Loree leads Ducks to Game 1 victory

Ducks starter Mike Loree pitched nothing short of a masterpiece. There were the seven scoreless innings with 10 strikeouts and one walk. There were 109 pitches, 70 for strikes. And despite seven hits allowed, only one York Revolution batter reached third base.

Bubbie Buzachero pitched a scoreless eighth and Jon Hunton earned his third save of the postseason with a 1-2-3 ninth as the Ducks defeated York, 1-0, in Game 1 of the Atlantic League Championship Series Wednesday night in front of 4,327 at Bethpage Ballpark.

And it was Loree, named the team's regular-season MVP, who saved his best outing for the brightest stage.

"Winning Game 1 and giving my team a chance to win, that was my job," Loree said. "I was happy that I was able to do that . . . this should give us some confidence going into Game 2."

The game's only run came in the top of the third, as Matt Esquivel scored on Chaminade and NYIT product Kraig Binick's RBI single. Binick's hit would be more than enough, as Loree did nothing but post zeros.

"If he didn't do what he did, we wouldn't have had a shot," Binick said.

But Loree found himself in fourth-inning trouble, courtesy of a two-on, nobody out jam. But he struck out Jose Herrera and induced fielder's choices from Salvador Paniagua and Chris Walker to end the threat.

In the seventh, he finished his night by striking out both Walker and Scott Grimes looking before jamming Bryant Nelson on a lazy pop fly to shortstop Javier Colina. A steady diet of off-speed pitches, including a sweeping slow-motion curveball, kept the Revolution batters guessing.

"Early in the game, I think I was trying to find my nerves a little bit," Loree said. "Once I settled in, I felt really good out there, and I was able to throw all of my pitches for strikes."

Revolution starter Nick Schumacher matched zeros with Loree most of the game, surrendering four hits and striking out six over eight innings. At one point, he retired 14 consecutive Ducks before Matt Padgett's eighth-inning single.

"That slider was amazing," Binick said of Schumacher.

But Loree stole the Game 1 spotlight from his counterpart, leaving his team two wins away from a championship.

"I know [York] has a good offensive team over there," Ducks manager Kevin Baez said. "But I do know that when Loree is on, you see what he can do."

Josh Banks will start Game 2, despite a shaky performance in his last outing, a Game 2 loss in the Liberty Division championship series against Southern Maryland. In that start, Banks surrendered seven hits and six runs (five earned) in 22/3 innings.