Press release:
It was a banner night for the Batavia Muckdogs, on and "on" the field.
The Muckdogs won game one of the New York-Penn League playoffs with a 4-1 victory over the Lowell Spinners. The two teams play in Lowell, Mass., Thursday.
In the other series, Hudson Valley defeated Brooklyn, 5-4.
Before the game, New York-Penn League President Ben Hayes presented Batavia Muckdogs groundkeeper Cooper Thomson with the New York-Penn League Turf Manager of the Year and the coveted Field of the Year award.
Off the field, the Muckdogs had a crowd of 1,872, the fifth largest of the season at Dwyer for the playoff win.
Lefty Easton Lucas, a 2019 Miami Marlins 14th-round draft pick out of Pepperdine University in Malibu, Calif., got the start and went three innings with shutout baseball allowing two hits and striking out four without a walk.
Lucas left the game with a 1-0 lead and Eli Villalobos earned the win, throwing 3.2 innings of perfect baseball with five strikeouts, no runs, no hits, no walks. Villalobos is a 14th-round Marlins draft pick out of California's Long Beach State.
Brock Love earned the hold by thawing 1.1 innings with three strikeouts and one hit. Evan Brabrand, as he has all season for Batavia, tossed the ninth to get the save.
At the plate, Nic Ready blasted a two-run home run and had two hits. J.D. Orr had a hit and a run, Troy Johnston had an RBI single and scored plus stole a base, Albert Guairmaro had two hits and an RBI and Milton Smith II had a single and stole a base.
Batavia shortstop Dalvy Rosario played outstanding defense and had two hits, a run and stole a base.
Photos by Jim Burns.
