by September 5, 2009 – In front of a crowd of 4,638 at the Richmond County Bank Ballpark the Staten Island Yankees clinched first place in the McNamara Division by defeating the visiting Vermont Lake Monsters, 11-2.
The game was put away early when the Staten Island Yankees plated 10 runs in the second inning. Luke Murton started it off with a line drive single to center and moved to second on a balk. Mike Lyon then walked before Kelvin Castro homered on a fly ball off the scoreboard in left-centerfield. Hector Rabago walked before Carmen Angelini singled and Francisco Santana reached on a fielding error by the shortstop. Justin Milo walked to bring home Rabago. Luke Murton lined a double to right empting the bases before a pitching change. With a new pitcher on the mound Zoilo Almonte and Mike Lyon had back-to-back walks to load the bases again for Kelvin Castro who hit a bases-clearing double to center to give the Yankees a 10-0 lead.
Staten Island plated another run in the bottom of the fifth inning. Kelvin Castro drew a walk, moved to second on a wild pitch before Hector Rabago walked and came home on a error on the second baseman on a fielder’s choice that allowed Rabago to be safe at second with Angelini safe at first.
Kelvin Perez started the game for the Baby Bombers throwing 85 pitches with 53 going for strieks in 5 innings allowing 5 hits and a walk while striking out 6 batters for the win. He was followed by Ben Watkins, Michael Solbach, and Ryan Flannery.
The Lake Monsters scored 2 runs on 2 sacrifice flies in the seventh and eighth innings but they were no match for the league leading Yankee pitching staff. Tomorrow afternoon will be the final game of the regular season with Matt Richardson facing off against Wagner College product Kyle Morrison.
