BROOKLYN, NY- Despite losing the lead three times during the course of the game, the Brooklyn Cyclones would get a two-RBI performance from Tim Grogan that would make up for a less than stellar pitching performance from their staff, defeating the Batavia Muckdogs 6-5.

Brooklyn would get on the board in the first, getting RBI doubles from Ivan Naccarata and Jason Jacobs off of Muckdogs starting pitcher Michael Dubee. Despite the Cyclones early 2-0 lead however, Brooklyn’s ace and 2006 NY-Penn League All Star Jake Ruckle wouldn’t be able to pitch to the high standard he’s set so far this year, surrendering three runs on five hits through the game’s first two innings.

“Well I wasn’t feeling good, I had a migraine coming into the game” said Ruckle. “It was just one of those nights where I didn’t have my best stuff.”

Fortunately for the Mets Single-A affiliate, Ruckle would settle down, hurling scoreless frames in the third and fourth and after hits from Jacobs and Jonathan Sanchez, the Cyclones would score two runs on a Jake Eigsti ground out and a Tim Grogan sacrifice fly, giving them a 4-3 lead. The Muckdogs would strike back quickly however, as a RBI single by Jason Donald would score P.J. Antoniato, tying the ballgame at 4-4.

Cyclones long man Jonathan Castillo would replace Ruckle in the sixth and gave up a run after a Zachary Penprase single would allow Muckdogs first baseman Douglas Morales to score after he barreled over Jacobs at the plate, who wouldn’t be able to hold on to a solid throw from Sanchez in right field, giving Batavia a 5-4 lead.

Showing no after effects from the collision, Jacobs, who was the second Cyclones catcher to be run over in the last two games, led off the next inning, drawing a walk and seemed to be fine after the game.

“He had no choice but to run into me, he really avoided it more than anything” said Jacobs, who will likely catch most of team’s games after Danny Cummins sustained a chest injury last night. “I should have held on to that ball.”

Continuing the up and down nature of tonight’s game, Brooklyn would manage to tie the score for the second time, thanks in part to a  RBI ground out from Grogan and would eventually take its third lead of the game after a RBI single from Luis Rivera, giving the Cyclones a 6-5 lead going into the seventh.

“I did my job when there were runners on base tonight,” said Grogan, who has steadily become one of the team’s more dependable hitters this season, hitting .250 with a homer and 18 runs batted in. “I got those runners in and it proved to be pretty important.”

Castillo would stay in the game for Brooklyn and would keep the score at 6-5 midway through the eighth before being replaced by German Marte, who needed to face only one batter in the eighth to end the inning. Marte would get Batavia in order in the ninth for his third save of the season.

With tonight’s win, the Cyclones now have a two-game lead in the McNamara Division and now have an opportunity to win their current series with the Muckdogs with a win tomorrow. Now 12 games over .500 after starting their season 0-7, Brooklyn now has the best record in the NY-Penn League at 32-20.

“Now we come to the ballpark and we expect to win. Our team’s personality is to basically win anyway we can,” said Jacobs. “It was truly a team effort tonight.”

All Photographs for this article were taken by Conroy Walker