Central Islip, NY – Koby Clemens delivered a crushing home run in the fifth inning to lead the visiting Sugarland Skeeters (7-2) to a 7-1 victory over the Long Island Ducks (2-7) at Bethpage Ballpark on Saturday night.
Clemens got his third homer of the season when he connected on a 0-1 pitch off Ducks starter Nick DeBarr with two runners on base to extend the lead to 5-0. The Ducks ended their two game winning streak tonight which
DeBarr (0-1), after getting the first two outs of the first inning would give up a run scoring double to Nick Pressley. He gave up a second two out run in the next inning when Adam Godwin would poke a seeing- eye single over the second base bag, allowing Anthony Granato to score. DeBarr spent most of the game behind hitters, or getting into battles against hitters going eight or nine pitches in some cases.
Sugarland would add another run before the fifth inning would end on a walk and two singles. The first single would spell the end of DeBarr’s night. Freeport native Pete Budkevics would come in and give a single to Granato on the first pitch he would see, giving Sugarland their sixth run.
The Skeeters would get another run in the ninth on the fourth hit of the night for Granato, scoring Clemens who walked to lead off the inning.
Sean Gallagher (1-0), the starting pitcher for the Skeeters (1-0) gave up only two hits over six innings, a bloop single by Adam Bailey, and a dart by Ralph Henriquez that just stayed inside the left field foul line. Henriquez would score on a sacrifice fly by Danny Perales.
Duck hitters would be held in check for the rest of the evening, getting only one more hit in the ninth.
Long Island will conclude this three game series on Sunday afternoon. The Somerset Patriots will come in for a three game set starting on Tuesday. Expect Dontrelle Willis to pitch on Thursday in his normal turn. Willis, the former Marlin and Tiger, broke a finger nail while pitching on Friday night in the home opener, but folks in the press box say that Willis is OK and will not miss a start.
Duck Tales: Tonight’s attendance is 5,806. Friday night, the Ducks received their championship rings for their 2012 Atlantic League championship. On Tuesday, the Ducks signed former major leaguer Ben Broussard. The 36-year old has 705 career games in the show, with his best season came in 2006 when he hit 21 home runs and drove in 63 in a season split between the Cleveland Indians and Seattle Mariners. Former major league All-Star Vladimir Guerrero is still not with the team. He is still in the Dominican Republic on personal business, and there is no ETA for his arrival on Long Island.