The Southern Maryland Blue Crabs defeated the Long Island Ducks 6-2 in 12 innings on Thursday, July 30 before a beyond-capacity crowd of 6,362 at Citibank Park in Central Islip, NY.
In the top of the third, Richard Gianotti’s solo homer to left field off Ducks’ starter Randy Leek gave the Crabs a 1-0 lead. A Liu Rodriguez RBI single to center field in the fifth doubled the Crabs’ lead to 2-0.
The Flock tied it with two runs in the bottom of the fifth off Southern Maryland starter Joe Gannon. Two walks, a RBI single off the bat of Rob Sandora and a RBI groundout by Johnny Hernandez knotted the game at two.
The score remained the same until the 12th inning when James Shanks singled home Rodriguez and the Crabs broke the tie against Ducks’ reliever Jason Norderum. A two-run error and a wild pitch with Ducks’ reliever Rob Paulk on the mound led to a 6-2 advantage for Southern Maryland and they never looked back.
Paul Estrada (2-0) picked up the win firing two scoreless innings and Norderum (1-2) suffered the loss.
Leek, who did not factor in the decision, went seven innings, surrendering two runs and five hits, while striking out eight. Gannon, who also did not factor in the decision, tossed seven innings, yielding two runs and four hits, while fanning two.