muckdogs

Press release:

The Genesee County Baseball Club will hold its annual Batavia Muckdogs Hot Stove Dinner and Auction from 4:30 to 8 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 20^th at the Sacred Heart Church Hall at 17 Sumner St. in Batavia. Tickets are $25 for adults and $15 for children 12 and under.

The evening will begin with a cocktail hour followed by a buffet dinner at 5:30. The Hot Stove Dinner is a time for good food, friendship and baseball talk. The night also features a live and Chinese auction of baseball-related memorabilia (including signed bats and balls), work by local artists, and gift certificates from a variety of local businesses.

Tickets may be purchased in Batavia at Dwyer Stadium, Gerace’s Hair Care, the Williams Law Firm and the office of Dr. Alan Barcomb.

The Batavia Muckdogs (22-29) came into Friday night’s rubber game matchup against the Lowell Spinners looking to avoid losing their first series since a July 20 series against Connecticut.

After nearly making a dramatic late-inning comeback in Thursday night’s game, Manager Angel Espada hoped the momentum would carry into Friday night’s game. Unfortunately for Batavia and the now rejuvenated fans, the bats would stay ice cold in route to a 3-0 loss to the Spinners.

“Basically we were flat overall tonight,” Espada said. “It’s just one of those things, we didn’t get much going with the bats.”

Jordan Holloway took the loss in the game but he pitched well enough to keep the Muckdogs within striking distance all night. Holloway only surrendered one run on four hits over six innings of work. He would struggle with his command by walking four.

Lowell scored the one run off Holloway in the fourth inning after a two-out walk to Kyri Washington, a double over Stone Garrett’s head in center by Mitch Gunsolus plated Washington for the Spinners' first run of the game, and really the only run they would need.

Spinners starting pitcher Austin Glorius, shut down the Muckdogs' hitters all night. The right-hander struck out eight Muckdog batters over five innings. He walked two but only allowed one hit.

Enfember Martinez finished up the game for Glorius and was equally as dominant. He struck out three and also only allowed one Muckdog hit.

“It’s hard to win a ball game when you get two hits, you’re not going to win many of those,” Espada said. “We just simply didn’t hit, it’s as simple as that.”

The Spinners added two insurance runs in the seventh inning off of reliever LJ Brewster. Tate Matheny led off the inning with a walk and was sacrificed to second by Jeremy Rivera.

Sean Coyle, who was on a rehab stint from Boston’s Triple-A team, singled to score Matheny. After a Andrew Benintendi walk, Victor Acosta grounded into what should have been been a double play, but the throw from Alex Fernandez to first base was off the mark, allowing Coyle to score and making it 3-0.

The Muckdogs were just unable to manufacture any offense. There was a period from the fifth inning to the ninth inning where both the Spinners' pitchers retired 12 straight Muckdogs and combine to get out 15 of the last 17 batters.

Batavia will have a quick turnaround as they travel to Auburn for a doubleheader on Saturday.

“You hope that their youthfulness is keeping them ready to come and hopefully show up and ready to play tomorrow,” Espada said.

With the loss, Batavia now sits six and a half games back of the wild card spot and will need to win a majority of their remaining games and hope for a lot of help from the rest of the league for any shot at the postseason.

“Of course we want to win a lot of games, but at the end of the day, my biggest job is to develop young players and young talent for the organization,” Espada said.

Winners of three games in a row and seven of the last 10, the Batavia Muckdogs (22-28) find themselves slowly creeping back into the playoff picture, sitting only four and a half games back of the wild card. On Thursday night they continued their crucial three-game series against the Lowell Spinners (27-25).

In the previous three games, Batavia jumped on its opponent by scoring in the first inning, thus putting pressure on the opposition to score runs. Thursday night would be almost the complete opposite.

Behind All-Star Stone Garrett’s bat, the Muckdogs were able to close a 6-0 Spinner lead to just 7-5 in the ninth inning, while getting the tying run up to bat.

