All season, Nick Longmire has swung a productive bat to help the Batavia Muckdogs make it to the NY-Penn League playoffs.

Tonight, it was Longmire's arm that helped ensure there will be at least one more professional baseball game played in Batavia.

In the top of the ninth, with two out and the bases loaded, Tri-City Wildcats shortstop Ben Orloff hit a blooper to center. Longmire charged, dove and the ball ticked off his glove. Chris Wallace scored from third to make the score 5-4. Jacke Healey, on second, never broke stride, charging for home. Muckdogs catcher Juan Castillo stepped in front of the plate blocking Healey's path and taking Longmire's throw on one bounce. Healey didn't have a chance.

The play capped a game that was as good as they come. For the 59,000 Genesee County residents who weren't at Dwyer tonight -- you were in the wrong place.

It was a game that was as unusual as it was compelling.  It opened under dark, heavy cloud cover, a threat of rain, and a must-win match in a three-game playoff series after the Muckdogs had already dropped one game.

Orloff opened the first with a double, advanced to third on a ground out and scored on the second out. Starter Zach Russell then walked the next three batters and hit the fourth.

The Muckdogs were down by two runs on only one hit.

In the fifth inning, with the score 2-1, the Muckdogs loaded the bases and Joey Bergman came to the plate working the count to 3-1, or did he? The scoreboard read 2 balls and one strike. Tri-City starter Jim Robinson tossed the next pitch and it was called a ball.

Bergman dropped his bat and started trotting to third, but none of the Muckdogs runners advanced. As the third base coach waved his hands for everybody to hold their bases.

As fans yelled "ball four," the Tri-City manager trotted out to home plate to ask what was going on.  The four umpires conferred and decided Bergman did in fact draw a walk, allowing Chris Edmundson to score (pictured above).

It's not often, at any level of professional baseball, that you see an attempt at a sacrifice turn into a double play, but in the 7th, following a single to right by Daniel Adamson , Tri-City DH Michael Kvasnicka managed to bunt the ball just hard enough for Batavia pitcher Zach Russell to charge off the mound, scope up the ball, wheel and fire to second. Enrique Hernandez followed was then a meaningless double.

Russell left the game after six innings with a 3-2 lead, having given up only one hit, the lead-off double to Orloff.

Keith Butler nailed down the final three outs in the ninth to get the save.

Third baseman Jon Rodriguez had three hits and two RBIs, while both Longmire and Victor Sanchez had two hits each.

Game three of the playoff series is scheduled for 7:05 p.m., Thursday, at Dwyer.

In the other NY-Penn League series, Brooklyn beat Jamestown 9-8 in 12 innings to knot the series at 1-1.

More pictures after the jump:

If the Batavia Muckdogs have had one weakness this year, it's been the bullpen.

While relief pitching has been stellar at points, the Muckdogs have let a lot of games slip away in late innings.

Tonight, in Troy against the Tri-City ValleyCats, the Muckdogs took a two-run lead into the ninth, blew it and ended up losing in the 11th, 10-9.

Closer Michael Reid was charged with a blown save and took the loss, giving up three runs in 2 1/2 innings. Reid had a 2.05 ERA and two wins and two saves during the regular season in 31 innings of work.

Starter John Gast, who came into the playoffs with a regular season record of 6-0 and a 1.54 ERA in six starts, gave up seven runs in five innings.

The Muckdog's offense was led by Jon Rodriguez with four hits and Nick Longmire with three hits, two walks and two RBIs.

Chris Edmundson and Geoff Klein also had two hits each. Edmundson had two RBIs and Klein drew two walks.

The Muckdogs return to Dwyer Stadium at 7:05 p.m., Wednesday, for game two of the three-game series.

They could call the team the Albany ValleyCats, but that's not a popular city in New York these days. Instead, they're the Tri-City ValleyCats, and that's who the Batavia Muckdogs will play in the first round of the NY-Penn League playoffs.

Tuesday's first game is in the ValleyCat's home park, which is on a college campus in Troy.

Games two and three (if a third is necessary) are at Dwyer Stadium. Both games are scheduled for 7:05 p.m.

