STATEN ISLAND, NY – In front of a crowd of just under 2,000 people on a humid night at the Richmond County Bank Ballpark at St. George the Staten Island Yankees defeated their rival Brooklyn Cyclones to advance to the NY-Penn League Championship Finals.
After the first game of the series was postponed twice due to inclement weather the Baby Bombers beat the Baby Bums 2-0 at MCU Park in Coney Island then were blown out by an offense outburst by the Cyclones the next day, 12-5 in Staten Island and finally another pitching gem lead the Yankees to the championship series once again.
William Oliver got the start for Staten Island, the workhorse of the 2011 rotation impressed when he recorded a career high of 10 strikes outs over 6 innings walking 3 and allowing just 2 hits. He was followed by Phillip Wetherell who allowed 2 hits over 2 innings and earned the win before Brandon Pinder pitched a scoreless ninth inning for the save.
Offensively it was a light day as the Yankees only managed four hits, two of them belonging to Tyler Austin who also had the only run of the game. The only RBI belonged to first baseman Reymond Nunez.
Now with the semi-finals over the Staten Island Yankees will be traveling up to Auburn, NY for the first game of the Championship series on Monday before returning to Staten Island Tuesday night to end out the series and the season. The Baby Bombers are going for their sixth NY-Penn League Championship in their twelve year history.