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Fowl Ball!
Weekly report on the by Jason Eisenberg Ducks Floating Away With Division Race With only a handful of games left in the regular season, it is very likely that there will be playoff baseball at Citibank Park for the second year in a row. With the Ducks continuing their consistent play and Nashua beginning to fade, only a monumental collapse could prevent Long Island from making the postseason, as they look to become the first team ever in Atlantic League history to repeat as champions. Going into play on Tuesday, the Ducks have increased their lead atop the North Division to three-and-a-half games after winning four of six during the past week. Nashua has seemingly entered playoff-preparation mode after losing three games in a row and seven of their last ten. The Pride have had little left to play for as they already secured their place in the playoffs by winning the division during the first-half of the season. The magic number for the Ducks to clinch stands at three before play began on Tuesday. This means that any combination of three Ducks wins or Nashua losses will assure Long Island a berth in the playoffs. The big story from this past week was Ducks pitcher Lance Davis, who picked up two wins and set some team records along the way. Last Tuesday, Davis allowed only three hits while pitching five scoreless innings in a 9-2 victory over the Bridgeport Bluefish. For Davis, it was his 18th career win as a member of the Long Island Ducks moving him to the top of the franchise’s all-time list past Rod Henderson. Long Island put up 13 hits on the night, led by outfielders Armando Rios and Jason Johnson who both finished with three hits and a pair of RBI’s apiece. The next day, Long Island took their second straight game, winning 5-2 to close out the series in Bridgeport. After getting shelled in his first start back with the Ducks the previous week, Bill Pulsipher returned to form tossing seven solid innings for the win. Closer Todd Erdos pitched a perfect ninth inning to pick up his 30th save of the season. The Ducks then returned to Long Island for a four-game series with the Newark Bears at Citibank Park over the past weekend. In the first game, pitcher Matt Beech led the Ducks to a 5-2 win logging eight strikeouts in six innings of work. It was Beech’s first victory and second straight solid start since being re-acquired by the Ducks a little over a week ago. Long Island hit a small bump in the road as they would lose the next two games. On Friday, the Ducks fell behind early and trailed 4-1 heading into the seventh inning. The home team would fight back to tie the score by putting up three runs in the frame but it was all for nothing as Newark would take the lead back just minutes later thanks to a three-run home run off the bat of Francisco Santos. Long Island would lose the game 7-5 despite a good effort by starting pitcher Pedro Borbon Jr., who struck out 10 batters tying Paxton Crawford for the team’s season high for strikeouts in a game. Ducks outfielder Dominick Ambrosini was ejected from the game in the sixth inning after arguing balls and strikes with the home plate umpire. When asked after the game if he was upset with the umpiring, Ducks Manager Don McCormack replied, "No, they are all the same". It would not be the last time this week that McCormack would have a run-in with an umpire. After losing the next game handily 11-2, the Ducks would recover from their short slump on Sunday, once again off the arm of Lance Davis. Davis threw six more scoreless innings and set another team record, this time for most wins in a single season by a Ducks pitcher, with his 11th of the year. In two starts over the past week, Davis pitched a combined 11 innings without allowing one single run. Long Island won the game 5-1 on the day of Don McCormack’s 50th birthday; however, the manager would have to watch the final six innings from the press box after being ejected in the third while arguing a pickoff call at second base. Long Island had an off day Monday before returning to the park for their final home series of the season, a three game set with Lancaster which started on Tuesday night. The team will close out the regular season with three games in Nashua over the weekend. Extra Innings •If the Ducks make the playoffs as expected, the first round best-of-three series with Nashua will start next Tuesday at Citibank Park. Games two and three (if necessary) will be played on Wednesday (9/28) and Thursday (9/29) at Holman Stadium in Nashua. Tickets are currently still available for game one and can be purchased by going to the Citibank Park box office, calling 1-888-332-5600, or by visiting www.liducks.com and clicking on the tickets icon. •Some notable statistics for the past week include Justin Davies stealing four bases in the last five games and Henry Rodriguez logging only six hits for the week but five of them leaving the park for home runs. •The Ducks announced another addition to their roster this week. Outfielder Manny Martinez made his first appearance on Thursday after signing with Long Island a few days earlier. The 34-year-old Martinez, a native of the Dominican Republic who has played in over 200 games at the Major League level, spent most of this season with the Puebla Parrots of the Mexican League. With the signing of Martinez, there appears to be an overabundance of outfielders on the Ducks roster, with as many as six players capable of playing on an everyday basis. Ducks manager Don McCormack says, "This is okay because right now we are having injury problems with quite a few of these guys so I will wait until everyone is healthy before deciding whether it is best to rotate the guys in and out or stick with a consistent lineup through the rest of the season."
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