Long Island Ducks Top Skeeters For Atlantic League Title

The Long Island Ducks captured their fourth title in franchise history with a 8-4 win over the Sugar Land Skeeters in game five of the Atlantic League Championship Series. After being eliminated in this round of the postseason the past three years, the Ducks, under first-year manager Wally Backman, finally got over the hump.

Long Island struck first in the first inning with a bases loaded walk from Hector Sanchez to give the Flock a 1-0 advantage. Sugar Land then responded in the second with Denis Phipps’ fourth homer of the postseason to tie the game at one. From that point on though, it was all Long Island.

Deibinson Romero gave the Ducks the lead in the top of the third with a 2-run single to left to give Long Island a 3-1 lead. Hector Sanchez then extended the lead with a RBI single in the fifth and Romero followed with a sacrifice fly to extend the lead to 5-1.

After Sugar Land rallied in the bottom of the eighth to cut the lead to 6-4, Deibinson Romero stepped up the way he has all season. Facing reliever Matt West, Romero belted a 2-run homer over the left field wall that essentially put the game out of reach. Cody Mincey then fired a 1-2-3 ninth inning to complete his 5-out save to officially set off the celebration.

It was truly a historic year for the Long Island Ducks, who set a franchise record with 86 wins in the regular season, winning both the first and second half Liberty Division titles in the process. They easily disposed of the High Point Rockers in the Liberty Division Championship series, sweeping them in three games. Even though they found themselves down two games to one and on the road against a Sugar Land team that beat them last season in the championship, this squad never quit and found a way to win the final two games to capture the title. Congratulations to the Ducks players, manager Wally Backman, general manager Michael Pfaff, owner Frank Boulton, and of course Ducks fans everywhere.