Tigers halted by rain
By P.J. Harmer
Staff Writer
ONEONTA _ Adam Wilk flirted with perfection Tuesday night. Mother Nature left him with a no-decision, however.
A rain storm that came through Oneonta at around 9:30 p.m. suspended the Tigers' New York-Penn League game against Vermont at the end of the fifth inning with the score tied at 1-1 at Damaschke Field. The start of the game also had been postponed by rain, for about an hour.
The nine-inning game will resume at 5:05 p.m. today. About a half-hour after its completion, the two teams will play a regularly scheduled game, which has been cut to seven innings.
Sid Levine bobblehead night, originally scheduled for today, will start with the 5:05 p.m. game, Oneonta General Manager Andrew Weber said.
Fans who present ticket stubs from Tuesday's suspended game will receive free admission to both of today's games, Weber said. The first 1,000 fans through the gate today will receive a free Levine bobblehead.
On Monday, 691 fans showed up for Sam Nader bobblehead night. Nader and Levine sold the O-Tigers last year.
Oneonta (10-5) leads the Stedler Division by three games over Vermont (8-9). Lowell (8-10), which lost to Tri-City on Tuesday, is 3 1/2 games back. Tri-City trails by 4 1/2 games.
On Tuesday, Wilk became the second Oneonta pitcher in three days to take a perfect game into the fourth inning. Clemente Mendoza pitched 5 1/3 innings of perfect ball in a 6-4 win over Aberdeen on Sunday.
Wilk opened with 11 straight outs _ perfect for 3 2/3 innings _ before J.P. Ramirez reached base on a low, knuckling liner to short that Jim Gulliver dropped. The next batter, Adam Amar, drove an RBI double to the wall in right-center field to end Wilk's no-hit and shutout bids.
Wilk, who struck out seven and walked none, sent the Lake Monsters down in order in the fifth. Wilk, who said the fifth was going to be his final inning, threw 45 of his 61 pitches for strikes.
"The ball was coming out of my hand well and it felt good," Wilk said. "I went out there and threw a lot of strikes down in the zone."
Wilk throws four pitches _ fastball, curve, changeup and cutter _ but he said his fastball worked the best Tuesday.
"I was able to command it," he said. "I was able to keep it down. ... I was ahead in a lot of counts and that puts hitters off-balance. I let them put it in play and let my defense make the plays."
The Tigers opened the scoring in the second. Rawley Bishop walked and went to third when Alexis Espinoza blooped a double into left-center field. John Murrian then lined a single to right, scoring Bishop. However, Espinoza was thrown out on a sharp relay from right fielder Justin Bloxom to first baseman Amar to catcher Sandy Leon.
Chris Sedon and Matt Mansilla struck out to end the inning.
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