Ducks Win Road Series Vs Barnstormers

The Long Island Ducks returned to action this week as they made the road trip out to Lancaster, Pennsylvania to take on the Barnstormers in a threegame road series.

The Ducks – who already have clinched a playoff berth – were looking to bounce back after losing a home series last weekend to the Castonia Honey Hunters and they would do just that by winning the first two games before dropping the finale on Thursday.

Long Island was victorious in a nail-biting game one by a score of 7-6. Lancaster jumped out to a 6-4 lead prior to the top of the eighth inning and they would watch their two run lead evaporate as Alex Dickerson hit a dramatic go-ahead three-run home run that was well over the high wall in right field to give the flock a 7-6 lead.

After rain suspended play on Tuesday night, the Ducks would resume play Wednesday afternoon and sent former Detroit Tigers pitcher Al Alburquerque out to pitch the bottom of the eighth.

Albuquerque worked a scoreless bottom half of the eighth before handing the ball off to Kevin Quackenbush in the ninth. Quackenbush continued his outstanding second half of the year by putting the finishing touches on the delayed victory by retiring the Barnstormers without allowing a run.

Outside of Dickerson's heroics, Sam Travis led the Ducks offensively with three hits and a run scored. Carlos Castro added two hits, two RBIs and a run in game one.

In the second game of the series, the flock sent ex-Met Robert Stock out to the mound and he would continue his brilliant effort since joining the team on June 16th.

The 33-year-old former second round pick went on to toss six scoreless innings where he allowed only four hits and struck out four batters en route to his eighth victory of the season.

Stock received some early run support from the Ducks offense as Boog Powell immediately put the Ducks on top when he led off the game with a solo home run to right field off Barnstormers starter Nile Ball.

Ex-Mets Shortstop Ruben Tejada made it 2-0 Ducks in the third as he hit an RBI single to left field that allowed Powell to score from second base and helped push the Ducks lead to 2-0. This hit by Tejada also extended his on-base streak to 25 consecutive games.

The Ducks got an extra run in the top of the ninth as Brantley Bell beat out a ground ball with men on first and third to give the Ducks a 3-0 lead.

Jose Jose would come in for the ninth inning and work a scoreless frame to secure the victory and record his first save of the season.

The Ducks would drop the third game to the Barnstormers Thursday night by a score of 9-6. Long Island was unable to capitalize on their momentum after cutting the Barnstormers lead to one run in the seventh. Two consecutive RBI singles by Lancaster in the bottom of the seventh pushed the lead back to three runs and essentially thrashed any chance of a comeback.