The East Boston Knights sweep their way into the Yawkey League Championship Series for the first time in team history. With a 5 to 0 victory the Knights will now face the defending champion Somerville Alibrandis on Wednesday in game 1 of a best of 7 series. After grinding out a 3 to 1 series win against the 8th seeded South End Astros the Knights faced off against a tough Revere Rockies team. The Rockies won their series against the Al Thomas A’s 3 games to 2 after trailing the A’s 2 games to 0. “Coming into this series against Revere we knew it was going to be tough” said manager Eric Bellavia. “They are a team that will fight you till the end and the A’s series is evidence of that. They are a dangerous team that has played in many post season games and knows how to win” The Knights won game 1 in Malden at Maplewood the Knights home away from East Boston Stadium behind the arm of veteran Jeff Allison 3 to 1. Allison fanned 11 Rockies and was dominant going the distance for EBK. Game 2 featured a back and forth affair as Jon Shepard came in relief of Vic Mendez to get the game 2 win 5 to 4. The Knights leading 2 to 0 most of the way gave up 3 runs in the 5th but answered quickly in the bottom of the frame with back to back to back singles by the heart of their order to load the bases with Kyle Connors capping it off with a 2 run single to take back the lead for good. In game 5 Max Ockner and Branden Eaton combined for a 5 to 0 shutout victory that propelled the Knights to their first finals appearance in their YBL history. “A complete team series win. Everyone contributed something to this series and that’s how we have been winning games all season. I am so proud of this team for all the work they have put in since last season’s heart breaking departure from the playoffs” said the Manager. The Knights pitching and defense is something worth talking about. They held the dangerous Rockies offense to 5 runs (4 earned) in the 3 game series. The Knights pitching staff struck out 25 batters while the defense turned 7 double plays to hold the Rockies at bay. Next up for the Knights is no easy task. The defending champion Somerville Alibrandis sit in the wings awaiting the Knights. Somerville has won 5 consecutive YBL titles and the Knights no doubt will give them all they can handle. The series will start Wednesday night with the Knights holding home field advantage. The series will run Wednesday, Thursday, Friday with Saturday and Sunday being off days and the remainder of the series will run Monday thru Thursday with Thursday being game 7.
CLUBHOUSE NOTES: With the sweep of Revere the Knights now sit at 30 and 6 on the season…..Jeff Allison leads all postseason pitchers with 24 strike outs in 13 innings….The Knights pitching staff leads the YBL with a 1.29 ERA…..Ferdinand became the youngest Knight to start a postseason game at the age of 20……Marty Dunlap leads the team with 11 hits and a .500 average…Wednesday night will be the first YBLCS game in Knights history…..Only 4 Knights (Eric Bellavia, Geoff Harris, Omar Ortiz and Richard Sooohoo) remain from the original Knights team from 2010, a team that was 4-28 on the season.
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