Coming into Monday night’s game against the State College Spikes (20-21), the Batavia Muckdogs (15-25) found themselves in the midst of a hot streak. Winners of five of the last six games and only six games out of the wildcard, Batavia looked to continue its recently found success.
Travis Neubeck got the emergency start on the mound after Gabriel Castellanos was called up. The Spikes were able to jump on Neubeck early, as the young righty was making his first professional start.
Craig Aikin reached base in the first inning after hitting a routine ground ball to Anfernee Seymour at shortstop, Seymour’s legs got tangled up and he was unable to make the throw to first, resulting in his 12th error of the season.
Leobaldo Pina then doubled home Aikin to make it 1-0. Seymour was able to make up for his mistake in the bottom half of the inning.
Seymour led off the inning with a single and just like he has all season, stole second. He then moved to third on a failed pick-off attempt at second that saw the ball dribble into the outfield. Taylor Munden plated Seymour with a sacrifice fly to centerfield, tying the game at 1-1.
“He’s going to go out there and help because he can play the game and he has the tools to make things happen for us,” Manager Angel Espada said about Seymour’s impact on the team.
Neubeck settled down after the first inning until he seemed to run out of gas in the fifth inning.
“There was a lot of things going on for him, a lot of firsts,” Espada said. “He went out there and I think he did a good job for the most part and that last inning happens.”
Neubeck walked Ronnierd Garcia to start the fifth inning and quickly came around to score on a Josh Swirchak RBI triple. Neubeck was able to retire the next two batters, but Pina stepped into the box and launched a two-run home run to make it 4-1, ending Nuebeck’s night.
“We played so well on the road and that just comes to show you why these kids are at this level,” Espada said.
Ayron Adames came in relief of Neubeck and also pitched well until he, too, ran out of gas in the eighth inning.
The Spikes were able to muster three runs, on five hits behind an Orlando Olivera home run to take an 8-1 lead.
“There is a fine line between developing and winning -- that’s the way it’s going to be,” Espada said.
Kyle Keller pitched the ninth inning and allowed one run, making the final 9-1.
Roy Morales finished the game 2-for-4 while Seymour was 1-for-3 with a run scored and two stolen bases. Seymour now has 17 stolen bases on the year, good for second in the league and just one behind league leader, Johnny Sewald of the Tri-City ValleyCats.
“Once you fall back, young hitters tend to press a little bit instead of trying to take good at-bats,” Espada said. “The youth showed up today and hopefully we can put this one behind us and come back ready to play tomorrow.”
Batavia continues its series against the Spikes Tuesday night at 7:05 at Dwyer Stadium.
Photos by Howard Owens.
