54 BROOKLYN MEDIA GROUP • SEPTEMBER 2 - SEPTEMBER 8, 2016 50 BROOKLYN MEDIA GROUP sports ROC 47 an absolute success! BY JIM DOLAN With a week to go in the season, the Cyclones still hover at the .500 mark (34-34). As of August 28, it appears that third place in the McNamara Division will be all theirs, while the fi rst place Hudson Valley Renegades and possibly the second place Staten Island Julio Arce fighting on his way to winning fighters where Yankees will head to Ring announce •Chris Champion; •Julio Champion; •Elijah •Keith Champion; •James Fontbonne falls to St. John’s in Brooklyn/Queens semi-BY JIM DOLAN Fontbonne’s Adrienna Boumoussa (nine points) goes up for the high scorer (20 points) Amalia Downer. In the fourth quarter, Downer baskets that would propel St. Johns to a 47-43 win over Fontbonne Brooklyn/Queens semi-finals. the post season. Down a substantial 11 games in the standings, it’s time to focus on some the positives that players have shown fans this season. Such was the case for Justin Dunn’s pitching performance in the Cyclones 6-5 August 24 loss to Mahoning BUY TICKETS QueensBeerFest.com October 15 & 16 UNLIMITED BEER TASTINGS LOCATED AT LIC FLEA & FOOD 5-25 46TH AVENUE LONG ISLAND CITY, QUEENS @ Q U E E N S B E E R F E S T and more BUY TICKETS QueensBeerFest.com It was another sold-out show for Lou Neglia’s Ring of Combat as the Tropicana Casino played host to ROC 47 in January. The atmosphere was electric and fight fans packed the venue to show support for the long running promotion and to also cheer on their favorite fighter. “I am always proud for the support we get receive from the fight fans and the community, said Neglia, Ring of Combat president. “A lot of hard work goes into each and every Ring of Combat show and when you receive that kind of support from the fans, you just can’t say “thank you” enough.” At a time when MMA promotions are battling for the number two spot (behind the UFC) or busy calling each other out, Neglia’s Ring of Combat continues to stand behind its successful formula of keeping it simple and giving the fight fans what they pay to see — great, evenly matched fights from tomorrow’s superstars. This formula was again in play for ROC 47 as five fighters have earned the right to wear ROC gold in competitive and entertaining matchups. All titles were vacated by ROC alumni who now compete in the UFC such as current UFC Middleweight champion Chris Weidman and undefeated prospect, Ryan LaFlare, to name only a couple. Neglia feels this group of newly crowned champions will also go on to compete in the UFC just like their predecessors. “This group of new Ring of Combat champions is a very talented group of fighters,” affirmed Neglia. “I have no doubt that they will be getting the call to compete in the UFC and just to make it to the big stage alone makes the ROC team and me very proud.” At ROC 47, Neglia was joined by good friends and also former Ring of Combat alumni Weidman, Frankie Edgar and Matt Serra, who all went on to become UFC champions. All three are regular attendees at Ring of Combat events as they always support the St. John’s Prep 47, Fontbonne 43 Earning a buy for the first round of this season’s CHSAA Division II Brooklyn/Queens playoffs, the first seeded Bonnies were naturally looking forward to cruising past their semi-final opponent to go straight to the championship game. After completing a strong 14-2 season for first place, the Bonnies never counted on fifth seeded (8-8) St. John’s Prep to come to the semis on fire. During Fontbonne’s two previous regular season encounters, the Bonnies had handily beaten the Red Storm twice, by 19 and 12 points respectively. Now the Bonnies were facing a re-energized team that gained a 10-8 lead in the first quarter. Although Fontbonne clawed their way to a 25-19 half time lead, the Red Storm played tougher than expected and managed to throw off the Bonnies’ offensive rhythm. Although the Bonnies held on to a 32- 28 third quarter lead, it appeared that the Red Storm was playing a more relaxed game while the Bonnies labored for each of their baskets. That relaxed game finally erupted for a stinging lead in the fourth quarter at the 5:14 minute mark when Amalia Downer drained a long three point shot for a 38-36 St. Johns lead. Downer (20 points), the Storm’s high scorer, struck like lightning twice more with a consecutive pair of three point shots to give the Red Storm a demoralizing 44-38 lead over Fontbonne with 1:32 left in the game. Still clawing to make a comeback in the last minute and a half, the Bonnies could only