Down 6-0 in the eighth, Travis Brewster led off the inning with single. Garrett then crushed the 1-0 pitch over the green Batavia Youth Football shed for his 10th home run of the year.

After the Spinners were able to get one run back in the top of the ninth, the Muckdogs refused to go away quietly.

Spinner relief pitcher, Taylor Nunez quickly got the first two batters out in the ninth. Alex Fernandez then singled, followed by a ground out to first by Anfernee Seymour that was botched by the first baseman; Brewster was then hit by a pitch to load the bases.

Garrett stepped to the plate and almost instantly was behind 0-2. After fouling off a couple pitches, he got the pitch he liked and drove a long fly ball over the center fielder’s head, clearing the bases and making it 7-5.

“It’s not a seven to five ballgame without Stone Garrett,” Batavia Manager Angel Espada said. “The kid has been having a great season and has been working hard at making adjustments.”

Although their comeback effort came up short, Batavia was not without chances earlier in the game. Altogether they left eight runners on base, included having the bases loaded in the third inning, and were unable to score any runs.

“That’s baseball, the team that takes advantage of their opportunities and you don’t have to do a whole lot,” Espada said. “You just have to get a base hit here and there and that’s what they did [Spinners].”

The Spinners were able to plate two runs off of Batavia starter Justin Jacome, one in the second and one in the third inning. Jacome only pitched three innings, giving up the two runs on three hits and striking out two.

Nestor Bautista relieved Jacome and was not his usual self -- the one who got him voted into the All-Star game.

“The kid [Bautista] has been so good all year and he just didn’t have it today,” Espada said. “You couldn’t get it done but he battled and competed, but hopefully he can put this one behind him.”

The Spinners got to Bautista in the sixth inning when Josh Ockimey and Tate Matheny, the son of the St. Louis Cardinals Manager Mike Matheny, both connected on two-out singles. John Nunez then doubled to score both runners and push their lead to 4-0.

Lowell was again able to plate two runs in the seventh inning off of Bautista after a Chad De La Guerra broken-bat bloop single and a Andrew Benintendi -- the Boston Red Sox first-round draft pick and seventh overall selection in this years draft out of Arkansas -- infield single put the first two batters of the inning on base.  

Victor Acosta walked to load the bases with no outs. Tucker Tubbs then flew out to second but in an attempt to keep Guerra at third, Taylor Munden’s throw home was off the mark and all the runners moved up a base, scoring Guerra. Ockimey then hit a sacrifice fly to stretch the lead to 6-0.

Batavia was able to battle back in the eighth and ninth innings but they just ran out of outs.

“Hopefully that carries some momentum into tomorrow’s game,” Espada said.

Garrett finished the game 2-for-3 with two walks. He had the two-run home run and all five RBIs for the Muckdogs. Brewster contributed to the comeback effort by going 3-for-4 with three singles and two-runs scored.

Kyle Keller impressed on the mound going the last two innings in relief, striking out five batters and only allowing one run on two hits.

With the loss the Muckdogs now drop five and a half games out of the wild card spot and also are in danger of losing their first series since the July 21 set against Connecticut. Batavia will look to avoid that on Friday night as they wrap up the series against the Spinners at 7:05.

Like all Friday night games, there will be fireworks following the conclusion of the game. 

Coming into Tuesday night’s doubleheader against the Vermont Lake Monsters (22-26), the Batavia Muckdogs (19-28) had lost two games back-to-back and were on the verge of losing all hope of getting within striking distance of the last wild card spot.

Brett Lilek and Scout Squier, who would combine to start both games of a doubleheader for the second straight home series, were tasked to keep the Muckdogs' slim playoffs hopes alive as Batavia looked to capture their sixth consecutive series win.

Lilek started the first game of the doubleheader and continued right where he left off from his last start. Back on August 5, Lilek pitched five innings; striking out eight while allowing four hits in an eventual Muckdogs win over State College. On Tuesday night, Lilek was equally as impressive, if not better.

“The guys went out there [Lilek and Squier] and pounded the strike zone, threw strikes and kept the game going for us,” Manager Angel Espada said.

