Cyclones 8
Valley Cats 7 (10 inns.)
Sunday, July 18 at Tri-City
The Cyclones stayed ahead of the scrappy Valley Cats all night, blew the game in the bottom of the ninth, but won it in the top of the 10th on a William Cherry single to make a winner out of Johan Figuereo, who had blown the save an inning earlier.
The Cyclones put up a three spot in the fourth, thanks to singles by Cory Vaughn, Joe Bonfe, and Cherry, plus some timely stolen bases.
In the fifth, Vaughn knocked in Rylan Sandoval, who had led off with a double.
The Valley Cats stormed back with three runs, after effective starter Mitchell Houck loaded the bases and reliever Wes Wrenn promptly cleared them by giving up a triple.
But the Cyclones got two back during a two-out rally in the eighth. The team’s top hitter, Darrell Ceciliani, working as a pinch-hitter oddly enough, knocked both runs in with a single.
The Valley Cats still trailed by one when Figuereo was summoned to close out the game in the ninth. He got two quick outs, but then the wheels fell off the bus in the form of two singles and two wild pitches.
Good for him that the Cyclones pushed across a run in the 10th. Ryan Fraser got the save with two strikeouts.
The win was the Cyclones’ sixth in a row and put them three games ahead of the hated — and second-place — Staten Island Yankees.
The next Cyclones home game is Tuesday, July 20 at MCU Park [1904 Surf Ave. at W. 19th Street in Coney Island, (718) 449-8497]. For info, visit www.brooklyncyclones.com.