eke out five more points to the Red Storm’s three points for a final score of 47-43. Despite Kate Oliver’s usual strong scoring effort (17 points), the ball just wasn’t dropping as usual for the team, especially for Fontbonne’s recently hot scorer, freshman Meaghan Glynn, who scored only eight points. Besides their offensive swoon, the Bonnies entered this semi-final round without star center Kristen Sullivan who was out to a season-ending knee injury. Good for at least 10 rebounds and 10 points a game, it was evident that “Sully’s” game was sorely missing. After St. John’s “Cinderella win” over Fontbonne, the Red Storm cooled off in the CHSAA finals on Saturday March 1, when they were beaten by second seeded Bishop Kearney by the score of 55- 28. In addition to Kearney’s Varsity championship, the Tigers also brought home another championship when their underclassmen beat Fontbonne for the JV crown, 40-32. Commenting on the bitter loss to St. John’s, Fontbonne’s Head Coach Stephen Oliver stated, “We all took this loss very hard considering all the work we did this season to finish in first place with a 14-2 record.” Noting that this unexpected loss turned out to be a life lesson for him and his team, Oliver told his girls that this loss underscored the necessity to focus on issues at hand and not to be distracted by looking too far ahead. Still not out of the playoff picture, Fontbonne was awarded the number two seed for School Diocesan of top Manhattan After capturing Queens Championship, Kearney will City wide tournament one seed. Photos courtesy of Lou Neglia Lou Neglia with Matt Serra,Frankie Edgar and Chris Weidman. Valley. While being limited to only three starting innings this season due to a previous full collegiate schedule, the Mets’ 2016 fi rst round draft pick from Boston College continued to show real promise pitching three innings, striking out fi ve while giving up just one hit and a walk that prompted Cyclone Manager to say, “He threw really well with a good delivery; Dunn’s outing was outstanding tonight.” As far as hitting is concerned, the Cyclones are second to last in the New York Penn League with a team batting average of .215 just behind last place Batavia’s .209 team average. One exception to that low team average has been last season’s Mets 2015 fi rst draft pick of the second round, Desmond Lindsay, who is batting .305. Fighting off a nagging hamstring injury, Lindsay has been played cautiously since joining the team in mid season. However, it’s been the last half of the season that Lindsay has shown what he’s capable of. Commenting on Lindsay’s hitting after the August 26 Mahoning Valley game, Manager Gamboa stated, “Lindsay hit a big league double tonight. That ball got off his bat so fast. It’s good to see Des healthy and get his career going since the Mets obviously picked him fi rst in the second round. We have high hopes for him. We need to get him at bats and playing time so he can catch up to the guys that he was drafted with.” Following the Cyclones’ 2016 season slogan, “Amazin’ Starts Here,” pitcher Robert Gsellman debuted for the “Amazin’s” in a really big way last week. Gsellman, a 2013 Cyclone All Star, made his major league debut on August 23 in St. Louis to record his fi rst win in relief in the New York Mets’ 7-4 win over the Cardinals. Steadily climbing up the Mets farm system, last season Gsellman won the Mets 2015 Minor League Pitcher of the Year Award. This season, Gsellman started in Double-A Binghamton and was promoted to Triple-A Las Vegas before his call-up to help out the Mets ailing starting rotation. Pitching in relief after Jonathan Niese went down to a knee injury after just facing four batters, Gsellman showed poise on the mound during three early innings and is likely to stick in the starting rotation as the Mets need fresh young arms to make a late run for the postseason. Cyclones lock into third place as season winds down Photos by Jim Dolan Before the August 25 game against Mahoning Valley, the starting Brooklyn Cyclone lineup posed with the staff of Scaturro’s 11th Avenue Supermarket on the UFCW Local 1500 New York Grocery Workers’ Union’s Fifth Annual Brooklyn Cyclones Night. Robert Gsellman earned his first major league win debuting in relief on August 23 over the St. Louis Cardinals, becoming just the second pitcher to earn a win in his debut as a reliever since 1974. With Brooklyn in 2013, Gsellman was an All Star, going 3-3 with a 2.06 ERA in 12 starts. He was the 61st Cyclone to reach the majors.
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