ONEONTA _ John Murrian is the first to admit he's not the most fleet-footed runner on the Oneonta Tigers.
If he keeps hitting balls where he did Monday night, it shouldn't be a problem.
Murrian went 4-for-4, coming up a triple shy of a cycle, in leading the O-Tigers to a 5-4 New York-Penn League victory over the Vermont Lake Monsters in front of an announced crowd of 507 at Damaschke Field.
Murrian had his chance for the cycle _ he came into the seventh inning with a single, homer and double _ and drove a ball over center fielder J.J. Sferra. Murrian took a wide turn at first and coasted into second with a double.
"No, I don't have any speed," Murrian said when asked if he was thinking triple. "I'm just trying to get what I can out of it. I'm not worried about whether I get (the cycle) or not. To be honest, the biggest thing right now is the win. We've needed that. We've suffered a couple of losses that are close like that and we needed one to go our way."
The Tigers (21-14) opened a three-game lead over Vermont (19-18) and Lowell (19-18), which lost to Tri-City, 4-2, in the Stedler Division. Oneonta hosts the Lake Monsters at 7:05 p.m. today, before heading to Vermont for two games.
"That was a great baseball game and a great one to win," O-Tigers manager Howard Bushong said. "I felt it was one we needed to win. I think we need, at the bare minimum, we need to split with these guys so we stay where we're at. But at the same time, really and truly, we need to win three of the four if we're going to try and distance ourselves at all."
Oneonta snapped a 4-all tie in the sixth.
Wade Gaynor walked to lead off and Keith Hernandez was called out on strikes. On a 1-1 count and Gaynor running, Luis Palacios then singled to left, moving Gaynor to third.
Carmelo Jaime then worked a 2-2 count and fouled off two pitches before flying out to left. Gaynor tagged on the play and easily beat the throw from Vermont's J.P. Ramirez to give the O-Tigers a 5-4 lead.
"I just wanted to stay focused and look for my pitch," Jaime said. "I was looking for fastballs and a couple of times he threw me curveballs. I stayed with the fastball and I brought in the (run). ... The first time I didn't think it was enough, but it made it and it was enough."
Oneonta's bullpen took it from there, battling out of trouble in the ninth.
Sferra led off the ninth with a single to left. After Sean Nicol flied out to right, Kenny Faulk replaced Michael Torrealba and allowed bloop singles to Ramirez and Destin Hood to load the bases.
Justin Bloxom followed with a grounder to third. Gaynor threw home to get Sferra for the second out as the bases remained loaded. Faulk then got Adam Amar to pop out to Rawley Bishop at first in foul territory to earn his seventh save.
Winning pitcher Kevan Hess (2-0) pitched two innings in relief of starter Clemente Mendoza.
"They struggled most of the night, but daggummit, I'm not sure all of our pitching won't struggle a little bit against those guys," Bushong said. "Those guys can hit. They can center a ball up if you make a mistake on them. We made some mistakes and paid for just about every single one of them."
Oneonta took a 2-0 lead in the first on a two-run double by Murrian. The Lake Monsters scored three in the third on a two-run triple from Ramirez and a sacrifice fly by Hood.
Murrian then tied it in the third when he hit a line-drive homer over the left-field wall.
"I was just trying to get a good pitch," Murrian said of his second homer of the season. "He got down 2-0 and just served me one up, so I was just trying to do something good with it. ... I'm just going through a good spot right now. My swing feels good and I'm seeing some good pitches I can hit."
Murrian upped his average to .373.
"John Murrian absolutely was fantastic tonight," Bushong said. "He hit some of the hardest balls we've had hit this year. ... It's a beautiful thing for a hitter when you are in that kind of a zone. He's been a good hitter for us most of the year and he's in one of those zones right now."
Vermont took the lead back in the in the top of the fourth when Amar led off the inning with a homer to left.
Jamie Johnson contributed two hits for the O-Tigers.
O-Tigers 5, Lake Monsters 4
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Amar 1b3111Gaynor 3b3210
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{"Sports agate bat stax"/}E""Jaime (4). LOB""Vermont 11, Oneonta 7. 2B""Ramirez 2 (9), Bishop (8), Murrian 2 (8), Gaynor (8). 3B""Ramirez (3). HR""Amar (1), Murrian (2). S""Nicol, Walker. SF""Hood, Jaime. CS""Espinoza (4).
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Hess pitched to 1 batter in the 8th.
Umpires""Home, Kiff Kinkade; Field, Matt Jones. T""2:37. A""507.
___
P.J. Harmer can be reached at pharmer@thedailystar.com or 607-432-1000, ext. 229.
