BUFFALO:
Jason Pridie – CF
Jesus Feliciano – RF
Mike Jacobs – 1B
Mike Hessman – 3B
Chris Carter – LF
Russ Adams – 2B
Shawn Riggans – C
Ruben Tejada – SS
Pat Misch – LHP

LOUISVILLE:
Chris Burke – CF
Zack Cozart – SS
Luis Terroro – LF
Wladimir Balentien – RF
Chris Valaika – 2B
Todd Frazier – 1B
Wilkin Castillo – C
Drew Sutton – 3B
Justin Lehr – RHP

The New York Mets today announced that they have recalled Bisons C JOSH THOLE. The Bisons announced that C TONY MACCANI has been promoted to the team from Single-A St. Lucie.

The Mets placed catcher Henry Blanco on the Bereavement List due to an illness in his family. Thole will wear #30 and will be available for tonight’s game

Maccani, 25, has hit .233 (7-30) with a double, a home run and three RBI in 10 games with the St. Lucie Mets of the Florida State League. Behind the plate, Maccani has thrown out four of eight would-be base stealers.

Maccani has played 50 minor league games in the Mets’ system after being signed by New York as a non-drafted free agent in 2007. Last season, the catcher hit .185 (5-27) in eight games with St. Lucie.

Thole has hit .203 (16-79) with eight doubles and 10RBI in 21 games with the Herd this year. His eight doubles on the season are tied for the second most on the club. He was 3-3 with a triple and three RBI in yesterday’s 5-4 loss to Indianapolis.

Over Thole’s last 10 games, he’s batting .286 (10-35) with six doubles, one triple and six RBI.

The Bisons played the Bats just five days ago and capped a 3-1 series victory with one of two come from behind wins Tuesday.

Following at 1-3 start to the an eight-game roadtrip, the Bisons travel to Louisville, KY and begin a four-game series Monday night. Buffalo is 7-9 on the road this season and dropped their first four-game series of the season leaving Indianapolis.

Buffalo is 54-46 against Louisville sicne returning to the International League in 1998.

5/1: BUF 1, LOU 0
Lefty Bobby Livingston tossed eight shutout innings, facing just two batters over the minimum as the Bisons shutout the Bats, 1-0, Saturday night.

The Herd has now won three straight and improved to 14-9 on the season.

The southpaw retired the first nine batters he faced with three strike outs. Bats’ centerfielder Chris Burke was the first to get on base when he singled to lead off the fourth inning, but Livingston induced three consecutive groundouts to end that frame.

The only run the Bisons would need came in the third inning. Jesus Feliciano extended his hit streak to 10 games with a soft liner into centerfield with two outs. Mike Jacobs then ripped a grounder over the first base bag and into the right field corner for a RBI-triple.

Prior to the game, the Bisons activated Elmer Dessens of the disabled list and released Travis Blackley. Dessens had missed eight games with a left hamstring strain.

Elmer Dessens pitched the ninth inning for Buffalo and recorded his third save of the season.

5/2: BUF 6, LOU 4
First place belongs to the Buffalo Bisons.

The Herd took sole possession of the top spot in the International League North division with a thrilling 6-4, 10-inning victory over the Louisville Bats on Sunday afternoon from Coca-Cola Field. Chris Carter’s two-run walk-off home run capped a dramatic comeback as Buffalo collected its fifth consecutive victory.

The last time the Herd was alone in first place was July 16, 2007 when they were 51-38.

Buffalo’s climb to the top on Sunday wasn’t easy, especially as the Bats took a 4-2 lead in the top of the 10th inning on Juan Francisco’s two-run home run. Surprisingly, it was a pair of hustle plays that got the Herd’s potent offense started.

With one out, Jason Pridie chopped a two-hopper to first base, but Louisville’s Drew Sutton hesitated for just a split second. Instead of flipping to the pitcher, Sutton went to the bag himself, but was beaten by the speedy Bisons’ centerfield.

The next batter was Bisons shortstop Andy Green. Even though he doubled in each of his two previous at-bats, Green took advantage of a winded Jon Adkins and dropped a perfect bunt single in front of the Louisville closer.

That set the stage for the big bats in the Bisons’ order. After Mike Jacobs advanced the runners over with a groundout, Mike Hessman ripped a broken-bat single off the glove of Francisco at third. Pridie scored easily and Green reached his hand over the left-foot block of catcher Wilkin Castillo to tag home plate and tie the game.

After Adkins was immediately ejected for arguing the call, Carter hit a 2-1 slider from Chad Reineke into the Heron’s Landing Party Deck for the walk-off winner.

The game was knotted at two through nine innings as the Louisville Bats plated solo runs in the second and sixth innings. Hessman got the Bisons on the board with a two-run blast in the bottom of the sixth inning.

Hessman now has eight home runs and an International League-best 28RBI.

Dillon Gee started for the Herd and made the big pitches when he needed to. The righty allowed 10 hits but only two runs as Louisville stranded 10 bases runners. He walked one and struck out five.

