MANCHESTER, N.H. – The defending Eastern League champions started their 2019 campaign on sour note, falling 5-2 to the Binghamton Rumble Ponies on Thursday night.
New Hampshire starting pitcher Patrick Murphy stuck out the side in the first inning. However, Binghamton battled back in the second as Will Toffey scored on a Barrett Barnes single and Dario Pizzano added another run on what would be the first of four New Hampshire errors on the evening.
Both teams traded a run in the third, and there it would stand until the seventh when New Hampshire took an unearned run of their own, this time by Binghamton first baseman Patrick Mazeika.
That allowed Kacy Clemons to come across the plate, but the Cats couldn’t even things up, a mistake the Ponies capitalized on an inning later.
There, another pair of errors set up another two runs thanks to Jason Krizan’s single to center, and that would be all the Ponies needed, escaping a bases loaded jam in the eighth and retiring New Hampshire in order in the ninth.
Murphy allowed two earned runs off three hits and three walks, striking out five in four innings of work. Murphy would get the loss while Binghamton starting pitcher Anthony Kay finished just one out short of five innings on the night, allowing no runs off three hits, walking two and striking out four.
Instead, Joshua Torres got the win for Binghamton in relief of Kay thanks to his four outs in the fourth and fifth.
Stephen Villines earned the save for the visitors with his spotless ninth.
The two teams meet again on Friday at 6:35 p.m. Hector Perez takes the mound for New Hampshire against Binghamton’s Chris Mazza.
