 K
(Team Report)