You wouldn’t know it by their record, but the Batavia Muckdogs (7-16) have been playing much better baseball as of late.
Throughout the season, the Muckdogs have failed to show any sort of consistency. Weather it be poor fielding, pitching or the inability to score runs, the lack of consistency has been the Muckdogs' downfall.
Thursday afternoon, Batavia looked to turn the page and begin a streak of consistent, solid baseball.
Things looked rocky to start the game as Jordan Holloway started where he left off his last start by walking two of the first four batters he faced.
Holloway got out of the jam by getting Jose Pujols to ground into an inning-ending double play.
The 19-year-old again walked the first two batters he saw in the second inning. Unlike in his last start where he allowed those runners to score, Holloway was again able to get out of trouble by getting the next three batters to fly-out to center.
Holloway’s day was over after just the two innings of work. He didn’t allow a hit but walked four and threw 40 pitches.
Ryan Hafner came in relief of Holloway and allowed two runs on three hits. Both batters that scored were either walked or hit by a pitch.
The Muckdogs would cut the Crosscutter lead in half in the fifth inning when Alexander Fernandez belted a towering fly ball over the left-center fence for his first home run of the year.
Batavia tied the game in the seventh when Fernandez would reach on a fielder’s choice. He would steal second and then advance to third on a passed ball. Giovanny Alfonzo walked, which prompted a pitching change for the Crosscutters.
Anfernee Seymour then hit a sacrifice fly to center, scoring Fernandez and tying the game at 2-2.
Coming into the season much was expected from young catcher Blake Anderson. With a modest batting average of .259, nine RBIs and only one home run, Anderson came into Thursday’s game in a funk.
In the eighth inning all seemed to be forgotten.
Eric Fisher singled to set up Anderson. With two outs and a 0-2 count, Anderson took a healthy swing at the next pitch and drove the Juan Figueroa pitch over the left-field fence for a two-run home run.
“Just do what I needed to do to get the win and get us ahead,” Anderson said about his approach to the crucial eighth inning at-bat.
Steve Farnworth would come into the game in the eighth and pitch two innings of shutout ball, only allowing two hits while collecting the win on the mound.
“Yeah, we started off slow but who says we can’t come back and win 10 or 15 of the next 20,” Anderson said.
Although many might look at their record and think they are a horrible team, over the last couple weeks the Muckdogs have been competitive in almost every game.
The first two games of this series against Williamsport back that up. The Muckdogs are one bad inning away from having taken both games of the series so far.
“We get this thing turned around and play to win every day,” Anderson said.
Batavia travels to Williamsport for a doubleheader tomorrow and then will be in State College for a three-game series before returning to Dwyer Stadium on Tuesday July 21.