Lilek dominated the strike zone all evening and kept the Lake Monster hitters off balance with is off-speed pitches. He was able to retire 15 of the 17 batters he faced in his five innings of work. Lilek recorded seven strikeouts on just 61 pitches thrown. He only allowed one hit in the first inning and walked one other batter.

Lilek got all the run support he would need in the first. All-Star Anfernee Seymour started the game with a walk. He moved to third after Vermont pitcher Kevin Duchene attempted to pickoff Seymour but he took off for second on Duchene’s first move. Chris Iriart, Vermont’s first baseman, then threw the ball into the outfield in an attempt to get Seymour out at second, giving Seymour third base.  

Travis Brewster then singled home Seymour for his eighth RBI of the year. Stone Garrett, also an All-Star, then doubled off the wall to score Brewster. On the attempt to throw Brewster out at home, Garrett tried to take third and was called out. After the play, the umpires got together and pointed to Garrett, who had gone into the dugout, that he was safe and to go back to third. Brad Haynal then grounded out to shortstop to score Garrett, making it 3-0.

“The hard work is paying off and we have been blessed that every time we have had a tough game, the rain out kind of gives us a breather,” Espada said.

The Muckdogs added another run in the fourth inning and two in the fifth inning, but they were just added bonuses. Lilek and Jordan Hillyer combined to throw seven innings of one-hit baseball. Each giving up one walk a piece, in total they only allowed three base runners all game, retiring 12 batters in a row at one point and not allowing a runner to pass second base.

The Muckdogs took game one of the doubleheader with a final score of 6-0. Garrett led the offensive going 2-for-4 with a RBI and two runs scored.

Not to be out done, Squier was just as impressive in game two as Lilek was in game one. Just like he did back on Aug. 5, Squier followed up a quality start from Lilek with one of his own.

Squier, whose only real trouble of the game came in the first inning, was able to shut down the Vermont offense, also pitching five innings.

Trace Loehr led off the game with a single. Steven Pallares then reached on an error by third baseman Angel Reyes. Squier was able to strike out two of the next three batters and get another to fly out to end the inning.

The Muckdogs again jumped on the Lake Monsters right from the start. Alex Fernandez reached on an E5 and Brewster quickly singled. A bad throw into the infield by the center fielder, allowed both runners to move up 90 feet. Garrett worked a walk to load the bases with no outs.

Haynal then grounded into a double play, but Fernandez was able to score to make it 1-0. Roy Morales grounded out to end the inning but not before the Muckdogs got the only run they would need.

“In both games the difference was the first inning,” Espada said. “We got a big inning the first game and we scored the only run in the first inning there.”

Squier settled down after the first inning and retired the next nine of out 10 batters. After his five outstanding innings, All-Star reliever and closer Steve Farnworth came into the game for the six-out save.

Farnworth worked pretty uneventful sixth and seventh innings to earn his 10 save of the year, sealing the 1-0 victory for Batavia and taking the series.

“We have been playing a lot better defense and we are making clutch plays…and that’s the difference right now,” Espada said. “We are pitching okay and besides the game the other day, we have been playing good defense.”

After his win in the first game, Lilek improves to 1-2 while Squier quietly continues to impress with a 4-0 record.

The Muckdogs will welcome the Lowell Spinners, an affiliate of the Boston Red Sox, to Dwyer Stadium on Wednesday at 7:05 p.m. for an extremely important series in terms of the wild card race. Lowell currently sits atop the wild card standings and with a strong showing in the three-game series, the Muckdogs could play themselves right back into playoff contention, as they only sit five games back.

Although the importance of the series cannot be denied or overlooked, Espada is not looking ahead.

“I’m not looking that far. I’m just keeping the guys focused on one game at a time and eventually if you do that, things will take care of themselves,” Espada said. “You don’t want to put that pressure on them, they are so young, that they don’t understand and try to do too much.”

