Brooklyn Cyclones Game Notes - Thursday, April 9 - at Jersey Shore (6:35 PM)
SAL Brooklyn Cyclones

Brooklyn Cyclones Game Notes - Thursday, April 9 - at Jersey Shore (6:35 PM)

Published on April 9, 2026 under South Atlantic League (SAL)
Brooklyn Cyclones News Release


The Brooklyn Cyclones (0-4, 0-4) continue their first road series of the season against the Jersey Shore BlueClaws (2-1, 12-1) - the High-A affiliate of the Philadelphia Phillies - on Thursday evening at 6:35 p.m. from ShoreTown Ballpark in Lakewood, N.J.

Prospect Lefferts Gardens native - RHP Channing Austin (NR) is expected to make his season debut on the bump for the Cyclones. Jersey Shore is scheduled to counter with the RHP Ryan Degges (NR), who is making his High-A debut.

Live coverage on the Cyclones Radio Network, Bally Sports Live, and MiLB.tv will begin at 6:20 p.m.

LAST TIME OUT: Brooklyn fell to 0-4 for the first time since 2006 in Wednesday's 10-3 loss at Jersey Shore...The Cyclones jumped out to a 2-0 lead on a 1B Trace Willhoite RBI ground out and a solo home run by CF Kevin Villavicencio...Willhoite brought in Brooklyn's third and final run in the 9th on an RBI double...Jersey Shore tied the game with 2 in the 4th, took the lead with 2 in the 5th, and broke the game open in a 6-run 7th...RF Joel Dragoo (2) and 1B Brock Vradenburg (3) each tallied multi-RBI days for the BlueClaws...RHP Jonathan Jiménez suffered the loss in his High-A debut, permitting 3 runs on 4 hits in 4.0-plus innings, striking out 6...Jiménez started the night by retiring the first 10 batters he faced...The Cyclones went 0-for-14 with runners in scoring position and are 1-for-38 in that situation to start the season.

25th ANNIVERSARY: The Cyclones celebrate their 25th anniversary season in 2026...Since the inaugural 2001 campaign, Brooklyn has captured 3 league titles...The Cyclones shared the New York-Penn League crown with the Williamsport Crosscutters in their first season before taking home the final NYPL title in 2019...Brooklyn captured its first full-season championship in 2025, going 4-0 in the postseason against Greensboro and Hub City...Entering play on Thursday, the Cyclones hold a record of 1,119-958 (.539) in the regular season.

BROOKLYN BITES: OF John Bay has reached base safely in each of his first 3 games of the season, going 2-for-8 at the dish with a home run and working 3 walks...Bay enters Thursday with a team-best .455 on-base percentage and a 1.080 OPS...C Ronald Hernandez has yet to record his first hit of the season, but has been aboard safely in all 3 games played, drawing 3 free passes...C Daiverson Gutiérrez has started his High-A career with a 4-game on-base streak...The 20-year-old is 2-for-11 (.182) at the plate with 3 walks and 2 hit-by-pitches...Gutiérrez has reached at a .438 clip to begin the season.

2025 IN REVIEW: A memorable 2025 saw the Cyclones capture their first-ever South Atlantic League Championship...Brooklyn swept their way through the postseason, compiling a perfect 4-0 record with two-game sweeps over Greensboro in the North Division Finals and Hub City in the South Atlantic League Championship Series...It was just the second time Brooklyn inked a playoff spot as a full-season affiliate, joining the 2022 squad...The Cyclones' first-half record of 46-20 was good enough to earn them the first-half crown...Brooklyn was 26-39 in the 2nd half before running the table in the postseason.

