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Baseball: Ex-Southold pitcher Kubiak a winner over Ducks

Bridgeport pitcher David Kubiak 090716

For one night at least, David Kubiak’s friends couldn’t be Long Island Ducks fans.

Kubiak, the starting pitcher for the Bridgeport Bluefish, had served notice with a Facebook posting two days before the game. With tongue in cheek, the former Southold High School standout wrote, “If I see you with a duck bill noise maker we are no longer friends.”

Kubiak turned in a solid performance Wednesday evening, picking up the win in a 3-2 victory over the Long Island Ducks in the first game of an Atlantic League doubleheader at Bethpage Ballpark.

With family and friends looking on and a spring in his step, Kubiak (7-4) struck out the first batter he faced and looked sharp in the six innings he pitched. The 6-foot-7, 245-pound righthander allowed six hits, struck out eight and did not issue a walk. He threw 65 of his 92 pitches for strikes.

In one of his few missteps of the evening, Kubiak fielded an Anthony Vega bunt in the fourth inning and threw the ball past first baseman Sean Burroughs. It was scored a hit and an error by Kubiak. The next batter, Fehlandt Lentini, singled, making it 1-0. Later in the inning, though, Kubiak made a nice fielding play that may have saved him a run, gloving a chopper and then charging at the runner at second base, Lentini, who was tagged out on a fielder’s choice.

The Bluefish didn’t trail for long. In the fifth, RBI doubles by Wellington Dotel and Jose Cuevas and an RBI single by Geraldo Valentin put Bridgeport ahead, 3-1.

The Ducks threatened in the sixth. After Kubiak fanned the first two batters, Delta Cleary Jr. sprayed a single, stole second base and came home when Ford dropped a double inside the leftfield line. Following a visit to the mound by Bluefish manager Luis Rodriguez and with the potential tying run on second base, Kubiak recorded a big strikeout of Cody Puckett, the last batter he faced.

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Photo caption: Former Southold High School pitcher David Kubiak allowed six hits, striking out eight over six innings for Bridgeport in a win over Long Island at Bethpage Ballpark on Wednesday evening. (Credit: Robert O’Rourk)