CenturyLink Field, home of the 12th man, Lambeau Field, home of the Lambeau leap, and Oracle Arena, the home of the 2015 NBA Champion Golden State Warriors all share one common denominator, home field means something. The crowd, the tradition and the history all seem to give the home team that added edge. 

For the Batavia Muckdogs (19-27) playing at home this season has meant absolutely nothing. They actually have a slightly better record on the road 10-14, compared to at home 9-14.

Now it would be naïve to compare Dwyer Stadium to CenturyLink or Lambeau Field, but in any sport, at any level, playing at home should mean something.

Coming into Sunday night’s game against the Vermont Lake Monsters (21-26), an affiliate of the Oakland Athletics, the Muckdogs were one of the hottest teams in the New York-Penn League. Winners of seven of the last 10 games and having won five straight series to close within five games of the last wild card spot.

Travis Neubeck started on the mound for Batavia and in only his second professional start he pitched fairly well but struggled with his command all night.

“He didn’t have his best stuff but he went out there and competed,” Manager Angel Espada said.

Neubeck was able to get through four innings of work, allowing three runs on five hits while walking four.   

When Ayron Adames came in relief of Neubeck it was only a 3-2 game in favor of the Lake Monsters.

League All-Star, Stone Garrett tied the game in the bottom of the fifth when he hit his league-leading ninth home run of the year. Batavia tacked on another run later in the inning after Ryan Cranmer reached on an error by the third baseman. He moved to second on a wild pitch.

Cranmer scored to take a 4-3 lead when Alex Fernandez grounded to third, but it was misplayed by the third baseman for his second error of the inning and third in the game.

Adames shut down Vermont in the two innings he pitched. He only relinquished one hit and walked one batter, plus striking out two.

Everything seemed to be going the Muckdogs way and it looked like they were on their way to winning the first game of this three-game series, but the wheels fell of the wagon in the seventh.

LJ Brewster began the inning by striking out the first batter he saw, showing why earlier in the season he was called up to the Jupiter Hammerheads, the Marlins Advanced-A farm team. Unfortunately, the rest of the inning showed why he was back in Batavia.

Brewster walked Nick Collins and Chris Iriart on back-to-back four-pitch walks. Brett Siddall then hit a perfect double play ball to second baseman Fernandez, who in turn let the ball go off his glove, allowing Collins to score from second, tying the game at 4-4.

Now with runners at first and third, Skye Bolt singled to score Iriart easily. Left fielder Brandon Rawe inexcusably let the ball go under his glove and allowed Siddall to score all the way from first, making it 6-3.

Not expecting a bunt, third baseman Taylor Munden was playing well behind the base at third and Ryan Howell saw that and tried, and executed perfectly, a squeeze play, scoring Bolt from third and reaching first base himself, without even a throw.

Brewster’s nightmare of a game continued in the eighth when he allowed two more runs on three hits and one walk.

“Young pitchers, young players sometimes you try to do too much in certain situations and that’s part of the game,” Espada said. “It’s part of their learning experience as a professional.” 

The Lake Monsters added two more runs in the ninth inning off of Aneury Osoria to bring their total to 11. Batavia was able to score one run in the bottom of the ninth but the game was well decided by then.

As announced earlier in the week, the Muckdogs have an incredible six players selected to the All-Star team even though they have the worst record in the league. Both Anfernee Seymour and Stone Garrett were chosen and they showed why on Sunday.

Seymour went 3-for-4 with three singles, a run scored and an amazing four stolen bases, bringing his season total to 22, just one behind the league leader. Garrett went just 1-for-3 but he added to his league-leading home run tally and scored two runs.

“It’s a whole team effort and you don’t want to put the pressure on these young guys at this level because they are All-Stars,” Espada said.

The Muckdogs will return to Dwyer Stadium on Monday night to try and right the ship and get back to their winning ways. Game time is set for 7:05.

Press release:

The 2015 New York-Penn League All-Star roster will include six players from Batavia, which is the second highest in the league. They will send infielders Brad Haynal and Anfernee Seymour, outfielder Stone Garrett and pitchers Nestor Bautista, Steven Farnworth and Jordan Holloway to the game to be held Tuesday, Aug. 18th at Leidos Field at Ripken Stadium, home of the Aberdeen Ironbirds.

