Cutters drop second straight to Brooklyn

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New York Mets fans have only seen first-round pick Reese Havens once at KeySpan Park, as the shortstop out of South Carolina spent the early season shaking off an elbow injury.

As for the glimmering new scoreboard at Bowman Field? It's seen enough.

Havens blasted his second home run in as many days, this time sparing the video screen by clearing it on the fly, and the Brooklyn Cyclones stormed to a 12-3 victory over the Williamsport Crosscutters Thursday night.

Havens' two-run shot capped a four-run sixth inning off reliever Rick Austin to make it 7-0. It came a day after his three-run, ninth-inning homer pelted Bowman's newest addition in right and propelled the Cyclones to a 4-3, comeback win.

"It was frustrating not being in there for a while, especially having a packed house at our place opening night," said Havens, who also doubled and finished 2-for-6 Thursday. "I've gotten the majority of fastballs and I've swung through a lot of pitches. I ran into a few tonight and last night. But still, I'm getting back."

A scary thought for a team that is loaded with prospects and experience.

Before Jake Eigsti's sacrifice fly and Brandon Richey's RBI triple to begin the sixth-inning onslaught, the Cyclones (8-7) scored three runs - two earned - off starter Freddy Ballestas (0-2).

That alone was nearly enough to drop the Cutters (7-9), who have lost four in a row against teams other than State College, and are 2-9 outside the SawBuck series. Williamsport also followed a close loss with a blowout defeat for the second time in eight days, after losses last Thursday and Friday at Jamestown.

"I guess it's a day that, is just, going to happen," said Cutters shortstop Troy Hanzawa, who doubled in two late runs, long after Brooklyn starter Tim Stronach (2-2) departed. "I'm not sure what it is. I think those days just happen. It's just that it happened back-to-back nights."

Richey, a second-year Cylcone, finished 4-for-5 with two RBI, and singled in Brooklyn's first run in the third inning. Ike Davis - another first-rounder - singled and scored in a two-run fifth, where Ballestas was hurt by first baseman Jeremy Hamilton's fielding error.

And Stronach, also back with the Cyclones for his second season, walked two batters and struck out eight while allowing three hits in what he called his best outing of the season.

"Getting ahead of batters is huge," said Stronach, who had pitched in the high-A Florida State League this year. "Today I happened to get ahead of a lot of batters, which helps."

Ballestas left after allowing three runs - two earned - three hits and, more disturbingly, four walks. It was progress, but not enough on this night.

"He's not throwing strikes in big situations," said Cutters pitching coach Bill Bliss of Ballestas, whose ERA is now 7.11 through 19 innings worked.. "Ever walk that gets on base scores. And until we find a way if we walk guys, we've got to make better pitches following. That's happened to all our pitchers, not just Freddy."

Down 7-0 after Havens' homer, the Cutters got one back in the bottom of the sixth when Jeremy Hamilton grounded into a bases-loaded double play, scoring Doug Morales.

Brooklyn made it 11-1 in the eighth, scoring two runs on a wild pitch by Riquy Pena and throwing error by catcher Scott Thomas, and two more on Eigsti's triple.

Havens doubled and scored on a wild pitch in the top of the ninth, before Hanzawa finally drove in two Cutters runs in the bottom half.

Eigsti finished with three RBI.

"Our effort was fine I thought, they just out-hit us," said Cutters manager Dusty Wathan. "We just didn't pitch very well, and they hit the ball well, and it just wasn't a good night for us."