During their recent good run, the Staten Island Yankees have shown resiliency coming back to pull games out late.

That was again the case in Thursday night’s come from behind 5-4 victory over Lowell in 11 innings seen by 2,869 at Richmond County Bank Ballpark at St. George.

It was the Baby Bombers’ fifth win in their last seven, vaulting them into a tie with the Spinners for the wildcard. Each team now has identical 24-18 records while Oneonta  (24-19) dropped a half game back with a 5-2 loss to Brooklyn last night.

Trailing by two in their last licks, the Bombers rallied to tie it off Lowell closer Felix Ventura.

After right fielder David Williams started it off with a bunt hit to third, left fielder Austin Krum reached on an E6 by Lowell shortstop Yamaico Navarro allowing the first two runners to reach base. Then first baseman Chris Raber beat out another bunt to load the bases with nobody out to set things up.

Ventura managed to get pinch hitter D.J. Hollingsworth swinging for the first out but he lost the plate against pinch hitter Ryan Wehrle, whose RBI walk sliced the deficit in half.

With one out and the bases still loaded, leadoff man Justin Snyder’s RBI groundout allowed Krum score from third and tie the game. With the winning run 90 feet away, centerfielder Taylor Holiday had a chance to end it but instead bounced out to third which forced extras.

In the 10th, Lowell threatened to go ahead against Staten Island closer Jonathan Ortiz. Yamaico Navarro ledoff with a single to center and then swiped second after Ortiz fanned Tyler Weeden. But with Navarro in scoring position, the Bomber reliever got just what he needed when David Marks lined right back to him to start a 1-6 double play to get out of it.

In the home 10th, the Bombers had two cracks to drive home Braedyn Pruitt from second but Lowell reliever Adam Blackley got Williams and pinch hitter Isaiah Howes swinging.

Ortiz got some help from catcher Jose Gil when he threw out Luis Segovia at third in the next frame to kill another Lowell opportunity.

Staten Island finally won it in the 11th thanks to a couple of more Lowell miscues.

With one out and Hollingsworth on first after beating out another bunt, Blackley threw wildly on a pickoff attempt to move the speedy outfielder into scoring position. He then uncorked a wild pitch which put the winning run 90 feet away.

After Wehrle walked to put runners on the corners, Snyder finally ended it with an infield single to second which allowed Hollingsworth to cross home plate for the walkoff run which got this series started on the right foot.

Notes: Ortiz worked two scoreless to improve to 2-0 on the season. … A big part of the comeback was the relief effort of Jason Kiley. The righthander turned in a valuable four and a third of scoreless work to pickup starter Nick Chigges (3.2 IP, 6 H, 4 ER) and allow his teammates to comeback. Kiley allowed just two hits, walking two and fanning five. … Reliever Daniel Kapala also worked a scoreless ninth before Staten Island rallied to tie it. … Pruitt continued his hot hitting by connecting for his third home run in the first, finishing 2-for-4 with a run scored. … Holiday also went yard in the sixth for his second dinger to put the Bombers within two.
A night removed from a rare 0-for, Snyder finished with three hits to hike his average back up to .375. … Another bright spot was Raber who also finished with three hits. … Each team left 10 runners on in a game which took three and a half hours. … Staten Island plays host to Lowell in the second game later tonight. They’re 3-1 so far on the six-game homestand.