HALL-MARK SEASON: Although he took a tough luck defeat to open the 2026 season, RHP Noah Hall looked sharp in his 2026 season debut...The former South Carolina Gamecock held Hudson Valley to just 2 runs over 4.2 frames of work...Over the last two Opening Day starts, Hall has combined to throw 9.2 innings, allowing just 6 hits, 3 runs, and 8 strikeouts...After being limited to just 13.0 innings in his first professional season in 2024, Hall had a major bounce back in 2025...With 7 strikeouts over 6.1 innings of 1-hit shutout ball on August 8 at Hudson Valley, Hall reached 100 K's for the season, becoming the 7th pitcher in franchise history to reach the plateau...In 2025, the Charlotte, N.C. native finished 2nd in the South Atlantic League in ERA (2.72) and batting average against (.200)...Hall ranked 5th in strikeouts (115), tied for 5th in double plays induced (9), 6th in innings pitched (112.2), 9th in WHIP (1.27), and tied for 10th in games started (21)...Hall is 4th on the Cyclones' all-time strikeout list (132) and is 6 behind LHP Felipe De La Cruz (133) for 3rd...His 115 K's in 2025 were the 3rd most in a single-season in franchise history and 1 behind De La Cruz (116) for 3rd...Hall is also 3rd all-time in games started (26)...His 112.2 innings last season were the 2nd most in a single campaign in Cyclones history...RHP Junior Santos (116.2) is 1st.

WELCOME TO NEW YORK!: In addition to a steady dose of returners, the Cyclones have plenty of new faces to kick-start the new year...Of note, 2025 Mets first-round selection INF Mitch Voit joins the squad, in addition to his draft-classmate, third-round pick, INF Antonio Jimenez...Additionally, C Daiverson Gutiérrez projects to be a force in the middle of the lineup...Voit, Jimenez, and Gutiérrez rank as the 7th, 16th, and 25th prospects in the organization, respectively, according to MLB Pipeline...In all, the Cyclones have nine new players on their Opening Day roster.

VETERAN PRESENCE: Brooklyn's Opening Day roster featured no shortage of players with experience on Coney Island as well...All told, the Cyclones welcome back 20 returning players to Brooklyn...Notables include RHP Noah Hall, who finished second in the league in ERA last year, RHP Joel Díaz, who was also top-10 in the circuit in ERA, and 2023 Mets first-round draft pick Colin Houck.

HOT START: During Brooklyn's 2025 championship campaign, the Cyclones got out of the gate fast...Brooklyn was 15-7 in the month of April, which served as a launching pad for the 46-20 first-half record en route to clinching a playoff spot...The Cyclones were especially dominant in home games to begin last year's campaign, collecting an 8-3 record through their 11 April home games.

KING HENRÍ-QUEZ: Although he was placed on the 7-day IL on Tuesday...OF Yonatan Henríquez was outstanding down the stretch for the Cyclones during their run to a championship last season...Henríquez joined Brooklyn on August 29th and hit the ground running...The outfielder picked up 4 hits and brought in 6 runs in Brooklyn's Game 1 win vs. Hub City on Sunday...His 6 RBI were the most by a Cyclone in any game since 2B Luke Ritter drove in 6 in a 13-1 win at Wilmington on June 20, 2021...In Minor League Baseball's Digital Era (2005-present), no Brooklyn player has registered more RBI in a postseason game...LF Lucas Duda held the previous mark of 4 in Game 1 of the New York-Penn League Playoffs at Staten Island on September 9, 2007.

PUT IT IN THE (HISTORY) BOOKS!: Last year's Cyclones squad set a new single-season franchise record for wins with 72...The 2022 club (70-54) is the only other team in Brooklyn history to register 70 or more wins...The Cyclones' 72 wins and .550 winning percentage were the franchise's best at the full-season level...The inaugural 2001 team holds the organizational highwater mark for winning percentage (.684).

NEW SHERIFF IN TOWN: Manager Eduardo Núñez takes the reins as Brooklyn's manager for 2026, serving as the 16th skipper in franchise history...Núñez takes over after serving as Brooklyn's hitting coach in 2024 and bench coach for the 2025 championship-winning squad...The 40-year-old replaces Gilbert Gómez, who joined the Mets coaching staff as New York's first base coach for 2026...Nunez joined the Mets organization before the 2021 campaign, and previously held positions in the organization with St. Lucie and in both the Florida Complex League and Dominican Summer League.

