STATEN ISLAND, NY- Stop them if you can. Lately, nobody has been able to to deny the suddenly resurgent Baby Bombers on their six-game homestand. They’ve been getting great pitching and cashing in on opponents’ mistakes.

Once again, Pat McMahon’s ballclub took care of business taking advantage of four errors in a 10-1 drubbing of Mahoney Valley before a pleased crowd of 4,055 at Richmond County Bank Ball Park by the Ferry Terminal Thursday night.

“We’re working at it. We still got a long way to go and obviously the guys battled good today. They’re figuring some things out and getting in a routine. The effort’s been good all year. We just got to get better every day,” the pleased first-year Staten Island skipper explained in the winner’s dugout.

“Anytime at this level that teams give you four outs an inning or plus, you got to be able to score multiple runs and we were very fortunate our side we had two four run innings. … Offensively our guys are figuring it out. … Collectively, we’re swinging a little bit better. There’s still some areas we got to get better in. Some guys collectively but we’ll keep working at it. The guys are a great group to be around. Their work ethic has been outstanding.”

The hard work paid off as the Staten Island Yankees executed well in the fourth off losing Mahoning Valley reliever Anillins Martinez (0-1) pushing across the game’s first two runs. The first three batters reached via a couple of walks and a Jack Rye seeing eye bloop single which landed between short and left loading the bases. Right fielder Dan Brewer got in the first run by moving the runners over on a productive RBI 4-3 forceout. A batter later, backstop Mitch Abeita’s sac fly plated third baseman Mike Lyon for the two-run lead.

They held that lead also due to some solid pressure pitching from starter Luke Greinke. Despite running into a couple of early jams, the younger brother of Royals’ ace Zach Greinke persevered. A Lyon error put the first two Scrappers on in the second but the righty fanned the next couple swinging and then got defensive help from center fielder Melky Mesa, who for the second time in three nights nailed a runner at the plate to end an inning.

With the game still scoreless, some more D allowed him to escape a first and third one out situation. Lonnie Chisenhall’s bouncer resulted in a wild 5-2-5-3-1 putout at home for the second out. But a Greinke walk loaded the bases. He got out of it by getting Brock Simpson to bounce back for a more conventional 1-3 putout to end the threat.

“He threw amazing,” pointed out Abeita of the 22 year-old Orlando native out of Auburn who cameback to retire six of the final seven he faced falling just short of qualifying for his first win while striking out six.

 ”He had some times where he could’ve gone the other way but he battled really hard through some tough situations. Calls not going our way.”

Following Brad Rulon (1-0) coming on to record the final out of the Scrappers’ fifth, the Bombers saw their opponents botch routine plays committing three of four errors leading to four runs. Staten Island first baseman Jahdiel Santamaria reached to start the fateful inning on an E5 by Jeremie Tice. He then was caught stealing but during the rundown, he made second due to a throwing error by Lonnie Chisenhall.

A couple of batters later with runners on the corners and one away, DH Brian Baisley’s grounder to short was booted by Chisenhall allowing Santamaria to score making it 3-0. Following a short single by Wednesday’s walkoff hero Lyon, a Rye sac fly put them up four. Brewer and Abeita followed with clutch two out hits padding the lead to six.

“Whenever we take advantage of teams’ mistakes, we really gain momentum. It really helps us to move forward and score runs,” Abeita noted after finishing a productive 2-for-3 with three knocked in including a two out double.

“They gave us a lot of opportunities the last two days. Errors and walks. It’s good to capitalize on their mistakes,” Baisley added while noting they’ve been a different team since sweeping a doubleheader from Aberdeen Monday which began the turnaround. “Ever since then, we’ve been swinging better. … Now finally we’re putting seven, eight, nine, ten runs…It’s good. Hitting’s contagious. One guy starts hitting. It’s funny how it gets done.”

The Bombers put the contest out of reach with another four runs during the home seventh adding another definition to the term seventh inning stretch. They greeted Mahoning’s Michael McGuire by having the first five batters reach on four singles and a walk. Consecutive base hits by Rye, Brewer and Abeita increased the lead to 9-0.

Brewer scored the 10th and final run on a Santamaria RBI fielder’s choice giving plenty of support to a staff which all but shutdown the Scrappers holding them to a run on five hits while K-ing 10 including the final batter of the night when closer Pat Venditte got Juan Valdes looking.

“It’s really big. Especially in the first two innings. … I think they had second and third one inning with no one out. And all of a sudden they come out of there with no runs and we’re like, ‘Alright. Now we can get some runs. It was good to have the pitching,” Lyon remarked after reaching base four of five times scoring three runs.

“We deserve to be in first place. Hopefully, we continue to streak for the rest of the year.” 

Notes: Baisley, Rye, Brewer and Abeita each had two hits finishing a very productive 8-for-14 scoring four runs while driving in eight of Staten Island’s 10 runs. … Lyon has hit in all five wins during the streak batting a scorching .588 (10-for-17) with a game-winning homer, four RBI’s and six runs scored. … Rulon went an inning and a third allowing no runs, a hit, a walk while striking out one for his first win of the season. … Dan Kapala went two innings giving up the only run on a hit and walk with a K. … Venditte did issue two walks but cameback to strikeout the last two keeping his perfect ERA intact. … The game took three hours and two minutes. … In his pro debut, MV’s Eric Berger worked three scoreless permitting just a hit and walk while fanning three. … First place Staten Island (10-7) goes for a perfect six-game homestand later tonight against the Scrappers.