ONEONTA _ The Oneonta Tigers should consider spotting teams a 1-0 lead on a regular basis.
The O-Tigers fell behind after the top of the first inning for the third straight night, then rallied for a 7-5 New York-Penn League victory over Brooklyn in front of 516 fans at Damaschke Field on Friday.
The O-Tigers (16-14) completed a three-game sweep of the Cyclones (13-17) that gave them the top spot in the Stedler Division. Vermont entered Friday tied for first with Oneonta at 15-14, but rain canceled the Lake Monsters' three-game-series finale against visiting Williamsport.
Vermont, which trails Oneonta by a half-game, starts a three-game set at Damaschke Field at 7 p.m. Saturday.
"This is a big series," Oneonta manager Ryan Newman said of the next three games. "I know it's still early, but we want to take care of our division as much as we can, so it's a big series coming up."
Brooklyn opened the scoring Friday when Kirk Nieuwenhuis homered with one out in the top of the first.
The Cyclones' lead lasted all of two outs as Ben Guez started Oneonta's at-bats with a homer over the left-center field wall on a 1-1 pitch from Scott Shaw.
"I just got a fastball," Guez said. "It was a good pitch to hit. I'm fortunate I got it and I put a good swing on it. ... I think the ball was carrying a little more today than it does usually."
Chris White followed with a single up the middle and moved to second on a balk by Shaw. Mike Gosse then singled to right, giving the Tigers runners at the corners.
Shaw struck out Bryan Pounds before walking Carlos Ramirez and Joe Bowen, the latter with the bases loaded as Oneonta took a 2-1 lead.
After striking out Luis Arlet, Shaw threw a 2-1 fastball up and in on Josh Workman. He drove the pitch into the top of the right-center field wall, missing a grand slam by about two vertical feet. Workman ended up with a three-run triple as Oneonta went ahead, 5-1.
"I just stayed on it and drove it," Workman said. "I thought I might have (homered). I kind of lost it out there. I couldn't tell where it hit. I didn't see the ball, so I thought it was out (of the park)."
Workman's triple chased Shaw. Matias Carrillo got out of the inning when Brent Wyatt grounded out to short, but the reliever gave up two runs in the second.
Guez led off with a ground-rule double that hit about five feet in front of the right-center wall and bounced over. White followed with an RBI single up the middle to make it 6-1.
"That's been our mentality this series," White said. "We're just trying, when we get down, to come back full force and not don't give them a chance to get back in the game."
Gosse then grounded into a 4-6-3 double play, but Pounds sparked another rally with a single to right. Ramirez then floated a single to left that caromed off left fielder Darren Clark. Pounds scored on the error, which allowed Ramirez to reach second.
The Cyclones made it close with a run in the fifth, another in the sixth and two in the eighth.
"We came out swinging the bats," said Newman, whose team had nine hits. "We rolled off some runs in the first two innings. It was nice to see our offense come alive a little bit. Luckily, we were able to hold that lead."
Mark Sorensen (1-2) pitched five innings to earn the victory. He allowed two runs on five hits, striking out two and walking two. Tyler Conn gave up one run in one inning and Daniel DeLucia yielded two runs in 1 2/3 innings before Anthony Shawler got the last Brooklyn out of the eighth.
Tyler Stohr worked the ninth for his league-leading ninth save. He allowed one hit, striking out two and walking one.
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P.J. Harmer can be reached at pharmer@thedailystar.com or 607-432-1000, ext. 229.
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O-Tigers 7, Cyclones 5
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