Binghamton 6, Erie 5
“Success in every sport depends on runs and that includes baseball,” Lawrence Moten said as he tried to fire up the crowd around him last night at NYSEG Stadium in Binghamton. Moten, Syracuse University and the Big East’s all time basketball scoring leader, was the featured attraction of a ‘meet-and-great’ session before the B-Mets battled the Erie Seawolves. Perhaps Moten is a seer, because Binghamton went on a run scoring four times in the bottom of the ninth inning to earn a 5-5 tie and then won in walk-off style in the home half of the tenth.
For his part, Moten had a blast. He was approachable and engaging to fans who stopped by for an autograph or to say hello. Moten, who played third base in high school and called baseball a ‘great game,’ soaked in everything involved in attending a Binghamton baseball game even staying after the game for the Toyota Fireworks show.
Some B-Met late inning long ball firewors electrified a good sized NYSEG Stadium crowd. Prior to the explosive ninth it seemed like the B-Mets bats were asleep. Travis Taijeron did blast a long second inning, solo homerun over the left-center field wall, his fifth in just just 48 at-bats as a B-Met. The power hitting outfielder drove another ball to the wall in the fifth but came up a few feet short. Other than Taijeron’s blasts, for the most part, the B-Met bats were in a slumber.
Erie third baseman Wade Gayner put the Seawolves in front with a three-run blast of his own in the visiting fourth. Erie added a two-out run in the sixth on Hernan Perez‘s RBI single. When B-Met reliever Ryan Frasier walked Gayner with the bases loaded in the top of the ninth, Erie led 5-1, and things looked almost hopeless for the B-Mets.
Danny Muno opened the Binghamton ninth ripping a double off the wall down the line in the right field corner off Erie’s flame-throwing reliever Melvin Mercedes. Mercedes can crank up the heat, firing fastballs that sizzled consistently at 95 and 96 mph. After Josh Rodriguez was caught looking for a third strike, a hustling Cesar Puello reached base when Erie first baseman James Robbins could not pick shortstop Eugenio Suarez‘s throw in the dirt.
Allan Dykstra laced a run scoring double to right center to plate Muno narrowing the Erie lead to 5-2. Taijeron’s short fly ball to center was the second out giving Binghamton only one last opportunity to extend the contest. B-Met first baseman Rhyne Hughes had NYSEG rocking taking a Mercedes fastball on a line over 400 feet over the center field wall to earn a 5-5 tie.
Muno, Hughes, and Tovar all had two hit games for the B-Mets. Muno’s double was his 18th of the season. The Hughes game tying HR was his second.
Pedro Feliciano continued his rehab work with his third B-Met appearance. Feliciano has worked 3.1 inning in relief without allowing a baserunner. The cagey veteran uses a fastball that only reaches the low 80’s but mixes his pitches and locations masterfully consistently tying opposing hitters in knots.
With the help of B-Met closer Jeff Walters, Binghamton shut down Erie in the tenth. Walters replaced Fraser with one out in the inning and would earn his fourth win of the year.
Darrell Ceciliani opened the home tenth working a base-on-balls. Wilfredo Tovar placed a perfect sacrifice bunt down the first base line. Erie pitcher Ryan Robinski raced to play the bunt, slipped and landed on his rear, then tried to throw out Tovar from that sitting position. Robinski’s throw sailed past Robbins down the first base line allowing Ceciliani to advance to third. Danny Muno lifted a short fly to right field not deep enough to score the winning tally. Josh Rodriguez was the walk off hero rocketing a shot that bounced over the left-center field wall for a game winning ground rule double.
20-year pitching prospect Noah Syndergaard will start his first AA game on the hill in the rubber match of the series. Syndergaard was just called up to Binghamton from Class A Port St. Lucie.
Key Stats
Rhyne Hughes: 2-for-4, 1 HR, 3 RBI, 1 R
Wilfredo Tovar: 3-for-4
Travis Taijeron: 1-for-4, 1 HR, 1 RBI, 1 R
Mark Cohoon: 5.0 IP, 6 H, 1 HR, 2 BB, 2 HBP, 3 ER, 1 K
Jim Fuller: 2.0 IP, 2 H, 1 BB, 1 ER, 3 K
Pedro Feliciano: 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 BB, 1 K
Ryan Fraser: 1.1 IP, 2 H, 3 BB, 1 ER, 1 K
Jeff Walters: 0.2 IP, 0 H, 0 BB