Ducks Sweep Aside Crabs on Ray Day
August 16, 2015 - Atlantic League (AtL)
Long Island Ducks News Release
Ray Navarrete Gets Jersey Retired, Long Island Ducks Celebrate
(Long Island Ducks)
(Central Islip, N.Y., Aug. 16, 2015) - The Long Island Ducks defeated the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs 7-5 on Sunday evening in the finale of a four-game series at Bethpage Ballpark.
Southern Maryland opened the scoring on Jovan Rosa's two-run homer in the first inning off Ducks starter Ian Marshall. Long Island came right back with three runs in the bottom of the inning to take a 3-2 lead against Blue Crabs starter Brian Burres. Sean Burroughs and Cody Puckett each had RBI singles before a pitch hit Nelfi Zapata with the bases loaded. Zapata then allowed a run-scoring passed ball in the second, tying the ballgame at three. Burroughs' second RBI single of the game in the second made it 4-3 Ducks.
Grant Zawadzki would tie the game 4-4 with a RBI double in the top of the fourth. But, the Ducks retook the lead 6-4 in the bottom of the inning on a RBI groundout from Puckett and a sacrifice fly from Steve McQuail. Zapata extended the advantage to 7-4 with a RBI double in the sixth. Southern Maryland put up one run in the seventh on Zawadzki's sacrifice fly to right, but would not score again.
Marshall (6-6) earned the victory, allowing four runs (three earned) on seven hits in five innings while walking and striking out three. Burres (6-8) suffered the loss, giving up six runs on 12 hits in four and one-third innings of work. He walked three and struck out one. Patrick Crider, Frank DeJiulio, Jr., Donnie Veal, and Ryan Kussmaul combined to hold the Blue Crabs to one run over three innings of relief. Diaz earned his eighth save of the season in the ninth inning.
Delta Cleary, Jr. finished with four hits and three runs scored in the victory. Burroughs and Zapata each finished with three hits as well.
Long Island now travels to Somerset to begin a four-game set with the Patriots. First pitch for Monday's game at T.D. Bank Ballpark is scheduled for 7:05 p.m., Fans can follow all of the action live on the Ducks' official YouTube channel. Streaming audio will be available online.
The Ducks will return home on Friday, August 21 to begin a three-game homestand with the Camden Riversharks. First pitch for the opener is scheduled for 6:35, with the Bethpage Ballpark gates opening at 5:35 (5:20 for full season ticket holders). It will be a Fowl Pole Friday at the Duck Pond! If a select Ducks player hits a home run off of either foul pole during the game, one lucky Ducks fan will win $50,000. The Ducks will be running their Friday night Pizza Hut K-Man and Air Trampoline Sports Friday promotions as well.
Tickets to the game and all Ducks home games are available by visiting the Bethpage Ballpark box office, calling (631) 940-TIXX.
###
Duck Tales: Prior to the game, the Ducks retired the #16 jersey worn by Ray Navarrete. He became the second player in franchise history to have his jersey number retired, joining Justin Davies, whose #4 jersey was retired on Friday, June 19. Navarrete spent eight seasons with the Ducks from 2006 to 2013 and the team's all-time leader in hits, home runs, RBI, runs scored, doubles and games played. In addition, the two-time Atlantic League champion holds the league's all-time record in doubles and runs...Delta Cleary, Jr. earned his second four-hit game of the season with four singles in the win. His only other four-hit game came on June 1 against the York Revolution. He and Lew Ford, who has three four-hit games, are the only two Ducks players this season with multiple four-hit contests...Dan Lyons collected two more hits and has now reached base safely in 22 of his last 23 games dating back to July 23. He is batting .372 (32-for-86) in that span. The shortstop now has 16 two-hit games in 2015 and 25 multi-hit contests overall. He has hit safely and scored at least one run in nine consecutive games. In addition, he has earned multiple hits in four of his last five games...Cody Puckett picked up a single and extended his hitting streak to 13 consecutive games. During the streak, the infielder is batting .327 (18-for-55) with three doubles, one homer, nine RBI and six runs scored. Dating back to July 23, Puckett has earned hits in 21 of his last 23 games...Nelfi Zapata collected three hits and two RBI to earn his first multi-hit and multi-RBI game with the Ducks. In four games with the Flock, he has collected five hits in 11 at bats, good for a .455 batting average. He's the first Duck to collect two doubles in a game since Dan Lyons on August 1 against Bridgeport.
Images from this story
 Ray Navarrete Gets Jersey Retired, Long Island Ducks Celebrate |
Atlantic League Stories from August 16, 2015
- Ducks Sweep Aside Crabs on Ray Day - Long Island Ducks
- Ducks Complete Sweep of the Crabs - Southern Maryland Blue Crabs
- Revs Erupt for Six-Run Fourth, Securing Series Win in Bridgeport - York Revolution
- Sugar Land Finds The Wright Stuff - Lancaster Stormers
- Riversharks Clinch Series with 5-3 Win over Patriots - Somerset Patriots
- Skeeters Earn Split in Series Finale with Lancaster, 2-0 - Sugar Land Space Cowboys
- Ducks to Retire Ray Navarrete's #16 Sunday, August 16 - Long Island Ducks
The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.
