EL1 Portland Sea Dogs

Man From Down Under Lifts Portland to 10-9 Win

Published on July 20, 2011 under Eastern League (EL1)
Portland Sea Dogs News Release


Portland, Maine- Mitch Dening hit a solo home run in the bottom of the ninth to give the Sea Dogs a 10-9 victory over the Binghamton Mets Wednesday afternoon at Hadlock Field in front of 6,809 fans. The Sea Dogs take two out of three from the Mets.

Dening, from Australia, ended the back-and-forth affair, in the ninth when he launched his fourth home run of the season off John Lujan (0-3). Blake Maxwell (2-2) earned the win despite allowing two runs (one earned) on six hits in two innings of relief.

With a stiff 16 mph wind out to centerfield seven balls left the ballpark (four by Binghamton and three by Portland) as the two teams combined for 19 runs on 29 hits and five errors that took 3:22 to complete. Portland scored at least one run in seven of the nine innings, while Binghamton crossed the plate in six frames.

Matt Den Dekker had two of the four home runs for the Mets, both solo shots. The Sea Dogs got home runs from Dening, Ryan Khoury, and Will Middlebrooks. Dening and Khoury each collected three hits for Portland.

The Sea Dogs jumped on the board in the bottom of the first when Jeremy Hazelbaker scored from third when Robert Carson's pickoff attempt went wide of the first base bag giving the Sea Dogs a 1-0 lead.

The top three batters for the Sea Dogs paced the Portland offense throughout the game. Hazelbaker, Khoury, and Chiang went a combined 7-for-12 with five RBI and three runs scored. Khoury was the anchor as he went 3-for-4 with a home run and two RBI. The homer was a shot to straight away center, clearing the outstretched arm of Den Dekker, for his second of the season.

Portland starter Brock Huntzinger went five innings allowing seven hits and five earned runs while recording six strikeouts. Huntzinger fell victim to the long ball, surrendering three home runs during his outing.

Allan Dykstra delivered the big blow, a three-run shot that landed in the top of the U.S. Cellular Pavilion in right field, scoring Havens and Satin giving Binghamton a 3-2 lead. Huntzinger has now given up 16 home runs, tops on the team, in 77.2 innings of work.

Brahiam Maldonado and Den Dekker added solo home runs both to center field off of Huntzinger in the fifth and sixth innings to give the Mets a 5-4 advantage. Maldonado finished 2-for-3 with two runs scored.

Down 6-4 in the bottom of the sixth, the Sea Dogs struck for four runs including a three run homer over the Maine Monster by Will Middlebrooks, his 12th of the year to give the Sea Dogs an 8-6 lead.

Tejeda was the only Sea Dog's player without a hit.

The Mets scored two runs during the top of the eighth inning off Blake Maxwell to tie the score at 9-9 highlighted by an Eric Campbell RBI single.

The Sea Dogs begin a seven game road trip on Thursday at 7:05 PM against the New Hampshire Fisher Cats from Northeast Delta Dental Stadium. The Sea Dogs will send right-handed pitcher Chris Balcom-Miller (1-4, 5.56) to the mound. New Hampshire will counter with righty Chad Beck (7-3, 3.41). The Sea Dogs return to Hadlock Field for a four game set against the Altoona Curve (Pirates) July 28th through July 31st. Tickets are available and can be purchased by calling the Sea Dogs Ticket Office at 207-879-9500 or order online at www.seadogs.com.

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Eastern League Stories from July 20, 2011


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