Haynal, a 18th round pick in the 2014 draft, has played in 39 games for the Muckdogs this year and has been among the league leaders in hitting all season. Haynal currently ranks eighth in the league in hitting, with a .313 batting average, tenth in slugging percentage at .444 and his 13 doubles is tied for second in the league.

Anfernee Seymour was an undrafted free agent signing by the Marlins in 2014 and has started 35 games at shortstop for the Muckdogs this season. The speedster is currently second in the league in stolen bases with 17. He is currently batting .281 with 23 runs scored, six doubles and seven RBIs.

An 8th round pick in the 2014 draft, Garrett has started 44 games in centerfield for Muckdogs and is arguably the top power hitter in the league. Garrett ranks first in the league in home runs with eight, first in slugging percentage at .576, second in RBIs with 32, and first in the league in triples with six. Garrett also ranks first in extra base hits (25) and total bases (98).

Nestor Bautista was selected in the 32nd round of the 2014 draft out of Ball State University. The left-hander has compiled an ERA of just 1.86, which is tops in the league for qualifying pitchers. Bautista has a record of 3-1 and has racked up 29 strikeouts in 38.2 innings pitched.

Steven Farnworth is in his second year of professional baseball and was a 23rd round pick in the 2014 draft. The right-hander has been the Muckdogs closer this season and is currently tied for second in the league with nine saves. Farnworth has appeared in 15 games this year and has an ERA of just 0.36. He has also recorded 23 strikeouts in his 25.0 innings of work and opposing batters are hitting just .198 versus Farnworth this year.

Holloway was drafted in the 20th round of the 2014 draft and has started eight games for the Muckdogs this year. He has compiled a record of 3-3 with a 3.08 ERA. In his 38.0 innings of work, he has recorded 24 strikeouts and opposing batters are only hitting .203 against him this year.

Batavia currently holds the sixth place spot in the Pinckney Division with a record of 19-26 and are just four games out of the wild card spot. The Muckdogs sent six players to the 2011 All-Star game, five in 2012, four in 2013 and four players in 2014.

Coming into Wednesday night’s doubleheader against the State College Spikes (21-21), the Batavia Muckdogs (15-26) were dead last in the New York-Penn League in terms of pitching with a staff ERA of 4.38.

Brett Lilek and Scott Squier both had rare, back-to-back quality starts, as the Muckdogs were able to sweep the doubleheader, taking the series. 

Lilek, who started game one, came into the game with a 0-2 record and a lackluster 6.11 ERA. The 6-foot-4 Arizona State product was able to work through two jams on his way to pitching five innings of shut-out ball, scattering four hits and striking out eight.

The first jam for Lilek came in the second inning when Casey Grayson doubled to lead off the inning. Lilek was able to strikeout the next two State College batters, but Jesse Jenner connected on an infield single that set up first and third with two outs. After falling behind 2-1 to R.J. Dennard, Lilek got the lefty to fly out to third.

Lilek again was faced with runners in scoring position when Grayson singled in the fourth, followed by an Orlando Olivera singled that was fumbled by leftfielder Travis Brewster, allowing Grayson to take third.

Olivera was able to move to second after a wild pitch. Lilek settled down and got Cole Lankford to strikeout and Jenner to pop out.

The two games were slated to be only seven-inning games but the Muckdogs and Spikes needed extra innings, even for a regular nine-inning game, to determine a winner in game one.

The teams had to play into the 10th inning before the Muckdogs were finally able to scrap across the game winning run.

Taylor Munden lead off the 10th inning of a 1-1 ball game with a double and was moved to third by a perfectly executed sacrifice bunt by Brandon Rawe. Giovanny Alfonzo scored and secured the Muckdogs' first walk-off of the season with a sacrifice fly to leftfield.  

After a bite to eat and the field was prepared for game two, Squier picked up right were Lilek ended in the first game.

