Long Island Ducks are quacking stronger than ever

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The  minor league baseball Ducks  run as one of Long Island’s most popular summer attractions was interrupted last year because of the coronavirus pandemic, but this year the flock is back and aims to quack louder and stronger.

A “back to fun” theme begins with a four-game home series against the Lexington Legends to open the season (May 28 to 31), the Ducks seek their fifth Atlantic League of Professional Baseball championship. In 2019, Long Island set a franchise record with 86 wins and 15 players’ contracts sold.  

The Legends are one of three new teams in the league that is now a “professional partner” with Major League Baseball, not an independent league anymore. The Gastonia HoneyHunters, from North Carolina, and the West Virginia Power, in Charleston, are the other new teams. The league includes the High Point Rockers, also in North Carolina, the Lancaster Barnstormers and York Revolution, both in Pennsylvania, and the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs. 

“We have an awful lot to be proud of in our first 20 years, becoming the first team in Atlantic League history to reach eight million fans,” said team President and General Manager Michael Pfaff, who also noted the 2019 title and the team victory record. “It just set the bar higher. Our expectations have only grown. It’s been 600 days since we last played a ballgame here and we can’t wait to get going.” When heading to the game look for the signs that now read Fairfield Properties BallPark.

Wally Backman, the former major leaguer, who played for the Mets, returns as manager. Backman became a seer two years ago, when he told Ducks owner Frank Boulton that the team would win a championship that season.

We’re going to be good, we’re going to repeat,” Backman said, noting that the season had yet to get under way and the Ducks were already losing a fourth player to MLB. “We’ve got a lot of ex-major league guys on here (the roster) and we expect to lose a lot of guys just like we did in ’19. We’ll fill those voids like we have in the past, but it’s going to be an exciting brand of baseball.”

Returning players from the 2019 squad such as Daniel Fields and new ones like Opening Day pitcher Mike Bolsinger, a right hander, will bolster a squad Backman said has “quality pitching” and is speedier. More base stealing and hit-and-run plays will be part of the Ducks’ attack. “We’ll do both,” Backman said, “you’ve seen me manage before. I like to force the defense to make mistakes. We’ll run a little bit more than in the past.”

The players are ready to get on the field. “I had to decide if I wanted to play and had the same love of the game,” Bolsinger said. He last played in 2019 in Japan. “I still love the game and want to play.”

Fields was on the field when the Ducks lost the 2018 title game to the Sugarland Skeeters and there in 2019. “It was a pretty good feeling,” he said, and looks forward to another championship season.

The Ducks will have a full slate of promotional nights and are abiding by the most up-to-date Covid protocols. For tickets and more information, go to www.liducks.com.