Brooklyn Boro

Brooklyn bounces back vs. Tri-City

Cyclones’ Five-Run Seventh Keys 8-3 Victory over ValleyCats

June 22, 2016 By John Torenli, Sports Editor Brooklyn Daily Eagle
Gene Cone made a strong professional debut in Brooklyn Tuesday night, driving in three runs to help the Cyclones top the visiting Tri-City ValleyCats, 8-3, at Coney Island’s MCU Park. Photo courtesy of Brooklyn Cyclones
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For just the second time in the first five games of their Sweet 16 season on Coney Island, the Brooklyn Cyclones played nine innings Tuesday night, picking up their second win of the young campaign by rallying for an 8-3 triumph over the visiting Tri-City ValleyCats in front of 5,865 fans at Coney Island’s MCU Park.

Right fielder Gene Cone, selected with the Mets’ 10th-round draft pick out of the University of South Carolina earlier this month, went 2-for-4 and drove in three runs, and fifth-rounder Colby Woodmansee, a shortstop from Arizona State, added two hits and two RBIs as Brooklyn used a five-run seventh inning to improve to 2-3 this summer.

The Cyclones, who were trying to bounce back from a humbling six-hour, 17-inning loss Monday night to the visiting ValleyCats, got off to a rough start when Tri-City jumped out to an early 3-0 lead against pitcher Erik Manoah, who yielded a run in each of the first three frames.

But Cone’s three-run double in the bottom of the fourth evened the contest and Woodmansee’s two-RBI base hit in the seventh put the Baby Bums ahead to stay, sparking the game’s decisive rally.

Both the offensive outburst and regulation victory were doubtlessly a welcome sight for Brooklyn fans and manager Tom Gamboa, who watched his team play three extra-inning contests in its first four games, including a whopping 20-inning season-opening loss to Staten Island here last Friday night.

Manoah, who made one appearance for the Cyclones last summer, settled down after his shaky start, limiting the ValleyCats to three runs on four hits over five innings, striking out five and walking one.

But it was the stellar relief work of right-hander Raul Jacobsen that saved the day for the Baby Bums. The 24-year-old San Francisco native picked up his first professional win, holding Tri-City to two hits and a walk while fanning four over four scoreless innings.

The stalwart effort out of the bullpen got Brooklyn within a game of .500 as it prepared to head out for a three-game series in Connecticut, but more importantly, saved Gamboa’s well-worn stable of relievers, who have logged an abundance of innings during the season’s grueling first week.

Cone and Woodmansee both made their first starts for Brooklyn, combining to help lift the Cyclones out of their early season offensive doldrums.

Cone added a base hit in the seventh and Woodmansee walked ahead of Cone’s clutch double in the fourth after leading off the second with his first pro hit, a searing line drive single into right field.

Catching prospect Dan Rizzie, a 13th-round pick out of Xavier University, also made a splash Tuesday night, going 2-for-4 with a double, two runs scored and an RBI.

First baseman Darryl Knight scored twice and Jay Jabs added a base hit and a run scored for the Cyclones, who will be back in Brooklyn Saturday to take on the Hudson Valley Renegades.

The Cyclones received more good news following Tuesday’s win when it was announced that the Mets had signed first-round pick Justin Dunn, a right-handed pitcher out of Boston College, and third-round selection Blake Tiberi, a third baseman from Louisville.

The two will arrive in Brooklyn shortly to make their professional debuts, bolstering the Cyclones’ roster before they move into the thick of the NY-Penn schedule.

Dunn, 20, a Freeport, Long Island native, went 4-2 with a 2.06 ERA in 18 appearances, including eight starts, for Boston College as a junior earlier this year.

Tiberi was named to the Cape Cod League All-Star Game during the 2015 summer and finished eighth in the league in hitting with a .315 average. The native of Taylor Mill, Kentucky ranked second on the Cardinals’ roster with 27 multi-hit games this season.

This, That and the Other Thing: The parent-club Mets aren’t the only ones paying tribute to the 30th anniversary of the franchise’s last World Series title. On Sunday afternoon, the Cyclones will hand out 1986 Championship Ring Desk Displays to the first 2,000 fans who cross the gates of the Class A short-season team’s sparkling facility by the sea. The game will also be a Sunday Funday, meaning fans will be invited to participate in a pre-game catch on the field and kids can run the bases following Brooklyn’s contest with the Renegades … After managing two runs or fewer in each of their first three games, the Cyclones have totaled 17 over their last two contests, lifting the team’s batting average to .158, still the worst in the New York-Penn League.

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