Railriders Notes: SWB sets Yankees era mark for longest time of game

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Happy birthday Lucas Carmen LoPresto!

<p>Pitching for Double-A Richmond in the San Francisco Giants organization, Coughlin product <strong>Ray Black</strong> has been getting back on track as of late tossing three straight scoreless appearances.</p><p>Over that span, the right-hander has thrown 2 1/3 innings with five strikeouts and just one walk. Going back over his last eight outings, the 25-year-old has allowed a run to score in just two of them. This coming after a disastrous stretch last month when he gave up eight runs in three appearances which added up to just two innings of work. Black&#8217;s ERA spiked to a season-high of 8.56. Since then, he&#8217;s seen his earned run average drop by nearly two runs to get under 7.00.</p><p>For the season, Black has appeared in 23 games with a 1-4 record and five saves in six chances. He&#8217;s racked up 34 strikeouts in 20 2/3 innings and walked 19.</p><p><strong>Matt Wotherspoon</strong></p><p>A right-hander in the Yankees organization pitching for Double-A Trenton, the Crestwood grad has tossed 10 2/3 scoreless frames for the Thunder since moving back to a relieving role.</p><p>The 24-year-old had just one outing last week and threw 1 1/3 scoreless frames in his first action in five days, but he didn&#8217;t show much rust allowing a pair of hits and fanning one.</p><p>Wotherspoon holds a 3.32 ERA and a 2-2 mark in 15 games this season for the RailRiders and Thunder with a 1.03 WHIP and is holding opponents to a .179 batting average.</p><p>Take out his numbers from the two starts for the Thunder in which he lost both games and gave up 13 runs in just seven innings, and Wotherspoon&#8217;s numbers are phenomenal. As just a reliever for Trenton and Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, Wotherspoon has given up just two earned runs in 33 2/3 innings for an ERA of 0.49.</p><p><strong>Mike Papi</strong></p><p>The Tunkhannock alum is starting to have a bit of trouble after his promotion to Cleveland&#8217;s Double-A Akron team.</p><p>The outfielder has just four hits in 30 at-bats for the RubberDucks since being promoted nearly two weeks ago. The 23-year-old has played in only 10 games at the level, but had gone five in a row without getting a hit before recording two hits on Thursday night.</p><p>Combine his stats over two levels with Lynchburg and Akron and Papi is batting just .218, but he&#8217;s still getting on base at an above-normal clip with a .357 on base percentage.</p><style>
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<div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/web1_Papi-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Papi </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/web1_Papi-1.jpg</photo0><caption0>Papi </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/web1_Wotherspoon-1-1-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Wotherspoon </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo1>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/web1_Wotherspoon-1-1-1.jpg</photo1><caption1>Wotherspoon </caption1><photoCredit1></photoCredit1></div><div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/web1_Black-1.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Black </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo2>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/web1_Black-1.jpg</photo2><caption2>Black </caption2><photoCredit2></photoCredit2></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By Dave Rosengrant</p><p>drosengrant@www.timesleader.com</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Dave Rosengrant at 570-991-6398 or on Twitter @tldrosengrant</p></shirttailMeta></div>

WVC grads in the minors: Ray Black regaining top form