Gee helped himself out with his glove. With a runner on first in the fifth inning, the starter fielded a grounder from Chris Valaika behind his back before turning a 1-6-3 doubleplay.

5/3: LOU 20, BUF 7
Monday night at Coca-Cola Field was billed as the first look for Buffalo sports fans of mega-prospect Aroldis Chapman. It was, however, the Bats’ offense that stole the show.

Louisville scored more runs than any opponent ever has at the downtown home of the Bisons by plating 20 runs in a 20-7 victory over Buffalo. The Bats scored in each of the first eight innings, including a six-run fifth inning and five-run sixth.

Ironically, it was Chapman’s bat that did more damage than his 100-mph fastball. The Cuban-defector doubled in a run in the second and singled again in a four-run third inning that gave Louisville a 6-0 edge. He walked and scored a run in the fourth to help his team build a 7-0 advantage.

On the mound, Chapman topped the 100-mph mark four times in racking up eight punchouts. The Bisons, however, caught up to the speed with five runs in the bottom of the fourth inning. Omir Santos, Ruben Tejada, pitcher Adam Pettyjohn and Andy Green all had RBI-hits in the frame.

After letting the Herd get back into the game, the Bats scored nine runs over the next two frames in a record-setting performance.

Chapman got the win, but it wasn’t easy. By allowing six runs in five innings, he was touched up for twice as many earned runs than he allowed in his first four starts combined.

Chris Carter finished the game 3-3 with a walk. He scored three of Buffalo’s seven

5/4: BUF 5, LOU 4
The Bisons plated two runs in the bottom of the ninth inning -including the game-winner on a wild pitch- to storm back for their sixth win on their completed eight-game homestand with a 5-4 walk-off victory over the Louisville Bats, on Tuesday night.

The Herd used dramatics to re-capture first place in the International League North division.

After falling behind 4-3 in the top of the ninth, the Bisons came roaring back in the bottom half of the inning. Chris Carter started the rally as he hit the first pitch from Louisville closer Jon Adkins into left field. Fernando Martinez followed with a broken-bat liner into right and Ruben Tejada loaded the bases with yet another single.

Jesus Feliciano lined a pitch right off of Adkins’ glove, allowing the tying run to score. Then with Jason Pridie at the plate, Adkins uncorked a wild pitch to allow Martinez to race home with the game-winning run.

R.A. Dickey started for Buffalo and worked eight innings. He allowed two runs on six hit and struck out seven, but did not earn a decision.

After Tuesday night’s performance, Dickey has not issued a walk in 118 batters. The last time he walked a batter was in the first inning on April 19 against Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. Tuesday’s win was the Bisons third walk-off victory of the year, they had five in all of 2009.

The Bisons lost their first four-game series of the season on Sunday when they fell to the Indians, 5-4, from Victory Field. The Herd’s 4-3 victory on Saturday night was the only win the team could collect during their four-game stay in Indianapolis.

The Bisons lost 9-2 on Thursday night and 8-5 on Friday night. The only other series Buffalo has lost in 2010 was from April 12-13 when the club was swept in a two-game set by Syracuse.

The Bisons had their chances to win on Sunday. The team left a season-high 15 men on base and hit just 3-16 with runners in scoring position. Herd had runners on base in every inning. They left the bases loaded in the first inning and two men on in the second, fifth, seventh and ninth frames.

Buffalo did have a 2-1 lead in this game following a two-run triple from Josh Thole in the third inning. Thole had three hits on the day and singled home another run in the fifth inning to tie the score at three.

Indy’s Brian Myrow hit a home run off of R.A. Dickey in the bottom of the fifth to give his team the lead. The Indians then added a very important insurance run in the seventh as Neil Walker took Adam Pettyjohn deep. The extra run proved to be the game winner as Chris Carter hit his fifth home run of the season to lead off the ninth inning.

Dickey (3-2) suffered the loss as he allowed four runs (three earned) in six innings of work.

The Bisons will now travel to Louisville for a four-game series against the Bats.

BISONS NOTES:Chris Carter extended his hit streak to 10 games with a single and a home run in four at-bats. He’s the third Bisons’ hitter to reach 10 games with a hit streak…Jesus Feliciano was ejected after being struck out swinging in the second inning. However, it appeared that Feliciano was more upset with himself than the calls of the umpire…Fernando Martinez left the game in the bottom of the first inning. He appeared to hurt himself legging out a ground ball.

BUFFALO BISONS
Jason Pridie – CF
Jesus Feliciano – RF
Mike Jacobs – 1B
Mike Hessman – 3B
Fernando Martinez – LF
Russ Adams – 2B
Josh Thole – C
Ruben Tejada – SS
RA Dickey – RHP

INDIANAPOLIS INDIANS
Jose Tabata -CF
Neil Walker – 2B
Brian Myrow – 1B
Pedro Alvarez – 3B
Brandon Jones – RF
Brandon Moss – LF
Erik Kratz – C
Aregenis Diaz – SS
Jeremy Powell – RHP