Opening night stretched long into the early morning.
The minor league version of the Mets-Yankees rivalry produced a 20-inning game in front of a sold-out crowd at MCU Park on Friday in the second longest game in Brooklyn Cyclones history.
The two teams matched 16 scoreless frames dragged out over almost six hours of baseball and 553 pitches before the Staten Island Yankees finally dispatched of their rivals 3-2 thanks to a sacrifice fly in the top of the 20th by Ricardo Ferreira off Brooklyn infielder Dionis Paulino. The squads combined for 41 strikeouts and went 2-for-30 with runners in scoring position.
It was Dalton Blaser who finally made it to home plate and scored the winning run for Staten Island in his professional debut. Though it was an excruciatingly long game, Blaser was all smiles afterward.
“This was the longest game I’ve played in my entire life,” he said. “It’s awesome, I wouldn’t have it any other way to be honest. It’s pretty funny.”
Blaser, the Yankees’ starting right fielder, was drafted out of Cal State Fullerton in the eighth round of the 2016 MLB First-Year Player Draft. Despite being a Roseville, Calif., native, pinstripes run in the family. Blaser’s father, Mark, was drafted by the Yankees in the fourth round of the 1981 draft.
In the Cyclones bullpen was Austin McGeorge, the Mets’ seventh round pick in this year’s draft out of Long Beach State. Though he did not see action Friday, McGeorge led the Big West Conference with 33 appearances from the 49ers’ bullpen this season.
Blaser’s team came out on top at MCU Park, but it was nevertheless a memorable start to the duo’s professional careers. However, Blaser walks away with bragging right for a day, admitting that he couldn’t stop smiling after scoring the winning run.
These two Gulf Coast natives have more in common than their home state — Long Beach and Fullerton are fierce Big West rivals and went head to head less than a month ago in the conference championship.
When Long Beach State hosted the Titans, they had eyes on their first Big West title since 2008 and an automatic bid in an NCAA Regional. Long Beach State was on a nine-game winning streak, the longest since 2007, and had recently become the winningest team in the Troy Buckley era with 35 wins on the season.
Fullerton entered the series with fiery pitching, leading the country in ERA (2.27) and hits allowed per innings (6.83). Their staff for the weekend included second, third and fourth ranked pitchers in the Big West. At the plate, Blaser led the team with 37 RBIs and a .361 average.
The visiting defending champions ended up taking the series 2-1 to reclaim the conference title. Blaser was named the 2016 Big West Field Player of the Year, while McGeorge collected his fifth save of the year in his team’s lone victory from the series.
“It was a blast tonight,” he said. “I love it. I’m all for it, I’ll take a 20-inning game as long as we get the W.”