ONEONTA _ Michael Rockett took off Sunday night, helping the Oneonta Tigers snap out of an offensive slump.
Rockett went 3-for-4 with a home run to lead the Tigers to a 9-3 New York-Penn League victory over the Lowell Spinners in front of 849 fans at Damaschke Field.
"The big thing is we started swinging the bat," said O-Tigers manager Howard Bushong, whose team finished with 10 hits and set a season high for runs. "We've been struggling. This has to give them confidence and that's the big thing."
Rockett capped the scoring with a two-out homer in the eighth inning that cleared the left-field fence despite light rain and a strong wind blowing in from the outfield. His shot, off an 2-0 fastball from Kyle Rutter, marked the first home run at Damaschke Field this season.
"Honestly, I was looking for anything to drive," said Rockett, who is hitting .478 this season. "I got the pitch to hit. ... It felt really good, but knowing this park, I thought it was a flyout to left."
Oneonta (5-3) entered Sunday night with 13 runs in seven games, including two seven-inning losses Saturday at Vermont, 3-0 and 2-1.
"One thing we did was we didn't take batting practice today," Bushong said. "We told them to sleep in, but a lot of the kids were here on their own doing some work. We didn't do or say anything. They executed and they get all the credit."
Oneonta remained in first place in the Stedler Division, with a one-game lead over Vermont (5-5). The Tigers and Spinners _ last at 4-6 in the Stedler _ continue their three-game series at 7:05 tonight. Oneonta will throw Nathan Newman (0-0) tonight and Adam Wilk (0-0) in Wednesday's series finale.
On Sunday, the O-Tigers erased a 2-0 deficit in the fourth inning.
Jamie Johnson lined the first pitch from Jeremy Kehrt up the middle for a single and went to second when Jim Gulliver walked. Wade Gaynor then hit a sharp grounder that bounced over first baseman Christopher McGuiness, easily scoring Johnson to make it 2-1. Lowell right fielder Shannon Wilkerson bobbled the ball, allowing Gulliver to tie it at 2 and Gaynor to reach third. Gaynor gave Oneonta a 3-2 lead when he scored on Rawley Bishop's ground out to short.
Lowell tied it in the fifth on an RBI double from McGuiness, but the Tigers scored three in the sixth and two in the seventh.
Gulliver singled to right to open the sixth and Gaynor reached on a fielder's choice when he bounced a ball to short. Derrik Gibson's throw to start a potential double play went wide of second baseman Drew Dominguez, giving Oneonta runners at the corners as Gaynor went to third on the error.
"That's the way the ball bounces for you," Gaynor said. "The offense as a whole tonight was good. It was a good job. Yesterday, after coming out and doing not too well, everyone wanted to score runs tonight."
Gulliver gave the O-Tigers the lead for good _ at 4-3 _ when he scored on Bishop's grounder to first. Gaynor was forced out at second, but Bishop beat the throw back to first to spoil the double-play attempt.
Alexis Espinoza singled to put runners on first and third and stole second to set up two more runs. Bishop made it 5-3 when he beat the throw home by Gibson on an Eric Roof grounder to short. Espinoza stayed at second on the play but scored when Matt Mansilla doubled to deep center.
In the seventh, Gaynor got hit by a pitch and stole second. After Bishop walked, Espinoza hit a two-run double down the right-field line to make it 8-3.
"We had to step it up with people on base," Rockett said. "We were able to come through tonight."
Three pitchers combined to scatter seven hits for the Tigers. Starter Luis Sanz gave up three runs on four hits over four innings. He struck out five and walked two. Winning pitcher Cory Hamilton (2-0) followed with three innings of one-hit ball, striking out five. Wade Kapteyn pitched the final two innings, allowing two hits and walking two.
"The kids stepped up and that was huge," Bushong said. "We're hoping this is the start of things. We got shut down (Saturday against Vermont). We were basically embarrassed and weren't competitive at the plate. The kids came back tonight."
___
P.J. Harmer can be reached at pharmer@thedailystar.com or 607-432-1000, ext. 229.
O-Tigers 9, Spinners 3
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