The Lehigh Valley IronPigs used a three-run seventh inning rally to come from behind and upend the Buffalo Bisons, 4-3, in the final game of the 2010 series between the two IL North foes from Coca-Cola Park.

The Bisons jumped on top early with a two-run first inning. After a Jesus Feliciano double to lead off the game, Nick Evans drove him in on a double of his own. The next batter, Mike Cervenak, the got a base knock to send Evans home and put the Herd up 2-0.

Bisons starter Adam Pettyjohn kept the IronPigs off the board until his opposing pitcher Brian Mazone helped himself out with an RBI double in the fourth inning.

However, things fell apart for Buffalo in the bottom of the seventh frame, with newly promoted reliever Manuel Alvarez on the hill.

The big boppers of Lehigh Valley lit up the scoreboard with a three-run inning, including an RBI triple off the bat of Rich Thompson and a solo home run from John Mayberry Jr., his 15th long ball of the year. The IronPigs would go on for the 4-3 victory.

The Bisons will travel to Rochester for the final two games of the 2010 season starting tomorrow with a 7:05 p.m. start time from Frontier Field.

BISONS NOTES: With the loss the Bisons dropped to 10-6 in the season series with Lehigh Valley…Nick Evans had a big night at the plate in the loss going 2-for-4 with two runs scored and an RBI double…Sean Green threw two hitless innings of relief, including striking out three.

Buffalo Bisons
74-67, 3rd(-11.5)
LHP Adam Pettyjohn 2-4, 5.14

Lehigh Valley IronPigs
56-85, 5th(-29.5)
LHP Brian Mazone 6-13, 3.87

Saturday, September 4, 2010
Coca-Cola Park – Allentown, PA

Radio: WWKB AM 1520, bisons.com

TODAY’S GAME: Tonight, the Bisons take on the Lehigh Valley IronPigs in the second game of a two-game series from Coca-Cola Park (6:35 p.m.). The Herd is looking for the series sweep after last night’s 7-4 comeback victory. The Bisons’ three remaining games this season are on the road as the team will travel to Rochester on Sunday to face the Red Wings for a pair of games. Buffalo is 32-37 on the road this season.

vs. IRONPIGS: The Bisons have already won their season series with Lehigh Valley. Buffalo is 10-5 against the IronPigs with only one game left. That record includes a 5-2 mark at Coca-Cola Park. This is the first time Buffalo has won the season series against the three years of the IronPigs’ franchise.

COMEBACK KIDS: Last night’s victory was the Bisons’ 33rd comeback win of the season, 12 of which have come on the road. Last night’s four-run rally was the Herd’s third such comeback and first since beating Columbus 11-4 on August 5. In that game, Buffalo trailed 4-0 in the seventh inning.

BATTING RACE: The numbers are stacked against OF JESUS FELICIANO and his pursuit of an IL Batting Championship. Feliciano needs 30 plate appearances over the next three days to qualify. If he falls short, hitless at-bats can be added to his average. However, Feliciano’s .341 average in 87 games is already a point behind Gwinnett’s Barbaro Canizares (.342).

BISONS BITS: INF ZACH LUTZ hit his first Triple-A home run last night in just his second game with the Bisons. Lutz led Double-A Binghamton with 17 home runs in 61 games before his promotion…The Bisons have added INF JON MALO and RHP MANNY ALVAREZ to their roster. Both players were promoted from Double-A and both are making their third stint with the Bisons this season…C J.R. HOUSE has hit in 15 of his last 19 games with the Herd.

THE HONOR GOES TO…: On Thursday, the Bisons handed out their end of the season awards. OF LUCAS DUDA (.314, 17HR, 53RBI) was named the club’s MVP while LHP PAT MISCH (11-4, 3.23ERA, 99K) was named Most Valuable Pitcher. RHP DILLON GEE was given Comeback Player of the Year. He missed 98 games in 2009 and this year leads the IL with 165 strikeouts.

METS UPDATE: The Mets (66-69) lost to the Cubs on Friday afternoon, 7-6, from Wrigley Field. INF DAVID WRIGHT homered for the second straight game and was 3-5 with three RBI. Former Bisons INF LUIS HERNANDEZ hit his first Mets home run, as well. New York takes on the Cubs again today at 12:05 p.m.

Follow the Herd:
Listen to the Game:CLICK HERE!
Bisons Baseball Network: CLICK HERE!
Broadcast Team email: CLICK HERE!
Everything about the Herd: CLICK HERE!
Get to a Game: CLICK HERE!

All season long, the Bisons have been a comeback team. Apparently, that hasn’t changed even if there are no playoffs in the Herd’s future.

Comeback victory #33 came on Friday night at Coca-Cola Park as Buffalo rallied from four runs down to defeat the IronPigs, 7-4. All seven runs came with two outs as the Herd fought back from an early deficit the night after their post season hopes had ended.
Simply put, the 2010 Bisons are a team that will fight for all 144 games on the schedule.

Against Lehigh Valley, the Herd trailed 4-0 after five innings before the rally started with a five-run sixth inning where all of the runs scored were unearned.

Russ Adams reached base on a fielding error by second baseman Ozzie Chavez. But Adams was only at first base with two outs as the inning seemed innocent enough. Then, Kirk Nieuwenhuis drew a walk and Mike Cervenak singled to load the bases.

Buffalo followed with three consecutive walks to score runs with Zach Lutz, J.R. House and Valentino Pascucci earning free passes. Jesus Feliciano then singled home two more runs for the 5-4 advantage.

An inning later, Lutz hit his first Triple-A home run, a two-run shot with two outs, to give Buffalo the 7-4 lead.