Tri-City finished the regular season with a record of 38-36 to win the Stedler Division. The Muckdogs took the Pinckney Division crown with a record of 45-29. Brooklyn comes into the playoffs with the most wins in the season with 51. The Jamestown Jammers grab the wild card spot with a record of 43-32.

The Muckdogs will come into the game fresh off a win against Auburn, beating the Doubledays 7-0 in a Sunday afternoon match-up.

Starter Nick McCully (pictured, file photo), pitched six scoreless innings, giving up six hits to move his record to 4-2.

Matt Valaika and Jon Edwards each had two RBIs on two hits. Audry Perez, Joey Bergman and Pat Biserta also had two hit games.

Nick Longmire finished the season in the top 10 in seven offensive categories: Second in runs scored with 53; seventh in hits with 76; sixth in triples with 7; fifth in homers with 9; third in RBIs with 55; fifth in total bases with 128; and eighth in slugging percentage at .483.

Jon Rodriguez finished: third in homers with 12; 10th in RBIs with 40; sixth in total bases with 122; and seventh in slugging percentage at .500.

Audry Perez finished seventh in RBIs with 47.

Victor Sanchez finished sixth in doubles with 19.

Joey Bergman finished eighth in on-base percentage at .400.

In pitching, Zach Russell had the ninth best ERA at 2.93.

Jose Rada, who was called up earlier in the season, had 10 saves while in Batavia, which was the sixth best in the league.

Justin Edwards (77 1/3) and Andrew Moss (75 1/2) were seventh and eighth, respectively, in innings pitched. Also, Edwards was fourth in strike-outs with 66, and Moss was eighth with 61.

Moss's eight wins were tied for second in the league.

Florida native Joey Bergman has made quite a showing in his first year of pro ball, hitting .302, scoring 35 times, driving in 31 runs and drawing 30 walks. But Friday night he achieved a special milestone -- hitting his first professional home run.

The blast in the fifth inning was part of a Muckdog onslaught against Auburn that lifted the division champs to a 8-5 victory.

Chris Edmundson also homered -- his second of the year. Edmundson's three-run shot was part of a five-run third inning for the Batavia.

Burgman had three hits and Edmundson two.

Starter Zach Russell went five innings and gave up three runs -- all in the first -- to get the win and move his record to 3-3 with a 2.93 ERA.

Batavia is in Auburn on Saturday and closes out the regular season at 1:05, Sunday, against Auburn. The playoffs open on Tuesday, but Batavia's first opponent and the location of the game have not yet been announced.

Photo: File photo.

Sorry about the poor audio quality in the last two questions. The rest of the interview had to be cut out because of it. 

The Jamestown Jammers managed to get to starting pitcher Justin Edwards (4-5, 3.38 ERA) for five runs in the fourth and fifth innings, giving them all the runs they needed to defeat the Batavia Muckdogs.

The Jammers (40-32) are still in a wild card playoff hunt with Williamsport (41-32), while the Muckdogs are cruising into the playoffs as Pinckney Division champions.

The Muckdogs scored early, taking a 2-0 lead following a Victor Sanchez double, and hits from Jon Rodriguez and Joey Bergman.

The Muckdogs would score again in the fourth and fifth innings, but still come up short, 5-4.

Muckdogs coach Oliver Marmol was ejected in the fifth inning along with Manager Dann Bilardello. Marmol and Bilardello argued a foul ball call, which may have cost the Muckdogs a run. Shortstop Yunier Castillo hit the called foul, and later grounded out, and he apparently mouthed off himself and got tossed.

Rodriguez had three hits, knocked in two and scored twice.

Batavia is at home tonight against Auburn, in Auburn tomorrow and finish out the regular season Sunday at 1:05 p.m. against Auburn.

The playoffs start Tuesday at a location to be determined.

More pictures after the jump:

The Muckdogs need to make money and draw more fans, according to NY-Penn League Commissioner Ben Hayes, but even that might not be enough to keep the team in the city of the NYPL's birth.

Hayes said Dwyer Stadium is one of three or four ballparks in the league that is not up to professional baseball standards.

