Oneonta scored seven times in the eighth inning Monday en route to an 11-4 New York-Penn League victory at Tri-City as the Tigers pulled within four games of the Stedler Division leaders.

The ValleyCats (40-26), who drew 3,942 fans, started the eighth with three consecutive errors. Jeffrey Kunkel reached on a throwing error by shortstop Jhon Florentino before Casper Wells was inserted as a pinch-runner. Ryan Strieby then made it to first on a throwing error by pitcher Kyle DeYoung, and both runners advanced on an errant pickoff throw by catcher Max Sapp.

Louis Ott followed with a two-run triple to right field off DeYoung, who relieved at the start of the eighth, to snap a 4-4 tie. De[an error occurred while processing this directive]Young then yielded a walk to Brandon Timm, an RBI double to Deik Scram and RBI singles to Scott Sizemore and Ronnie Bourquin as the O-Tigers (36-29) took a 9-4 lead.

Cory Lapinski relieved DeYoung, who failed to get an out, and allowed RBI singles to Brennan Boesch and Wells for the final margin. DeYoung gave up seven runs — four earned — and four hits in his outing.

O-Tigers reliever Randor Bierd improved to 3-0 this season after allowing one hit and striking out two in 1 1-3 scoreless innings.

Sizemore paced Oneonta offensively with three hits, two runs and two RBIs. Scram went 2-for-5 with three runs and an RBI, helping the Tigers to finish with 14 hits.

Bourquin (three RBIs), Santo De Leon and Jeff Kunkel contributed two hits apiece for the Tigers, who hold a one-game lead on the Aberdeen Ironbirds (35-30) for the NY-Penn’s wild-card playoff spot.

Aberdeen leaped the Brooklyn Cyclones (34-29) for second place in the McNamara Division with a 2-1 victory over Hudson Valley on Monday. Brooklyn fell, 1-0, to division-leader Staten Island.

The Daily Star Weekly Photo GalleriesView and purchase local sports photos from The Daily Star

The O-Tigers host Tri-City at 7 p.m. today at Damaschke Field.

O-TIGERS 11, VALLEYCATS 4

ONEONTA (36-29) TRI-CITY (40-26)

ab r h bi ab r h bi

Timm lf 3 1 0 0 Rosales lf 5 0 2 2

Scram cf 5 3 2 1 Buchanan 2b 4 0 1 0

Sizemore ss 5 2 3 2 Taylor 1b 4 1 1 0

Tucker ss 0 0 0 0 Parraz rf 4 0 1 0

Bourquin 3b 4 1 2 3 Sapp c 3 0 0 0

DeLeon 1b 5 1 2 0 Johnson 3b 4 0 0 0

Boesch rf 5 0 1 1 Torres dh 1 2 1 0

Kunkel c 4 0 2 1 Florentino ss 4 1 1 0

Wells pr 1 1 1 0 Moresi cf 4 0 1 1

Skelton c 0 0 0 0

Strieby dh 4 1 0 0

Ott 2b 5 1 1 2

Totals 41 11 14 10 Totals 33 4 8 3

Oneonta Tigers 010 020 170 — 11

Tri-City ValleyCats 002 011 000 — 4

E — Kunkel, Below, Sapp 2, Johnson, Florentino, DeYoung. 2B — De Leon, Scram, Torres. 3B — Ott. LOB — O 10; T 6. SB — Torres. CS — Timm. DP — O 2; T 1.

Oneonta IP H R ER BB SO

Below 5 2-3 7 4 3 2 5

Bierd W,3-0 1 1-3 1 0 0 0 2

Gagnier 2 0 0 0 2 1

Tri-City IP H R ER BB SO

Qualben 6 6 3 3 3 6

Polanco 1 2 1 0 1 2

DeYoung L,1-3 0 4 7 4 1 0

Lapinski 1 2 0 0 0 1

Stiver 1 0 0 0 1 0

Pickoffs — Qualben (Timm at first).

HBP — Bourquin (by Qualben).

T — 2:58. A — 3,942.

Blue, 23, went 1-for-4 as the left fielder for Double-A Erie on Saturday, when the Seawolves fell, 7-4, to the Binghamton Mets at NYSEG Stadium.

Police said Blue was arrested at 4:35 a.m. Sunday — about 6½ hours after Saturday’s game ended — following a confrontation with a cab driver. Blue and some teammates were attempting to return to their hotel rooms at the Best Western in Johnson City but were told to exit the cab. Blue then pulled the keys out of the ignition and threw them into a street sewer.

Police said Blue, a Houston resident, was released on $250 bail around noon Sunday and received an appearance ticket for petit larceny. He is scheduled to answer the misdemeanor charge in Binghamton court at 9 a.m. Sept. 5.

Blue, who is 6-foot-2 and weighs 180 pounds, is batting .227 for the Seawolves. He batted .288 (67-for-233) with eight triples during his only season with the O-Tigers in 2003.

Lefty Connolly, also a former Oneonta Tigers player, struck out two and fell to 3-4 as an Eastern League pitcher this season. Connolly’s ERA is 6.14.