Michael Antonini worked five innings to earn his second win of the season. Both victories have come in Coca-Cola Park against the IronPigs. Michael O’Connor struck out three in 1.1 innings of work to earn his sixth save of the season.

BISONS NOTES:Zach Lutz finished the game 2-3 with two runs scored and three RBI…Jose De La Torre struck out four batters in two innings of relief for Buffalo…The Bisons are now 10-5 against Lehigh Valley this season, the first time in three years the Herd won the season series.

Thursday night wasn’t the way the Bisons had hoped to end the home portion of the 2010 season.

A great year on and off the field in downtown Buffalo concluded on a sour note in front of 15,539 at Coca-Cola Field. The Herd lost to the Yankees, 9-2, and saw their slight playoff chances officially come to and end.

The final game was in no way indicative of the previous 71 contests played in front of minor league baseball’s best fans. The Herd had 11 walk-off victories, including four via a home run. Maybe none was more memorable than Fernando Martinez’ grand slam winner on June 14 at Lehigh Valley.

Herd fans got to see great offensive performances. Valentino Pascucci’s three-home run game, just the park’s third ever. Lucas Duda splashed onto the scene in mid June and hit home runs in a record-tying five straight games. Jesus Feliciano had 13 hits in one, four-game series against Toledo.

On the mound, it was almost perfection for R.A. Dickey on April 29 against Durham. He allowed a hit to the first batter he faced, then retired the next 27.

It was a great season at home for the Bisons, who finished the year with 42 victories at Coca-Cola Field. Along the way, more than 570,000 fans came through the turnstiles as enjoyed great events like the Independence Eve Celebration, Star Wars night and each and every fridaynightbash!

Unfortunately, the final chapter to the 2010 season will be a missed post season. The Herd was officially eliminated as the Yankees jumped out to a 7-0 lead with four runs in the third and three in the fourth against Bisons’ ace Dillon Gee. Despite the loss, Gee still finished with 13 wins on the season and Triple-A best total of 165 strikeouts.

As has been the Bisons appeal all season, the Herd fought to the final out. The team scored two runs in the bottom of the ninth, on an RBI grounder by Mike Cervenak and J.R. House’s RBI-single.

The Bisons will conclude the 2010 with four road games. The team will play Lehigh Valley for two before ending the season with two games in Rochester.

BISONS NOTES: The Bisons finished with a 42-30 record at Coca-Cola Field. It was the club’s best home record since going 43-29 during the 2006 campaign…Before the game, the team named Lucas Duda the 2010 Most Valuable Player. Pat Misch was named the team’s Most Valuable Pitcher.

Buffalo Bisons
73-66, 3rd(-10.5)
RHP Dillon Gee 13-7, 4.69

Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees
83-55, 1st
LHP Kei Igawa 2-4, 4.71

Thursday, September 2, 2010
Coca-Cola Field – Buffalo, NY

TV: Time Warner Cable -Channel 87
Radio: WWKB AM 1520, bisons.com

TODAY’S GAME: Tonight, the Bisons take on the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre Yankees in the final game of a three-game set from Coca-Cola Field (6:05 p.m.). Tonight’s game is also the Herd’s final home game of the 2010 season. Tomorrow, the Bisons leave for a season-ending four-game roadtrip with two games in Lehigh Valley and two in Rochester.

WILD RACE: The Bisons are now 4.5 games behind Louisville in the IL Wild Card race with five games to play. The Herd needs to win all five of its games and have either Louisville or Columbus lose all five of their remaining contests to get into this year’s IL playoffs.

vs. YANKS: Tonight’s games is the Bisons final match-up with Scranton/Wilkes-Barre. The Herd is 8-7 against the IL North Division champs, including a 3-4 record against the Yanks at home. In three starts against the Yankees, RHP DILLON GEE is 2-0 with a 0.00ERA and 23 strikeouts in only 18.2 innings.

HOME SWEET HOME: Tonight is the Bisons final home game of the season. The Herd is 42-29 at Coca-Cola Field, tied for the 3rd-most home wins in the International League. It’s also Buffalo’s best record at home since going 43-29 during the 2006 campaign. In 71 home games, the Bisons have hit .278 with 79 home runs and 356 runs scored (5.1 runs/game).

GOSH GOLLY: RHP DILLON GEE gets one more start to add to his impressive strikeout total. Gee has 161 punchouts on the year, 23 more than any other pitcher at the Triple-A level. Gee already has 24 more K’s than the previous season-high for a Bisons pitcher in the modern era (Vicente Palacios, 137, 1990). Overall, Gee ranks tied for 1st in the IL in starts (27), 2nd in wins (13) and 3rd in innings pitched (157.1). The Bisons are 19-8 when Gee starts.

TURN IT UP: Between Tuesday night’s game and last night’s first game, INF JUSTIN TURNER fell a triple shy of the cycle in back-to-back contests. On the season, the infielder has averaged .334 (96-287) with 21 doubles, 10 home runs and 34RBI in 73 games with Herd. Add his time with Norfolk to start the year and Turner’s .315 batting average is the 5th highest mark in the IL.

METS UPDATE: The Mets (65-68) lost to the Braves, 4-1, in Atlanta last night. OF LUCAS DUDA went 0-3 in his major league debut for New York. The Mets were held to just two hits on the night. Today, the Mets announced that they have selected the contract of C MIKE NICKEAS from the Bisons. Nickeas hit .214 (6-28) in seven games with the Herd. The Mets take on the Braves tonight at 7:10 p.m.

Follow the Herd:
Listen to the Game:CLICK HERE!
Bisons Baseball Network: CLICK HERE!
Broadcast Team email: CLICK HERE!
Everything about the Herd: CLICK HERE!
Get to a Game: CLICK HERE!