"It's not that I want them to relocate," Hayes said while visiting Dwyer for Thursday's game. "It's not something I want to happen. But it is something that, if the market is not supporting the ball club, or you have a stadium that’s not in condition for professional baseball, either one of those can end a franchise, and that’s where we are."

The infield is a particular concern, Hayes said. He said he's heard, but doesn't know about firsthand, that one team that visited Dwyer this year refused to take infield practice  because the manager was concerned about the condition of the playing surface.

Minutes earlier Hayes spoke with the groundskeeper. Hayes said the groundskeeper told him the field needed to be bulldozed.

"The infield needs to be laser leveled," Hayes said. "Those things are very costly."

The local ownership group is nonprofit, Hayes noted, and doesn't have the resources to take on those kinds of improvements.

The commissioner pointed to Aberdeen, State College, Staten Island and Brooklyn as franchises with professional quality facilities. He singled out Vermont as a club that, while profitable, will need to relocate if it can't solve its ballpark problems.

Hayes agreed that it would be a shame if one of the last original franchises had to relocate.

"We considered that three years ago," Hayes said. "That was one of the top things on our minds. It's one of the last original, founding clubs in the New York-Penn League.

Unfortunately," he added, "it’s a situation where I’m not sure this club can make money. It’s losing money every year and if that’s the case, then, you know, like the other original members, those clubs will have to depart and go somewhere else."

UPDATE, Friday, 9:22 p.m.: Groundskeeper Donald Rock called to clarify -- he's concerned that some might read his comments as meaning that the whole stadium needs to be leveled. That's not what he said. He said Hayes came to him before the game and asked, "If you could do one thing, what would it be?" and he replied bulldoze the field (both infield and outfield) and level it. Rock said years of football play on the field has left it uneven. He said Hayes told him he does a great job with the field and it's in the best condition it can be under the circumstances. He said Hayes said, "The things that need to be repaired, you can't do yourself."

The Batavia Muckdogs are playoff bound, and not as just some wild card hopeful, but as certified champs.

Tonight in Jamestown, the Muckdogs recorded their sixth-straight win to capture the Pinckney Division crown.

The team in the smallest city in the league now has a shot at its second league championship in three years.

Andrew Moss turned in another strong outing and Jon Rodriguez homered twice, giving him 11 on the season, as the Muckdogs beat the Jammers, 10-5.

Moss went six-and-a-third innings giving up four runs, but only one was earned. Anthony Ferrara came on to record his second save.

The Muckdogs now lead Williamsport by four games and Jamestown by 4.5 in the Pinckney Division.

Rodriquez went  2-5 with two solo home runs. Nick Longmire had two hits and three RBIs. Chris Edmundson continued his hot hitting at the top of the order, with two hits and three runs scored. Yuner Castillo also had two hits.

The division champs return home Thursday night to face the Jammers again, and then play Friday at Dwyer (fireworks!) against Auburn. 

The Muckdogs have three more regular season home games, and one more on the road.

The reason it's so short is that the second half of the interview had to be left out because of poor sound quality. 

In a wild one last night, the Batavia Muckdogs won the team's fifth-straight game and extended its three-game lead over second place Williamsport by beating State College 12-11.

Batavia and the Spikes took a 9-9 tie into the 11th inning. In the top of the frame, State College scored two runs to pull ahead, but the Muckdogs put three runners across the plate in the bottom half to pull out the victory.

Wild throws doomed the Spikes in the 11th.

After the Muckdogs tied the score on a double by Geoffrey Klein, a triple by Chris Edmondson and a single by Victor Sanchez, Sanchez was able to reach second on a wild pitch.

Then things got really strange.

Audry Perez struck out swinging -- at a wild pitch. When Perez ran to first -- as a hitter can do when he strikes out but the catcher misses the ball -- catcher Miguel Mendez made the throw to first to record the out, but Sanchez, sprinting from second, didn't stop running. He scored the winning run when first baseman Gerlis Rodriguez threw the ball away.

Reliever Andy North was credited with the win.

Starter Nick McCully lasted only three-and-a-third innings, giving up 10 hits and nine runs (seven earned).

