2012 Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball League Championship Series
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
2012 Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball League Championship Series Amsterdam (35-12, 2-1) vs. Glens Falls (27-20, 2-0) Dates: Aug. 7 – Aug. 9 Game 1: Shuttleworth Park, Amsterdam, N.Y. (Aug. 7) Game 2: East Field, Glens Falls, N.Y. (Aug. 8) Game 3: Shuttleworth Park, Amsterdam, N.Y. (Aug. 9, if nec.) CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES SCHEDULE How They Got Here Best-of-three series format Amsterdam ran away with the PGCBL regular season championship Game 1: Glens Falls at Amsterdam, 7:05 p.m. (Aug. 7) and finished eight games ahead of second-place Glens Falls. The Game 2: Amsterdam at Glens Falls, 7:00 p.m. (Aug. 8) nationally-ranked Mohawks set franchise and league single-season Game 3: Glens Falls at Amsterdam, 7:05 p.m. (Aug. 9) records for wins (35) and a league-record for winning percentage (.745). Amsterdam outlasted rival Mohawk Valley, two games to The Series: The second annual Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball one, in the opening round of the PGCBL playoffs. Glens Falls League Championship Series will pit the nationally-ranked pocketed 27 regular season victories and a 27-20 (.574) record to Amsterdam Mohawks against the Glens Falls Golden Eagles. The finish in second place. Glens Falls clinched second with an 8-5 win Mohawks, founded in 1978, are making their second-straight over Oneonta on the final night of the regular season. The Golden appearance in the PGCBLCS and fourth finals appearance in a row. Eagles carried that momentum over into the playoffs with a two- The Golden Eagles, in their sixth-straight postseason, are looking game sweep of Newark in the opening round. for their first-ever league championship. This will be the fifth- straight postseason meeting between the two teams. Regular Season Team Leader Amsterdam Newark Season Series: Glens Falls was the only PGCBL team to accrue a BA* Zak Colby .375 Ross Kivett .401 winning record against the 35-12 Mohawks. For the second year in Hits Zak Colby 57 Ross Kivett 61 a row, Glens Falls went 5-3 against Amsterdam in the regular Home Runs Ed Charlton 7 Chase Griffin 4 season. Two games went into extra innings and six of the eight Runs Batted In Ed Charlton 30 Mike Vigliarolo 37 contests were decided by three runs or less. After dropping three Stolen Bases Evan Stephens 15 Ross Kivett 37 straight to the Eagles which included a walk-off loss at East Field, Runs Scored Zak Colby 31 Ross Kivett 41 the Mohawks swept a late-season doubleheader at Shuttleworth Ed Charlton 31 Park which included a walk-off hit in the opening game by Giuseppe Walks Zak Colby 24 Alberto Morales 29 Papaccio (Seton Hall). G. Papaccio 24 Date (Site) Result Wins C. Shepherd 7 Tayler Saucedo 4 June 8 (Glens Falls) Glens Falls 11-8 ERA** C. Shepherd 1.31 Ryan Peterson 5.04 June 22 (Amsterdam) Glens Falls 8-6 Strikeouts C. Shepherd 50 Tayler Saucedo 45 July 6 (Amsterdam) Amsterdam 12-2 Rocky McCord 50 July 13 (Amsterdam) Glens Falls 4-3 (10) * - Minimum 132 plate appearances July 16 (Glens Falls) Glens Falls 7-6 ** - Minimum 1.0 innings pitched per team game July 21 (Glens Falls) Glens Falls 12-4 July 27 (Amsterdam-1) Amsterdam 7-6 (11) Playoffs July 27 (Amsterdam-2) Amsterdam 3-2 Team Leader Amsterdam Newark BA Matt MacDowell .500 Casey Rodrigue .571 Zak Colby (Faulkner) was Amsterdam’s top hitter against Glens Hits Zak Colby 4 Casey Rodrigue 4 Falls during the regular season with a .370 batting average, 10 hits Buddy Putnam 4 and six runs scored. Josh Nethaway (UAlbany) swatted two home Home Runs Zak Colby 1 Casey Rodrigue 1 runs and drove in seven altogether for the Mohawks. On the mound, Josh Nethaway 1 Alberto Morales 1 Chandler Shepherd (Kentucky) went 2-0 against Glens Falls with a Kevin Meyers 1 1.29 ERA. League batting champ Ross Kivett (Kansas State) was a Runs Batted In Matt MacDowell 4 Casey Rodrigue r thorn in the Amsterdam side. He batted .636 against Amsterdam Josh Nethaway 4 with 14 hits, two home runs, seven RBI and nine runs scored. Stolen bases Zak Colby 1 Casey Rodrigue 1 Keaton Flint 1 Head Coaches – Amsterdam: Keith Griffin Runs Scored Zak Colby 4 Casey Rodrigue 3 Keith Griffin is in his fourth season as the manager of the Mohawks Alberto Morales 3 and he is just two wins away from his third summer baseball Walks Zak Colby 5 Alberto Morales championship. His Mohawks have advanced to the league finals in Wins C. Shepherd 1 Neil Fryer 1 each year he has been with the team. Griffin has won over 130 Mark Leiter Jr. 1 Jordan Keysor 1 games as the Amsterdam skipper