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Atlantic League Playoff Update

September 24, 2018 - Atlantic League (AtL) News Release


Following a pair of classic division series that both went the distance, the Atlantic League Championship Series matchup is set as the Long Island Ducks will face the Sugar Land Skeeters in a best-of-five final that begins Tuesday night in Texas.

For the first time since 2014, both Division Series went to a decisive fifth game.

In the Liberty Division, Long Island dominated the first two games of its series in Central Islip, tackling the Somerset Patriots with 9-2 and 11-1 victories. The Patriots kept their season alive by winning Game Three in come-from-behind fashion, 8-4 in front of a league playoff record crowd of 8,143 fans in Bridgewater, NJ on Friday night. Tempers flared as Ducks manager Kevin Baez was ejected from that game, and pitching Coach John Brownell was tossed the following night and handed a three-game suspension after his third ejection of the season, arguing a play in a 5-3 Patriots win that forced the series to Sunday.

Somerset threatened to take the pennant late in Sunday's game as Ramon Flores doubled off the wall to lead off the bottom of the ninth, but "K-Rod" Francisco Rodriguez allowed nothing else in relief for the Ducks. That escape set up Ramon Cabrera who capped a two-out rally in the top of the tenth with a bloop RBI hit that landed in front of center fielder Justin Pacchioli who slipped on the play, bringing home the eventual winning run for Long Island.

In the Freedom Division, it was Lancaster who grabbed early control of the series with a 5-3 win in Game One last Tuesday night, despite a near ninth inning comeback including a potential Sugar Land home run that was ruled foul. Sugar Land evened the series with a 3-0 win in Game Two before the series shifted the Lone Star state for the remainder. Lancaster gained the leg up again with an 8-2 victory in Game Three, but the Skeeters nabbed a 7-2 triumph in Game Four on Saturday night to stay alive.

Game Five provided one of the all-time great playoff finishes in Atlantic League history. Lancaster built a 4-0 lead through six innings but as the game got late, Sugar Land began to chip away. Still leading 5-2 heading to the bottom of the ninth, Lancaster was three outs away from its first playoff series victory since 2014, but things unraveled on the Barnstormers in a hurry as a pair of solo home runs made it a one-run game with still only one out. The rally continued until Derek Norris tied the game with a base hit to right, forcing extra innings. After Lancaster scored in the top of the tenth to again come within three outs of the pennant, the Skeeters tied it in the bottom half on a wild pitch, and walked it off with a grand slam to left off the bat of Tony Thomas, a former teammate of Alonzo Harris in St. Paul, giving the Skeeters their third trip to the Championship Series in franchise history with a 10-6 win.

Sugar Land won its only title in 2016 when it swept Long Island, as the two clubs meet in the finals for the second time in three years.

Long Island appears in the finals for the third consecutive year, having been swept each of the last two seasons by Sugar Land in 2016 and York in 2017. Long Island is in the finals for the sixth time in eight years, and is tied with York for the second-most championships in league history with three (2004, 2012, 2013).

Revs fans and Atlantic League fans can follow the Championship Series online at AtlanticLeague.com as well as on the YouTube video broadcast feeds provided by both the Ducks and the Skeeters.


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Atlantic League Stories from September 24, 2018


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