EL1 Binghamton Rumble Ponies

B-Mets blown out at Altoona

July 27, 2005 - Eastern League (EL1)
Binghamton Rumble Ponies News Release


The Binghamton Mets jumped out to an early lead, but the Altoona Curve used a six-run fourth to propel them to a 14-8 victory at Blair County Ballpark Wednesday. The B-Mets have lost the first three games of the series and 18 of their last 24. Binghamton (44-55) jumped on Altoona starter Matt Peterson in the first two innings. Wayne Lydon led off the game with a single and stole second. Three batters later, Mike Jacobs drove him home with his 20th homer of the year for a 2-0 B-Mets lead. In the process, Jacobs became the first B-Met to hit 20 homers in a season since Earl Snyder (20) and Rob Stratton (29) did it in 2001. In the second, Corey Ragsdale reached on a one-out single, moved to second on an error, stole third and came home on a base hit by Zac Clements, putting Binghamton up 3-0.

Altoona (53-49) started chipping away at Binghamton's lead in the bottom of the second. Howie Clark led off the frame with a base hit off Yusmeiro Petit and scored when Jorge Cortes doubled. Two batters later, Cortes came home on a Paul Chiaffredo two-base hit, pulling Altoona within one.

Petit (5-3) began the fourth by walking Clark and Cortes. After both were bunted into scoring position and Chiaffredo was intentionally walked to load the bases, the pitcher Peterson singled to left, scoring Clark and Cortes for a 4-3 Altoona lead. After a Rajai Davis single brought home Chiaffredo when Lydon mishandled the ball in centerfield for an error, Craig Stansberry took a Petit pitch over the leftfield wall for a three-run homer and an 8-3 Altoona lead.

After Altoona went up 10-3 on a Chiaffredo RBI double and an unearned run in the fifth, the B-Mets rallied to close the gap in the sixth. Bobby Malek led off with a single against Peterson (8-7) and scored on David Bacani's two-run homer to left. Ragsdale and Clements then singled, bringing up pinch-hitter Brett Harper, who rifled a double off the rightfield wall, bringing home Ragsdale and cutting Altoona's lead to 10-6.

However, Altoona added another run in the bottom of the sixth on an RBI single by Cortes and three more in the seventh on Josh Bonifay's two-run triple and Clark's RBI single, increasing their advantage to 14-6. Jay Caligiuri capped off the scoring with a two-run homer in the eighth, scoring Clements, who reached with a one-out double. The B-Mets wrap up their four-game series at Altoona Thursday afternoon. Orlando Roman (3-3, 4.38) is slated to start for the B-Mets against Altoona lefthander Tom Gorzelanny (4-5, 3.38). Game time at Blair County Ballpark is noon, with the Horizons Federal Credit Union Pre-Game Show kicking off the radio broadcast at 11:45 on Talk 1360 WYOS.

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