and that includes more than 100 ERA* C. Shepherd 0.00 Neil Fryer 0.00 regular season victories in four years. He has a 15-2 mark in the Mark Leiter Jr. 0.00 Jordan Keysor 0.00 postseason. Griffin is the Mohawks’ franchise wins leader. The Strikeouts Mark Leiter Jr. 13 Neil Fryer 8 Amsterdam skipper is the first head coach in team history to spend *Minimum 1.0 innings pitched per team game four seasons at the helm. Over the last four years, he has collected two league championships, three division titles and four playoff championship round appearances. Outside of the PGCBL, the Alabama native has collegiate head coaching experience from Okaloosa-Walton C.C. and Jefferson Davis C.C. Griffin’s JDCC team won the 1998 NJCAA Division II national title. Head Coaches – Glens Falls: John Mayotte Man Down: Both Amsterdam and Glens Falls head into the John Mayotte is the only head coach in the nine-year history of the Championship Series missing several key parts. Amsterdam head Glens Falls Golden Eagles. The veteran manager has won over coach Keith Griffin lost six starters as the year went along including 1300 games in his illustrious coaching career; more than 200 of Evan Stephens (Wake Forest), Chase Green (SIU Edwardsville), those wins have come at the helm of the Golden Eagles. He has Jeff Boehm (Kentucky), Nathan Gomez (Marshall), Demarcus guided the team to seven playoff appearances in nine seasons and Henderson (Miss. State) and Thomas Bernal (Kentucky). The 2012 will be the third time the team has played for a league Mohawks are also without starting pitchers Rocky McCord (Auburn), championship. The Golden Eagles have had just two losing Matt Pirro (Wake Forest) and Matt Gage (Siena). Glens Falls has seasons in nine years and they have not missed the playoffs since spent the last two weeks without PGCBL batting champion Ross 2006. Mayotte’s teams have garnered four 30-win seasons. He was Kivett (Kansas State). Overall, Glens Falls has lost 12 players named the NYCBL’s Coach of the Year in 2007. At the collegiate including starting pitcher Brandon Magallones (Northwestern) and level he was the head coach at both Eckerd (Fla.) and Troy State. closer Jared Cheek (Ga. Southern). He has also coached in the Cape Cod League. “Leiting” The Way: Amsterdam’s Mark Leiter Jr. (NJIT) is the lone It’s you, again?! Amsterdam and Glens Falls are fairly familiar with returning player for the Mohawks to compete in last year’s playoffs. one another. This will be the fifth playoff series between the two Leiter earned the victory in Game 1 of the 2011 PGCBLCS at teams in the last five years and the sixth in nine seasons. Read Newark. Earlier this season, Leiter recorded his 100th strikeout as a more about the all-time series on the next page. Mohawk. He is the PGCBL’s all-time strikeout leader. Monday, Leiter pitched Amsterdam into the 2012 PGCBLCS. He tied a career Amsterdam:Titletown: Amsterdam is attempting to win its’ sixth high with 13 strikeouts in a complete game two-hitter against summer collegiate baseball championship. The Mohawks won Mohawk Valley. Leiter finished his Amsterdam career with a 2-0 summer league crowns in 1988, 2003, 2004, 2009 and 2010. postseason record and nine overall victories. Overall, Amsterdam is making its’ 18th trip to the postseason and 11th in the last 12 seasons. While the Tribe fell in the league finals Hey, Is He Related To That Guy? Short answer, yes. Amsterdam’s to Newark last year, Amsterdam is 15-2 in the league playoffs under Mark Leiter Jr. (NJIT) is the son of former Major League Baseball Keith Griffin and that includes a 15-game winning streak. pitcher Mark Leiter. The elder Leiter was a fourth-round pick of the Amsterdam’s five summer baseball titles lead all PGCBL teams; the Baltimore Orioles in 1983 and went on to an 11-year Major League next closest to Amsterdam is Oneonta with two. Four of the five career that included stops with eight different clubs. Mark’s uncle, titles have been won since the team moved to Shuttleworth Park. Al, won two World Series championships with the Toronto Blue Jays (1993) and the Florida Marlins (1997). Al Leiter spent 19 years in Streak Snapped: Heading into the first ever PGCBLCS last year, the Major Leagues after being a second-round pick of the New York the Mohawks had won 14 playoff games in a row and had not lost a Yankees in 1984. Al currently works for the YES Network. postseason tilt since 2008 to Glens Falls. Amsterdam opened the finals with a win at Newark. However, it was the Pilots that won both Nethaway Getting His Chance: Josh Nethaway (UAlbany) is in his ends of a doubleheader at Shuttleworth Park the following night to second season with the Mohawks.