East Division Championship Home Game August 3 !!!

We started with eight teams and now we’re down to four. The division semifinal round concluded on Tuesday night with a pair of upsets. While the No. 1 seeds from the East and West both advanced, both No. 2 seeds – Albany and Geneva – were eliminated by their third-seeded opponents.

Wednesday night marks the beginning of the East and West Division Championship Series. In the East, the top-seeded Amsterdam Mohawks will host the No. 3 Mohawk Valley DiamondDawgs at Shuttleworth Park, beginning at 6:35 p.m. In the West, the No. 1 Jamestown Jammers will welcome the No. 3 Elmira Pioneers to Diethrick Park for a 7:05 p.m. bout.

Here’s a look at the entire schedule for the best-of-three Division Championship Series:

East Division Championship Series
August 2: Mohawk Valley at Amsterdam – 6:35 p.m.
August 3: Amsterdam at Mohawk Valley – 6:35 p.m.
August 4: Mohawk Valley at Amsterdam – 6:35 p.m. (if necessary)

West Division Championship Series
August 2: Elmira at Jamestown – 7:05 p.m.
August 3: Jamestown at Elmira – 7:05 p.m.
August 4: Elmira at Jamestown – 7:05 p.m. (if necessary)

As a reminder, fans can follow along with live stats for every playoff game via Pointstreak.

How They Got There
Amsterdam Mohawks | East Division No. 1 | 36-12 (regular season record)

The top-seeded Mohawks doubled-up the No. 4 Saugerties Stallions at Shuttleworth Park in the first round of the postseason. Tied at 1-1, Amsterdam scored twice in the bottom of the fourth to pull ahead by two. Dustin Skelton (Mississippi State), who doubled home a run in the fourth, added to his impressive night with another RBI double in the sixth to increase Amsterdam’s advantage to 4-1. A two-run Luke Pettersen (Minnesota) single in the top of the seventh had the Stallions eyeing a comeback, but extra-base hits from Eric Rivera (Florida Atlantic) and Dan Maynard (Maryland) in the eighth allowed the Mohawks to regain their three-run cushion. Joe LaSorsa (St. John’s) earned the win on the mound, as he allowed three runs on six hits and struck out six.

Mohawk Valley DiamondDawgs | East Division No. 3 | 29-18
The host Dutchmen broke a 1-1 stalemate in the bottom of the sixth on RBI singles from Justin Childers (Ohio Dominican) and Brandt Holland (North Alabama), giving No. 2 Albany a 3-1 advantage. However, the DiamondDawgs roared from behind on a three-run bases clearing triple to leapfrog the Dutchmen and take a 4-3 lead. All-Star closer Zach Vennaro (Mount Olive) was then called from the bullpen to the eighth and ninth and hurled 2.0 shutout innings to close the contest. Olive finished 1-for-3 with three RBIs and two walks, while Alexis Monge-Rodriguez (Barry) was 2-for-5 with one RBI and one run scored in the lead-off spot for the ‘Dawgs.