Ramon Ortiz of the Empire Yankees delivered the first pitch -- a called ball -- to Norfolk's Xavier Avery and history was made at Dwyer Stadium: the first Triple A ball game ever played in Batavia.
There were 1,319 fans on hand to witness the history-making game.
Two pitches later, the Yankees were down 1-0 as Avery rocketed a pitch from Ortiz over the right field wall.
While Ortiz got hit pretty hard in the first inning, he settled down to last seven innings and the Yankees came back with a three-run eighth inning to salvage a 6-4 victory.
The two teams go at it again today at 1:05 p.m., tomorrow at 1:05 p.m. and Monday at 12:05 p.m.
Double play sequence:
Below, Rep. Kathy Hochul throws out the first pitch (photo provided by Kevin Manne).
More game pictures after the jump (click on the headline to view):