Edmundson and Sanchez each scored three runs in the game on two hits apiece.

Perez hit a grand-slam homer in the third.

The Muckdogs are in Jamestown tonight and return to Dwyer tomorrow to face the Jammers again. Jamestown is in third place in the Pinckney Division, three-and-a-half games behind Batavia.

UPDATE: Added video highlights from photographer Mike Janes.

Behind seven strong innings from starter Zach Russell, the first-place Batavia Muckdogs beat State College at Dwyer today, 6-4.

The Muckdogs, now 40-27, are a game and a half ahead of Jamestown in the Pinckney Division.

Russell gave up only two runs (one earned) and scattered 8 hits, to improve his record to 2-3 and lower his ERA to 2.72.

Third baseman Jon Rodriguez (pictured above scoring the first run of the game) sparked the offense, going 3-4, scoring twice and smacking two doubles. He had one RBI.

Joey Bergman, playing second base today, had only one hit in his three ABs, but it was a big one. Bergman drove in three runs in the sixth inning to give Batavia a 4-0 lead.

Catcher Audey Perez continued his hot hitting, going 2-4 and scoring a run. Nick Longmire also had a hit and a run scored. DH Patrick Biserta had two hits and an RBI.

Anthony Ferrara pitched two innings, giving up five hits and two runs, to pick up his first save of the season.

The Muckdogs have two more games at Dwyer against State College (32-36), followed by a game in Jamestown on Wednesday, then a home game against Jamestown on Thursday. On Friday, Batavia is at Dwyer for a game against Auburn.

There are only five more home dates left in the regular season.

More pictures after the jump:

The Batavia Muckdogs remain much in the hunt for the Pinckney division crown after taking three of four games from the Williamsport Crosscutters at Dwyer Stadium over two days of double-headers.

The series put the Muckdogs, now 37-27, three games ahead of Williamsport in the wild-card race.

Tonight at Dwyer, Batavia split the double-header, taking the first game 6-3 and dropping the second 2-1.

Nick McCully (3-2) picked up the win going six innings (of a seven inning game) giving up seven hits and three runs.

First-year pro Mike Reid picked up his second save dispensing of Williamsport in the seventh on quick three outs.

First baseman Victor Sanchez had three hits and scored twice, while catcher Audey Perez had two hits and two RBIs and Jon Rodriquez tripled and drove in two runs. Nick Longmire scored two runs.

In the second game, reliever Keith Butler was unable to protect a one-run lead in the seventh inning. Butler gave up two hits and two runs.

Batavia's lone run came on a lead off home run by Chris Edmondson. It was Edmondson's first homer as a Muckdog. He hit six earlier in the year with Johnson City. Edmondson is hitting .324 in 18 games with Batavia.

Batavia managed only three hits in the second game against three Williamsport pitchers.

Tomorrow the Muckdogs travel to Pennsylvania for the first of five straight games against State College (32-33). The final three games, starting Sunday at 5:05 p.m., are at Dwyer Stadium.

More pictures after the jump:

The Batavia Muckdogs did not play as scheduled Tuesday against Williamsport because the field at Dwyer was deemed too wet.

As a result, fans will be able to enjoy back-to-back double-headers tonight and Thursday, both beginning at 6:05.

In the NY-Penn league, double-header games are scheduled for only seven innings.

There are nine home dates left in the 2010 Batavia Muckdogs season.

Will these be the final professional baseball games played in Batavia, the birthplace of the New York-Penn League?

At 6:05 p.m., the Muckdogs (34-26) open a double-header with Williamsport (35-27), followed by Wednesday and Thursday games with their division rival. Both teams are two games out of first place in the Pinckney division.

Jamestown is in first with a record of 37-25. The Jammers will be in Batavia on Sept. 2 for one game.

Fifth-round draft choice Nick Longmire remains among the league leaders in hitting, with 39 runs scored, five triples, eight homers and 44 RBIs.

Infielder Joey Bergman is among the top 10 hitters with a .315 average.

Justin Edwards leads the pitching staff with a 2.81 ERA while Andrew Moss has notched six wins.

