The Long Island Ducks have been nothing but a success since they started playing in 2000 by Atlantic League founder Frank Boulton. Thursday Night was just another milestone for the franchise that Boulton once said was “The best thing I've ever done in baseball.”
The Ducks entered play on Thursday with 1,599 wins in the franchise's 23 years of existence and they had a chance to make history in front of a home crowd at Fairfield Properties Ballpark.
Kyle Lobstein took the Mound for the Ducks as they would look to sweep the Spire City Ghost Hounds. The Ex-MLB pitcher looked solid through his first four innings of work allowing no runs and keeping the game tied at zero.
Spire City would make life difficult for Lobstein in the fifth as Scott Kelly would hit a Leadoff Double to get the rally started. Kelly would score one batter later as Leobaldo Cabrera, brother of Yankees Utility Man Oswaldo Cabrera, hit an RBI double to give the Ghost Hounds a 1-0 lead.
Cabrera would end up scoring two batters later as Jose Marmolejos hit an RBI double of his own to make it 2-0 Ghost Hounds. The inning would be capped off by a Kole Cottam two-run double that pushed the lead to 5-0 Ghost Hounds.
The Ducks were able to get a run across in the bottom of the fifth as Carlos Castro would score from third when Trent Taylor was thrown out trying to steal second base.
Castro would also be responsible for the second Ducks run scoring in the sixth as he would draw a bases loaded walk to make it a 5-2 game.
The score would remain at 5-2 until the bottom of the ninth. The Ghost Hounds would call upon Victor Capellan for the save and to secure the victory.
Unfortunately for the Ghost Hounds and Capellan, the Ducks had a rally in the works and they would score three runs in the inning to tie the game at five.
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Following a two out walk that would load the bases with two outs, Alex Dickerson came to the plate and was down to his final strike before he hit a game tying two run single to left field to make it a 5-5 game.
The Ducks would be unable to get another run in the ninth and the game would continue into extra innings. Manager Wally Backman would call on Ex-Detroit Tigers pitcher Al Alburquerque to pitch in the tenth inning and the 36-year-old delivered with a scoreless inning while recording two strikeouts.
The Bullpen as a whole in this game was dominant for the Ducks. They combined for 5⅔ innings of work, striking out six batters and scattering three hits.
In the bottom of the tenth, the Ducks put men on first and third with no outs. Jack Weinburger of Spire City would then throw a wild pitch to the backstop, allowing Ex-Met Wilson Ramos to score from third base and giving the Ducks a 6-5 victory.
The Ducks became the first team in Atlantic League history (1998-present) to reach 1600 victories as a franchise and they did it in their 23rd year of existence.
“We never felt out of it at any point,” said Alex Dickerson during his postgame media availability, “five runs isn’t much for us, we feel like we can put that up at any given time. The bullpen also did a great job limiting the damage and kept us in it. ”
When asked about his game tying single in the ninth, Dickerson did not hold back any of his thoughts.“In my at bat, he (Capellan) pretty much had me dead to rights after two pitches,” said Dickerson. “I then decided to completely change my setup, I opened up (my stance) so I could get a better view of his arm angle and I ended up being able to spread a ball to left field for a hit.”
Ducks finished their homestand with four wins in two series against the Ghost Hounds and the Castonia Honey Hunters. They will be on the road this upcoming week before they return home on August 8th for a homestand against the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs.