The
PGCBL regular season came to a close last night after perhaps the
most riveting regular season game in the league’s history.
Entering
the final day of the season, the Albany Dutchmen and the Glens Falls
Golden Eagles were tied in the race for the final playoff spot in the
league’s East Division. As fate would have it, the two clubs played
a double-header against each other last night, finishing off a game
that had been suspended on July 7.
With
Albany holding the tie-breaker (head-to-head record), Glens Falls
would need to take both games to stay alive. The Golden Eagles—who
held a 4-0 lead when the game resumed—took the first game by a
score of 9-4. In the second game, the two clubs went back-and-forth
before finding themselves in a 5-5 tie as the game went into extra
innings.
Rick
Morales, in his first appearance for the club, gave the Dutchmen six
shutout innings out of the bullpen. Glens Falls held off Albany until
the top of the 16th inning, when Chris Suseck’s
RBI-single pushed the Dutchmen to the victory and the postseason
berth.
Albany
has played 35 innings over the past two days, and won’t get a
second to rest. On Thursday night, the Dutchmen will travel to Mohawk
Valley for the initial round of the Divisional Playoffs. It’s
another do-or-die situation; the loser will be eliminated and the
winner will move on to a best-of-three set against the Amsterdam
Mohawks.
In
the West Division, the Elmira Pioneers will take on the Newark
Pilots, and the winner will play a best-of-three series against the
Watertown Rams.
Outside
of the playoff picture, Utica Brewers infielder Michael Pierson made
some PGCBL history of his own. Pierson did not play in the Brewers’
final game of the season, meaning that his .404 batting average could
not be affected. Pierson is the first player in PGCBL history to hit
over .400 over an entire season. (Evan Stephens hit .440 for
Amsterdam in 2012, but over just 84 at-bats.)