Zach Russell, with a 1-3 record and 2.38 ERA is expected to start tonight's first game.

While baseball fans in Batavia stand a chance to lose in the potential sale of the Muckdogs, Rochester Community Baseball may just come out a winner.

It was nearly two-and-a-half years ago that RCB stepped in and saved the Batavia Muckdogs franchise from folding. RCB, which also owns the Rochester Red Wings, offered to pay off the Batavia team's debts -- roughly $140,000 -- and also operate the team on a day-to-day basis.

Naturally, that offer that was gladly taken up by the City of Batavia and the Genesee County Baseball Club.

Soon after inheriting operations, the Muckdogs poured $87,000 into repairing the field at Dwyer Stadium, which had seen plenty of abuse from both high school baseball games and youth football matches in the outfield grass.

In the first year, RCB would lose about a quarter of a million dollars. In 2009, RCB took another hit -- in the neighborhood of $120,000. That's a rough total of $370,000 that RCB willingly ate in just two years.

Though numbers for this year obviously aren't yet final, early estimates say another $120,000 deficit is within reason, taking into account inflation and the economy. All told, that would be about $500,000 in losses taken by RCB to operate the team over the past three years.

However -- and this is where things get interesting -- one contract stipulation in the original deal is often glossed over: each year RCB operated the Muckdogs, they were to acquire 5 percent ownership of the franchise, with a 10-year cap on that deal (RCB could not own more than 50 percent of the team). After this third year of operation, RCB will own 15 percent of the Muckdogs franchise.

If they drop the day-to-day operations, as is "likely" according to today's news release, they cannot gain any further ownership in the team. Thus, if the team is sold following this season, RCB will receive 15 percent of the sale price.

Since teams in the NY-Penn League are not sold at a rapid rate, the general value of a ballclub is estimated by the league's most recent sale.

In 2008, the Oneonta Tigers were sold for about $6 million (they were moved out of their hometown this winter, and became the Connecticut Tigers this summer). Though terms of that sale were never officially released, $6 million is the accepted figure whispered among the league, as reported by GCBC Board Member and NY-Penn League expert Wayne Fuller.

Thus, the sale value of the Batavia Muckdogs and every other team in the league is $6 million.

That, of course, does not mean the team will be sold for that much; however, it is in the best interest of the NY-Penn League and Major League Baseball that the team not sell for much less than that. When one team sells for less than $6 million, every team in the league will likewise depreciate in value.

If the team does in fact sell for $6 million, RCB will receive 15 percent -- roughly $900,000. With a $500,000 operating loss, that factors out to a $400,000 profit. Even if the Muckdogs were to sell for $4 million, 15 percent of that is still $600,000 -- an overall $100,000 gain for RCB.

Attorney for the GCBC, Tom Williams, says he doesn't believe RCB brokered the deal with the plan to turn a profit by selling the team.

"I think they made a good-faith effort to make (the team) profitable," says Williams, "and then they just decided that they don't want to continue on. But I think they did it with the best of intentions, and they have been very honorable all the way through."

WBTA's Wayne Fuller, a member of the GCBC Board of Directors, says that in 2007, when the Muckdogs were also in trouble, the GCBC was told that the NY-Penn League could take over the franchise if the club failed to generate sufficient finances.

The same is a possibility here -- if the GCBC and RCB fail to generate enough money to run the club, and no buyer is found, the league does have the ability to absord the franchise -- which would leave the GCBC and RCB without any money. So it's in the best interest of both clubs to sell or continue operating the team.

Williams isn't yet worried about the possibility of losing the Muckdogs to the league.

"I think that we would find something to do before that happened," he says. "We expect that we're going to get some interest in the team. If it's just flat and there's absolutely no interest, then I think we're going to have to look that and decide what we're going to do.

"But I really don't think that's going to happen...I don't think we'll have that problem."

CLICK HERE for WBTA's full in-depth report today

...(Genesee County Baseball Club President) Brian Paris says he's particularly searching for someone not connected with this area and unaware of the situation, to recognize the ballclub's worth, both financial and sentimental.

