Connecticut 5
Cyclones 4
July 2 at MCU Park
The Cyclones left the tying and winning runs in scoring position in the ninth inning of Saturday’s 5–4 loss to Connecticut at MCU Park, or Kramerica Industries Ballpark as it was called for Seinfeld night.
Manger Tom Gamboa managed to find the positives in the loss.
“It’s not midnight and we didn’t go extra innings, so I’m looking for the pluses,” he said.
The Cyclones, perhaps inspired by John O’Hurley’s public address announcing, scored four runs in the first.
Facing Kyle Funkhouser, Gene Cone led off with a single, then Jacob Zanon and Jay Jabs both followed with walks. Colby Woodmansee’s single to right scored Cone and Zanon. Brandon Brosher followed with a single to score Jabs. Two batters later, Arnaldo Berrios’ single scored Woodmansee to give Brooklyn a 4–0 lead. Brooklyn did have a chance to extend the lead with runners on second and third, but Darryl Knight struck out and Dale Burdick grounded out to second. The Cyclones lineup struggled for the remainder of the night.
“We had trouble getting a runner to second between the first and ninth,” Gamboa said.
The four-run lead didn’t last long. Gabriel Llanes gave up a leadoff single, but looked like he’d get out of a trouble when Tanner Donnels hit a one-hopper to short. Woodmansee, however, mishandled it as the Tigers had two on and nobody out.
“We’ve been playing good defense,” Gamboa said. “And we make one error tonight and obviously it changes the whole outcome of the game.”
After a single and a line out, Austin Athmann grounded into a fielders choice, as Connecticut got on the board. Will Savage’s two-out single scored Donnels to cut the lead to 4–2. Then Cole Bauml’s double off the wall scored two runs to tie the game at four.
“Just momentum-wise, first to put a four-spot right away, you want to go out there and put a zero up,” Gamboa said. “There’s no question that our club was definitely deflated when we came in after the second inning and we had given them four runs to tie up the game and now we’re starting all over again.”
The game remained tied until the top of the fifth. Bauml doubled to deep right-center, moved to third on Joey Havrilak’s single and scored on Blaise Salter’s single to give the Tigers a 5–4 lead.
Llanes pitched five innings for Brooklyn, giving up five runs on seven hits, while walking two and striking out six. Only one run was earned as the Woodmansee error came back to haunt him.
“Poor Llanes, I love the way he competes and I thought he pitched really good tonight,” Gamboa said.
Brooklyn didn’t get another runner on until Woodmansee led off the eighth with a single off Zac Houston, who recovered to strike out the side. The Cyclones tried to rally in the ninth as Burdick walked and Cone doubled when Sam Machonis barely missed making a highlight reel diving catch in center. With the infield in and the contact play on, Jimenez struck out Zanon on three pitches. Then Jabs went down swinging on a 2–2 pitch.
The 6–10 Cyclones will look to avoid a sweep when they host the Tigers at 6 pm.
Brooklyn will be wearing Coney Island Franks caps and jerseys for Sunday’s game.
UPS AND DOWNS
The Cyclones wore special caps as part of New Era’s Stars & Stripes program to benefit Welcome Back Veterans.
Of the first nine home games, four went to extra innings. The official scorer for all four extra inning games was Ryan McCarthy, who has scored five games overall. The four games scored by Howard Kaplan have all been nine inning affairs.
