(Friday, May 26, Long Island) A battle has a rose at the top of the North Division between the Long Island Ducks and the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs. With only one game separating the two teams, the Crabs could pull themselves back into the North Division lead.
The Long Island Ducks watched as their veteran hitters mounted a rally in the first inning against the rookie Jared Burch. Sam Travis hit a bomb over the left field wall to make it 3-0. The Blue Crabs responded with a run from an Ian Yetsko double into right field, driving in Jose Rosario.
The Ducks picked up another run from a home run from Boog Powell, as he pulled a pitch down the right field line and got the run back. That is all the Ducks could mount from the Blue Crabs' pitching staff for the rest of the game.
Southern Maryland scored two runs from a Michael Wielansky sacrifice fly set up by a Jack Sundberg triple; the second run came from a K.C. Hobson solo shot as he sent it 404 feet. The Duck's lead was cut down to one.
The lead disappeared when the Crabs played small ball after Jose Rosario reached second base, and then the Crabs brought in JT Reed to run for him. Ian Yetsko laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt to move Reed to third, and Michael Baca would drive in the tying run on a sac fly.
The top of the fifth was led off by Michael Wielanksy, a former Long Island Duck, who hit his eighth home run to give the Crabs their first lead. Jared Burch, who started the game, turned in three scoreless innings after the second, Jacques Pucheu had two zeros of his own, and the Crabs would win after James Dykstra and Andre Scrubb shut the door of a Ducks comeback, with the final being 5-4.
Burch got his third win in a row to make him 3-2 on the year, and Scrubb recorded his sixth save of the year as Southern Maryland tied for first place with the Ducks for the lead in the ALPB North Division with both teams sitting at 15-10. The two clubs will meet tomorrow for a double-header, McKenzie Mills will go for game one, and Mitch Lambson is slated to start game two. The matinee will begin at 1:35, and both games will be streamed onto FloSports.
