Ducks lose Atlantic League series to York
York Revolution outfielders Jose Herrera and Chris Walker celebrate midfield after the York Revolution defeated the Long Island Ducks, 6-3, in Game 4 to clinch the 2011 Atlantic League Championship, (Oct. 2, 2011) Credit: Chris Dunn
After posting the Atlantic League's best record, the Ducks fell two wins short of a championship.
In Game 4 of the best-of-five Atlantic League Championship series, the York Revolution clinched its second consecutive title Sunday afternoon with a 6-3 victory in front of 3,767 at York, Pa.
"I'm proud of the way they went about their work this year," Ducks manager Kevin Baez said. "Overall, we had a good season. We wanted to cap it off with a championship because we felt we could do it. York just played better."
The Ducks broke a tie at 1 in the fourth on Matt Esquivel's groundout that scored John Rodriguez from third.
Starter Mike Loree was taken out after six innings, allowing seven hits and striking out three while allowing one run.
Ducks reliever Bubbie Buzachero allowed the first two hitters to reach base in the seventh. With runners on the corners, he got Liu Rodriguez to ground into a 4-6-3 double play that scored the tying run.
With the score still tied at 2, closer Jon Hunton came on in the bottom of the eighth. He walked leadoff hitter Scott Grimes, gave up a single to Bryant Nelson and hit Ramon Castro to load the bases. Chris Nowak's single scored Grimes, then Val Majewski walked to make the score 4-2. Jeremy Hill relieved Hunton and surrendered an RBI single and sacrifice fly before the inning was through, giving the Revolution a 6-2 lead.
"Even when they tied it, I just thought it was a good opportunity to bring Hunton in," Baez said. "I figured, if we were going down, it would be with our best reliever."
In the ninth, Esquivel's two-out RBI double cut the lead to 6-3, but Freddie Thon lined out to second baseman Eric Eymann to end the season.