Squier was able to get through five and two-thirds innings. He struck out five, gave up six hits and allowed one run.

He received all the run support he would need in the fourth inning when Stone Garrett singled up the middle, followed by a Brad Haynal single of his own. After a failed pick-off attempt of Garrett at second that saw the ball hit him in the back and roll into the outfield, both runners were able to move up a base.

Angel Reyes launched his third double of the year, scoring both Garrett and Haynal. The Spikes were able to get one back in the sixth off Squier but a Reyes' triple and Yuniel Ramirez' sacrifice fly in the bottom half of the inning made it 3-1.

Ryley MacEachern came in for a four-out save and struck out three of the five batters he faced.

The Muckdogs have now won four straight series and eight of their last 11 games. Although everything pointed to this being a lost season for the Muckdogs, they currently sit just six games back of the wild card.

Batavia hits the road for a three-game series in Mahoning Valley before returning to Dwyer Stadium on Sunday to start a six-game home stand.

Sunday’s game will have a unique starting time of 5:05 p.m. 

The Muckdogs game tonight has been postponed due to the threat of a thunderstorm.

The Muckdogs will play a doubleheader on Wednesday against the State College Spikes with the first game starting at 5:05 p.m. and the second game will directly follow the conclusion of the first game; both games will be seven innings.

Any ticket purchased for tonight’s game can be redeemed for any future regular season game.

Coming into Monday night’s game against the State College Spikes (20-21), the Batavia Muckdogs (15-25) found themselves in the midst of a hot streak. Winners of five of the last six games and only six games out of the wildcard, Batavia looked to continue its recently found success.

Travis Neubeck got the emergency start on the mound after Gabriel Castellanos was called up. The Spikes were able to jump on Neubeck early, as the young righty was making his first professional start.

Craig Aikin reached base in the first inning after hitting a routine ground ball to Anfernee Seymour at shortstop, Seymour’s legs got tangled up and he was unable to make the throw to first, resulting in his 12th error of the season.

Leobaldo Pina then doubled home Aikin to make it 1-0. Seymour was able to make up for his mistake in the bottom half of the inning.

Seymour led off the inning with a single and just like he has all season, stole second. He then moved to third on a failed pick-off attempt at second that saw the ball dribble into the outfield. Taylor Munden plated Seymour with a sacrifice fly to centerfield, tying the game at 1-1.

“He’s going to go out there and help because he can play the game and he has the tools to make things happen for us,” Manager Angel Espada said about Seymour’s impact on the team.

Neubeck settled down after the first inning until he seemed to run out of gas in the fifth inning.

“There was a lot of things going on for him, a lot of firsts,” Espada said. “He went out there and I think he did a good job for the most part and that last inning happens.”

Neubeck walked Ronnierd Garcia to start the fifth inning and quickly came around to score on a Josh Swirchak RBI triple. Neubeck was able to retire the next two batters, but Pina stepped into the box and launched a two-run home run to make it 4-1, ending Nuebeck’s night.

“We played so well on the road and that just comes to show you why these kids are at this level,” Espada said.

Ayron Adames came in relief of Neubeck and also pitched well until he, too, ran out of gas in the eighth inning.

The Spikes were able to muster three runs, on five hits behind an Orlando Olivera home run to take an 8-1 lead.

“There is a fine line between developing and winning -- that’s the way it’s going to be,” Espada said.  

Kyle Keller pitched the ninth inning and allowed one run, making the final 9-1.

Roy Morales finished the game 2-for-4 while Seymour was 1-for-3 with a run scored and two stolen bases. Seymour now has 17 stolen bases on the year, good for second in the league and just one behind league leader, Johnny Sewald of the Tri-City ValleyCats.

“Once you fall back, young hitters tend to press a little bit instead of trying to take good at-bats,” Espada said. “The youth showed up today and hopefully we can put this one behind us and come back ready to play tomorrow.”

Batavia continues its series against the Spikes Tuesday night at 7:05 at Dwyer Stadium. 

Photos by Howard Owens.