Ducks Win an Extra-Inning Thriller, Force a Game Five

The Long Island Ducks had their backs against the wall on Saturday night. But as they have done time and time again during this record-breaking season of theirs, they were able to find a way to win.

Behind a strong start from Brandon Beachy and four hitless innings from the bullpen, the Ducks defeated the Sugar Land Skeeters 3-2 in ten innings in game four of the Atlantic League Championship Series. With the win, Long Island has now tied the series at 2 and has forced a winner-take-all game five in Sugar Land on Sunday night.

Brandon Beachy started off slow tonight, giving up a 2-run triple to Denis Phipps in the bottom of the first inning to put them in a 2-0 hole, but the Ducks responded with one in the second thanks to a RBI single by D’Arby Myers. After his rough first inning, Beachy cruised for the rest of his outing, tossing six innings while only allowing 2 earned runs on six hits while striking out seven.

Long Island trailed 2-1 until the top of the sixth, where David Washington ripped a game-tying single to right and subsequently knocked Skeeters starter Chase De Jong out of the ballgame. The Ducks struggled against the Skeeters bullpen over the next three innings, but three hitless innings from Joe Iorio were able to keep the Flock in it.

The game went into extra innings where Skeeters reliever Josh Martin made a crucial error.