NBT Bank Stadium - Syracuse Mets

Lehigh Valley IronPigs (PHI) @ Syracuse Mets (NYM)

June 13, 2024

Mets 14, IronPigs 4

W: Dom Hamel
L: Kolby Allard

HR: Ben Gamel (SYR)

Attendance: 6,502
Time of Game: 2 hours, 46 minutes

Stadium Facts

Location: Syracuse, NY
Opened: 1997
Capacity: 10,815
Level: Triple A
League: International

Since I had already made the drive to Syracuse the afternoon before, I had some time to spend in the city before the Thursday evening baseball game.  This being my first time in Syracuse, I decided to check out the Syracuse University campus.  Most of my college campus experiences have been in the flatlands of the Midwest, so I was a bit taken aback by how hilly the campus was.  Being summer, it was also very quiet.  Unfortunately, I was not able to go inside the RCA Dome, home of Syracuse football and basketball.  From the outside though, it is unlike any college sports facility I've ever seen.

I would say NBT Bank Stadium is the nicest of the three consecutive New York AAA parks I visited.  I believe it has undergone renovations in recent years since the team was purchased by the New York Mets.  But even ignoring that fact, it has the best design of the three parks.  The main concourse on the lower level provides views of the playing field throughout.  This park has as large of a true upper deck as I've seen in a minor league park, extending well down the base lines on both sides.  There is a party deck in right field and a full fledged bar just above the outfield wall in left field.  This did end my streak of visits to downtown ballparks.  NBT Bank Stadium is in the northern outskirts of the city.  There is not a lot going on in the immediate vicinity of the park.  The tradeoff though is that there is ample parking at the facility.  Syracuse has been an affiliate of a whole bunch of big league clubs over the years.  The Mets are a logical match though in Central New York, so I would imagine local interest in the team has increased since they became a Mets affiliate in 2019.  There was a nice crowd on hand for this Thursday night game.

This was a pretty wild game that switched from a solid pitchers duel controlled by Lehigh Valley to a Syracuse route in a blink of an eye.  In the end, it was an ugly game for the IronPigs as they committed three errors and multiple other defensive miscues that went down as hits, officially leading to six unearned runs.  Halfway through the game, the IronPigs had a 2-0 lead and had outhit the Mets 7-2.  It all changed in the bottom of the fifth though.  Veteran big leaguer Ben Gamel got the Mets on the board with a solo home run, surprisingly the only homer hit in this 18 run game.  Two walks and an error set up recently demoted Brett Baty who knocked in two with a single to center, giving the Mets a 3-2 lead that they would not surrender.  In fact, they scored 14 straight runs before Lehigh Valley would get on the board again.  Gamel struck again with a RBI double in the sixth.  All hell broke loose in the bottom of the eighth.  Here is the sequence of events in that frame:  single, error on third baseman (his second of the game), single, single, double (on a routine fly ball that the CF seemed to lose in the twilight), single (on a pop up to right that the RF also seemed to lose in the twilight), double play groundout, walk, single, walk, single, walk, flyout.  In total, 13 batters stepped to the plate in the inning.  7 runs were scored, only three of which were credited as earned runs.  However, if routine plays had been made, the Mets probably would have only scored 1 or 2.  The IronPigs did scratch out a couple runs in the top of the ninth to make the final score slightly less embarrassing at 14-4.  Every Mets batter who played in this game had a hit, with 17 in total.  Luisangel Acuna led the way with 4 hits and 4 RBIs from the leadoff spot.  He played center field in this game, after having played second base when I saw Syracuse a few weeks prior.  Baty played second in this game and had 3 hits and 3 RBIs.  Interesting that he was at second since most of his professional career has been at third.  Perhaps the Mets think he has a better shot of returning to the big leagues as a more versatile defensive player.

This concluded the AAA portion of my trip.  The final three games were AA Eastern League tilts, starting with a game in Binghamton, NY on Friday night.  But first, I took a detour to Cooperstown to visit the National Baseball Hall of Fame.

Photo Album

Next ballpark:  Mirabito Stadium in Binghamton, NY