Brooklyn 3, Hudson Valley 2

For the second straight night, the Cyclones used a ninth inning rally en route to a win. Gavin Cecchini’s sacrifice fly in Brooklyn’s last turn at bat scored the go-ahead run in Brooklyn’s 3-2 win over the Renegades on Monday night.

After the start of the game was delayed by 10 minutes due to a passing storm prior to first pitch, the Cyclones wasted no time getting on the scoreboard. In the top of the first, Patrick Biondi walked to start the game, and after Gavin Cecchini reached on an error and L.J. Mazzilli followed with a single the bases were loaded. Jared King kept the rally going with an RBI single that chased home Biondi with the first run of the game. After Matt Oberste struck out for the first out of the game, Alex Sanchez ripped a line drive towards third base that Jonathan Quinonez was able to snag and throw behind Mazzilli at second base to double up the Cyclones second baseman to end the inning.

That was all the baseball we would see for a long while however, as before Brooklyn starter Rob Gsellman threw his first pitch, the heavens opened and play was halted for nearly two hours.

When play resumed at a soggy Dutchess Stadium, just after 9:15 PM, Gsellman would still take the mound for Brooklyn. The righthander cruised through the first two innings before running into trouble in the third. After retiring the first two batters in the frame, Julian Riddings singled to start the threat. Pat Blair followed with a line drive single to right field that Jason Roach fielded and fired a strike to third base, where it seemed as though Riddings was tagged out for the final out of the inning. But following a discussion between umpires Nate Caldwell and Dave Attridge, the call was overturned and it was ruled that Gavin Cecchini had interfered with the runner. The overturned call would prove costly, because following a stolen base that put a pair of runners in scoring position, Ariel Soriano singled to left field pushing both runners home to give the Renegades a 2-1 advantage after three.

The lead was short lived however, as in the top of the fourth Matt Oberste walked to start the frame and quickly came around to score when Alex Sanchez ripped a double off the left field wall, scoring Oberste from first to knot the score at 2-2 in the fourth.

That is how it would stay, as both teams mounted threats that would prove to be fruitless over the next several innings, keeping the score tied until the top of the ninth when the Cyclones took the lead for good.

In the top of the ninth, Ismael Tijerina started the rally with a leadoff walk and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt from Patrick Biondi. With Gavin Cecchini batting, Renegades reliever Harme Sidhu uncorked a wild pitch to move Tijerina to third. Cecchini took advantage of the scoring chance, sending a fly ball to the left field warning track, scoring Tijerina with the go-ahead run.

For the second night in a row, the Brooklyn bullpen starred as Tim Peterson andCristian Chivilli combined to toss 5.0 shutout innings. Through seven games, Cyclones pitchers have combined for a 1.50 ERA to lead the New York-Penn League.

Key Stats

Gavin Cecchini: 1-for-4, 1 RBI

Jared King: 1-for-4, 1 BB, 1 RBI

Alexander Sanchez: 2-for-4, 1 2B, 1 RBI

Patrick Biondi: 0-for-2, 2 BB, 1 SB

Robert Gsellman: 4.0 IP, 6 H, 0 BB, 2 R, 0 ER, 3 K

Tim Peterson: 2.0 IP, 1 H, 2 BB, 3 K

Cristian Chivilli: 3.0 IP, 1 H, 2 BB, 0 ER

(Team Report)