KEEP ON RUNNING: The Cyclones scored 606 runs during the 2025 season, setting a new franchise single-season record...Chris Suero led the Cyclones in 2025 with 53 runs scored... Brooklyn finished with the 3rd most runs in the South Atlantic League in 2025, trailing just Greensboro (692) and Bowling Green (611).

SWIPER KEEP SWIPING: Brooklyn had a record-setting season on the basepaths in 2025...The Cyclones set a new franchise single-season record on July 9 vs. Wilmington when 2B A.J. Ewing stole the team's 182nd base of the campaign, surpassing the previous mark of 181 set by the 2024 squad...In 2025, Brooklyn nabbed 257 stolen bases, good for the 2nd most in the South Atlantic League, behind only Aberdeen (314)...Brooklyn had 2 players with 30-plus steals, 5 players with 20-plus steals, 8 players with 10 or more steals, and 14 players with 5 or more...The Cyclones' 7-6 win vs. Wilmington on April 29 saw them nab a franchise record 9 stolen bases, courtesy of 7 players...The mark topped a previous high of 8 on August 2, 2017, vs. Tri-City.

BROOKLYN TO THE BIGS: After 14 former Cyclones made their Major League debuts in 2025, 2 alumni have already accomplished the feat early in 2026...OF Carson Benge, who started last season with Brooklyn, started for the Mets in right field on Opening Day in Queens just 12 months later...Benge was a force to be reckoned with during his time in High-A, logging a near .900 OPS across his 60 games in the South Atlantic League...Additionally, from last year's team, RHP Anthony Nunez, who was traded for OF Cedric Mullins at last year's deadline, made his debut with the Orioles on March 28th after making Baltimore's Opening Day roster...The righty tossed 2.0 shutout innings...In Brooklyn last season, Nunez pitched to a sub-1.00 ERA (0.63) across 10 games out of the bullpen...Last year's 14 debuts in a single season set a new single-season franchise record...RHP Dom Hamel (2022) debuted with the Mets in September of last season...RHP Brandon Sproat (2024) struck out 7, but suffered the loss in his debut for the New York Mets on Sunday in Cincinnati...RHP Jonah Tong (2024) made his debut and snatched his first career win on August 29 for the Mets vs. Miami...UTL Carlos Cortes (2018) with the Athletics, RHP Carson Seymour (2022) with the San Francisco Giants, OF Rhylan Thomas (2023) with the Seattle Mariners, RHP Mike Vasil (2022) with the Chicago White Sox, RHP Paul Gervase (2023) and OF Jake Mangum ('19, '21) with the Tampa Bay Rays, OF Kenedy Corona (2019) with the Houston Astros, and RHP Nolan McLean (2024), RHP Jonathan Pintaro (2024), C Hayden Senger ('18, '21), and RHP Blade Tidwell (2023) with the Mets are the others to debut this year.

THIS DATE IN CYCLONES HISTORY: On April 9, 2023, the Cyclones closed out their season-opening homestand with a 4-2 win vs. Jersey Shore...RHP Tyler Stuart tossed 4.0 innings of shutout ball in his Brooklyn debut, while CF Alex Ramírez provided a key 2-run single in a 4-run 7th inning...In 2024, the Cyclones blanked the Asheville Tourists in their home opener, 3-0...RHPs Brandon Sproat (2.2 IP), Jordany Ventura (3.1), and Justin Lawson (3.0) combined on a 5-hit shutout in the win...1B Ryan Clifford added a solo home run in the 8th during the victory.

AMAZIN' STARTS HERE: According to MLB Pipeline, the Cyclones hold 3 of the Mets' Top 30 prospects...Those are INF Mitch Voit (7), and INF Antonio Jimenez (16), and C Daiverson Gutiérrez (25)...All three are also considered Top 30 prospects according to Baseball America and SNY...BA has Voit at 8, Jimenez at 19, and Gutiérrez at 23, while SNY lists Voit at 10, Jimenez at 20, and Gutiérrez at 27.

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South Atlantic League Stories from April 9, 2026


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