FREDERICK, MD – Long Island and Spire City went blow for blow for the first five innings on Tuesday before a sixth inning rally put the Ducks ahead for good, as the Ghost Hounds dropped Tuesday’s series opener, 12-9.

The Ducks got four straight hits off of starter Jake Fisher, which included an RBI single by Alejandro De Aza and a two-run home run by Sam Travis. Boog Powell had also scored on a wild pitch. After one, Long Island held a 4-0 lead.

The Ghost Hounds would answer with four of their own in the second. After Starlin Castro had led off the inning with a single, the Hounds would string together four straight two out hits to plate four runs. After Luke Becker reached on an infield single, Leobaldo Cabrera doubled in Spire City’s first run of the game. Jose Marmolejos singled home two more, before Jimmy Paredes tied the game with a double.

In the third inning the Ghost Hounds would take the lead. After Craig Dedelow reached on an error and stole second base, he beat the throw home on an RBI single by Scott Kelly, which put Spire City up 5-4.

The Ducks offense would then chase Fisher in the fourth inning. A Joe DeCarlo two run home run and Ruben Tejada RBI double put them up 7-5, with Tejada’s ground rule double being the final blow to Fisher’s night.

One inning later, DeCarlo would add another two-run blast, this time off of Nate Peden to stretch the lead to 9-5.

In the bottom of the fifth, Spire City would claw back into the game, tying it with another four run frame. Dedelow doubled in a run, Cabrera doubled home two more, and Marmolejos tied the game up at nine with a single.

But the Ducks would deliver in the sixth with three runs that would prove to be the difference. Brantley Bell singled in two to put Long Island ahead, before a bases loaded sacrifice fly by Boog Powell added a twelfth run.

After starter Merandy Gonzalez left the game for the Ducks, the Hounds would manage just two hits and a walk over the final 4.1 innings of play. The Ducks pen struck out eight, with Al Alburquerque locking down his fifth save to close out the game.