After winning three and losing three on their six game road trip, the Batavia Muckdogs now have a record of 32-23 which puts them 1 1/2 games back of Pinckney Division leader Jamestown and 1 game up of Auburn. Here's a quick look of each of the six games:
- Saturday, August 9: Batavia 2, Brooklyn 0: Thomas Eager improved to 3-3 with the win on the mound, throwing the first 5 innings with only 1 hit and 1 walk. Adam Reifer picked up his 14th save with a 1 hit, 2 strikeout 9th inning. Colt Sedbrook had his 2nd homerun of the season, ending the night 2-for-3. Chris Swauger went 2-for4 with the other RBI.
- Sunday, August 10: Brooklyn 6, Batavia 5: The Muckdogs out-hit the Cyclones 13-9 but Brooklyn scored 1 in the bottom of the 10th to squeeze out the win. Josh Hester started the game, going 3 innings with 6 hits, 5 runs and 3 strikeouts. Jason Buursma suffered the loss as he went 1 1/3 innings with 2 hits, 1 run and 1 strikeout. Offensively, Jose Garcia had a big game, going 4-for-5 with 2 runs scored.
- Monday, August 11: Brooklyn 2, Batavia 1: Batavia dropped another close game, as the Brooklyn pitching staff had 14 strikeouts in all. For the Muckdogs, Zach Pitts threw 4 innings with 5 hits, 2 runs and 2 strikeouts to drop him to 0-4. There were no offensive stand-outs, as Garcia, Brett Lilley, Sedbrook, Xavier Scruggs and Swauger each had 1 of the team's 5 hits.
- Tuesday, August 12: Batavia 3, Tri-City 2: Newcomer Adam Veres went 5 strong innings with 3 hits, 2 runs, 2 walks and 8 strikeouts in the start and Ramon Delgado (4-1) followed him with 1 hit, 1 walk and 3 strikeouts in the next 3 innings for the win. Reifer added another save in 1 inning of work with 1 strikeout. Beau Riportella broke out of his slump in a big way, going 2-for-3 with a double and all 3 of the team's RBI. Charlie Cutler also went 2-for-3.
- Wednesday, August 13: Batavia 5, Tri-City 2: LaCurtis Mayes (3-0) earned the win in his 1 inning of work, only allowing 1 hit. Reifer had yet another save, making it 16 on the season. He pitched 1 inning with 2 walks and 2 strikeouts. Riportella had a big night again, going 2-for-4 with a double, stolen base and 2 runs scored. Lilley went 2-for-5 with a double and 2 RBI.
- Thursday, August 14: Tri-City 2, Batavia 1: The Muckdogs tried for the sweep, but couldn't hang on in another low-scoring game to finish up their road trip. George Brown (0-3) got the start and the loss, throwing 5 innings with 5 hits, 2 runs and 4 strikeouts. Sedbrook had the only multi-hit night for Batavia. He went 2-for-4 with a run scored.
Batavia now comes home for a big weekend series against Auburn. Tonight's game starts at 7:05 with Launch-a-Ball and fireworks after the game. After traveling to Auburn on Saturday, they finish up the series back at Dwyer on Sunday at 1:05. Going into tonight, here is a look where some of the Muckdogs stand statistically in the NYPL:
- Arquimedes Nieto now leads in pitching with a 5-0 record and 1.42 ERA.
- Adam Reifer is still on top in saves with 16.
- Jose Garcia's 17 stolen bases puts him in 4th place.
- Colt Sedbrook is 5th in on-base percentage with .396 and tied for 3rd in triples with 5.
- As a team, we are 3rd in batting with a .236 BA and 4th in pitching with a 3.22 ERA.
*Also of note, the Muckdogs have acquired new infielder Alex Castellanos who is being brought up from Johnson City. While there, Castellanos was batting .298 with 7 homeruns, 31 RBI and 20 stolen bases. The Miami, Florida, native with be wearing jersey number 24.