He says that sponsor could easily work a re-naming deal for the stadium as a trade for their funding. At the least, he dreams of a large corporate sponsorship that would guarantee RCB sticks around for team operations.

But that's no guarantee. And sale of the team is a very real possibility.

Tom Williams is the attorney for the GCBC and will deal with the sale. He's not yet sure what kind of a price a minor league professional baseball club could go for these days.

"($6 million is) the kind of number that I've heard," he says. "I think (speculators) might be basing those numbers on what another team sold for recently" -- the Oneonta Tigers were sold for about $6 million just two years ago (according to WBTA's Wayne Fuller), and moved to Connecticut this past winter -- "but obviously...something's worth whatever somebody pays for it. We'll have to wait and see."

There is a chance that if the team does not sell, Major League Baseball would re-absorb it and remove it from the ownership of both GCBC and RCB -- and the clubs would potentially come away with no monetary compensation from a sale, which could net as much as $6 million. Williams isn't concerned about that just yet.

"I think that we would find something to do before that happened," says Williams. "We expect that we're going to get some interest in the team. If it's just flat and there's absolutely no interest, then I think we'll have to look at that, and decide what to do.

"But I really don't think that will happen. I think there will definitely be some interest."

WBTA's own Wayne Fuller, Voice of the Muckdogs for years, member of the GCBC Board of Directors -- and generally considered Batavia’s Mr. Baseball -- is somewhat saddened by the news.

"This is something that I've known for a couple of months now," says Wayne. "The board of directors, including myself, voted (in May) in favor of soliciting offers for the purchase of the franchise. We did not vote to sell the team; only to solicit offers."

Whatever may happen, today's announcement is one that many Batavians knew was coming, but didn't want to believe. Regardless, it is now a reality that the team may leave town -- and the collective air in the lungs of the Batavia community has, at least partially, been let out.

Paris says this is not the time for that. If there were ever a time to get out and support your hometown baseball team, it's now - more than ever.

"I absolutely believe that this team could stay in Batavia," declares Paris. "I believe Batavians don't give up. I believe that we will get people to come out and say 'No, we don't want (the Muckdogs) to leave, we want them to stay. We're going to show you we don't want them to leave by coming out in numbers.'

"Furthermore, should the team be sold: nobody's going to leave it in Batavia if there isn't support. So now is not the time to remove support. Now is the time to step up and support (the Muckdogs), regardless of the outcome."

UPDATED 11:59 a.m.

With recent reports that the Rochester Red Wings are not likely to operate the Batavia Muckdogs for a fourth, reportedly money-losing season, the local owners of the storied franchise announced today they are seeking a buyer for the ball club.

Presumably, the owners, Genesee County Baseball Club, will seek an owner willing to keep the team in Batavia, though that's not yet confirmed.

Club President Brian Paris said ideally, the Genesee County Baseball Club will be able to find a buyer willing to keep the team in Batavia.

"Obviously, that's our first preference," Paris said.

But he's also hopeful that just like the miracle of the Red Wings rescuing the team at the last minute three years ago, perhaps another miracle will keep the team in GCBC hands.  What the club needs, he said, is three or four deep-pocket Western New York companies to step forward with sponsorships of $25,000 to $50,000 each.

It happens in other small markets, he said.

"That's a very realistic thought because other teams have those kinds of sponsorships," he said.

Paris said he doesn't blame the community.

"The tragic portion of this, is that we are on brink of losing the team and I think I’ve tried to be very frank with people and the media that this is what could happen if we don’t have a greater amount of support in ticket sales and sponsorship," Paris said. "I love Batavia and this is something we're just going to have to work through one way or another."

One of the team's most valuable assets is its name, Batavia Muckdogs. Little League teams across the nation have licensed the logo and name. It the team moves, it will no longer be the Batavia Muckdogs.

Paris said it's too soon to talk about scenarios involving no buyer being found, or a buyer being found and the team being moved to another city.

"I hate to be Pollyanna, a small town tree hugger, but something good is going to come of this," Paris said. "It’s going to work out. We just don’t know what it is yet."

Full press release after the jump: