The tension rises when the Trenton Thunder come to town. Larger crowds make there way into NYSEG Stadium with many in the crowd decked out in pinstripe New York Yankees jerseys. Passions run high and a baseball buzz ripples through the crowd.
Neither the B-Mets or the Thunder earned bragging rights this weekend, when they split a four-game series in Binghamton. The Mets earned bookend wins taking the opening game of the series, then winning again to close the series out on Sunday afternoon. Trenton won the two contests in between.
Dustin Lawley continues to show the long ball potential that saw him hit a Mets minor league high 26 home runs last summer. Lawley blasted a tape-measure like homerun, a three-run blast, off highly regarded Yankee pitching prospect Manny Banuelos in his first at-bat after the All-Star break helping Binghamton to a 8-4 win in the opener. Left-handed pitching prospect Steven Matz worked five innings to win his third consecutive game.
Lawley was at it again, part of a long-ball hitting show in Binghamton’s Sunday win over Trenton. After Kyle Johnson opened the B-Mets first lacing a single to centerfield and stealing second, Brian Burgamy blasted a two-run shot over the left field wall to get Binghamton on the board. Lawley followed in the next at-bat ripping a line drive just that just cleared the fence in left for his 18th round-tripper of the season, pushing the Mets ahead 3-0. Lawley would double later in the contest and ended the day batting .250.
Burgamy slammed a second two-run homer in the fifth to put the game away for the Mets. Dilson Herrera added to the long ball theatrics, powering a ball high off the wall to the deepest part of the park in straightaway center, legging out a triple.
Greg Peavey (7-1) was brilliant on the mound throwing seven impressive innings, allowing just four hits and a run, while striking out seven and walking nobody and hitting one batter.
The Binghamton bullpen ran into trouble in the second game of the series squandering a two-run seventh inning lead by surrendering four runs allowing Trenton to eke out a 6-5 victory.
Trenton’s Luis Severino got his Double-A career off to a bang, silencing Binghamton’s bats, throwing two-hit ball and allowing just one run over five innings. The Thunder downed the Mets, 6-1 on Saturday.
Dilson Herrera continues to rake at the plate for Binghamton going 7-for-14 in the series, including two doubles and a triple. In over 100 plate appearances, Herrera is now batting .349.
Binghamton gets an opportunity to draw closer to first place Portland, starting a three-game set in Maine on Monday before heading to Trenton for a four-game series over the weekend.