Connecticut 5
Cyclones 3
July 1 at MCU Park
The Cardiac Cyclones played their sixth extra inning game of the early season in a 5–3 defeat at the hands of the Tigers at MCU Park on Friday.
The game started at 8:40 because of rain and after Erik Manoah threw five pitches, rain caused another nine-minute delay.
Connecticut got on the board in the third. Will Savage led off with a single and Cole Bauml followed with a double to left. Josh Lester broke the scoreless tie with a groundout to first as Savage scored and Bauml moved to third. Sam Machonis hit a two-out blooper to soft left to score Bauml and give the Tigers a 2–0 lead.
Manoah gave up two runs on six hits in five innings, while striking out nine and walking two.
“Manoah pitched terrific,” manager Tom Gamboa said. “Loved the way he competed.”
Tigers starter Austin Sodders pitched three shutout innings, giving up one hit and walking two. Oswaldo Castillo followed with a shutout inning in the fourth. Clate Schmidt shut out Brooklyn in the fifth, but the Cyclones got to the righty in the sixth.
Brandon Brosher smashed a solo home run over the left field wall to cut the lead in half. Jacob Zanon followed with a walk. Zanon attempted a steal of second and when Dan Rizzie struck out on a passed ball, managed to get all the way to third. Darryl Knight drove Zanon in with a run-scoring single to tie the game at two.
Raul Jacobson entered for Brooklyn in the sixth and pitched four shutout innings before running out of gas in the 10th. Jacobson hit Savage and gave up a single to Bauml. Then Lester broke the tie with a run-scoring single. Two batters later, a Machonis sacrifice fly made it 4–2. With Joseph Zanghi on the mound, Anthony Pereira’s single put the Tigers up by three.
The 10th was going to be Jacobson’s final inning, but it didn’t go according to plan.
“Unfortunately, when he hit the leadoff man it kinda opened up the gates to a disastrous inning,” Gamboa said.
Colby Woodmansee led off the bottom of the 10th with a single off Emanuel Chavez and scored on a Zanon double to left. That was as close as the Cyclones would get though as Chavez got Rizzie on a pop-up to short and Jay Jabs on a fly out to right to end the game.
The 6–9 Cyclones are back in action against the Tigers on Saturday on the third Seinfeld Night at MCU Park. The game will begin at 6 pm.
UPS AND DOWNS
With Edgardo Alfonzo working with Jose Reyes in Binghamton, Tom Gamboa has been coaching third base. “I’ve always liked coaching third, but in State College we had the third base dugout, so I just had to walk out. Today, I joked with the guys I was going to fine Fonzie. He originally told me he’d be back Friday night because with the first base dugout and knowing we go to extra innings a lot, it’s a lot of back and forth. And when we go on the road to Batavia, we have the first base dugout there, so I’m certainly hoping Fonzie’s back by then.”
While standing in the steps of the dugout, Gamboa and pitching coach Billy Bryk Jr. were able to avoid a line drive that went into the dugout. “Billy Bryk was next to me. It was right at his head and thank God he ducked,” Gamboa said. “I saw it coming off the bat. My reflexes weren’t as quick as Billy’s to move out of the way, but I saw right away that it wasn’t at me, it was at him.”
