Baby Bombers Fall to ‘Clones, 3-1

Kyle Roller watches as the ball flies about four feet down the third baseline. The catcher touched the ball in fair territory before it rolled foul and gave Roller his first base hit of the night. (Robert M Pimpsner/Gotham Baseball)  | read this item

The Staten Island Yankees continued to struggle to bring runners home as they fell to the rival Brooklyn Cyclones 3-1 at MCU Park in Brooklyn.  The Baby Bombers left seven runners stranded on base and was just 2-for-7 with runners in scoring position.

Staten Island threatened first but was unable to get that big hit with runners on in the top of the third.  Casey Stevenson worked a walk then went to second on a ground out by Jeff Farnham.  After Garrison lined out to left Eduardo Sosa lined the ball into left field for a single and moving Stevenson over to third.  However after a long at bat and battle at the plate Shane Brown struck out swinging the pitch after fouling a ball off his hand.

Brooklyn plated the first three runs of the ballgame in their half of the third inning.  Juan Centeno doubled to center then went to third when Rylan Sandoval singled on a ground ball to center before scoring on a double by Darrell Ceciliani.  With two runners in scoring position Cory Vaugn sent the ball deep into center field for a sacrifice fly and bringing Ceciliani to third.  Jeff Flagg then sent the ball out to deep centerfield yet again for another sacrifice fly and giving the Cyclones a 3-0 lead.

The Baby Bombers plated their first and only run of the game in the top of the seventh inning.  Kelvin De Leon singled and went to second on a throwing error to lead off the inning.  After Kyle Roller grounded out to move him over to third Jose Mojica had a ground ball single to center to bring him home.

Staten Island Yankees Designated Hitter Kyle Roller was 2-for-4 in the game, raising his season batting average to .288.  Eduardo Sosa, Kelvin De Leon, Jose Mojica, Casey Stevenson and Garrison Lassiter had the other base hits for the Yankees.  Lassiter keeps his season average at the .333 mark and is batting .364 in his last ten games.

Yankees starter Zachary Varce was charged with the loss as he allowed three runs on five hits and two walks while striking out three.  He was followed by Bryant Cotton who pitched an inning and a third innings without allowing a runner to reach base.  He stretched is scoreless streak to eight innings over five games.  Mike Recchia pitched a shutout eighth to lower his ERA to 2.65.

Sunday afternoon the Yankees and Cyclones will face off in the second and last game of this quick two-game series.  Shane Greene is expected to start for Staten Island.

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