Today we played the 4-1 San Diego Pirates at Maryvale Stadium (Milwaukee Brewers). The winners were going to be the number one seed, and the loser could possibly be eliminated from the playoffs.
The Braves went with Wayne Newcomb on the mound, and he struggled with his command, from the very first pitch. He could have given up and asked to be taken out, but he kept plugging away and when he needed a pitch to get out of a jam, he made it. When he needed a defensive gem behind him, Randy Craft, Dean Little, or TJ Scorsone were there. When he threw pitches in the dirt (approximately 20-25 of them), catcher Mike Labarge was there.

Meanwhile the Braves bats were thumping the Pirates pitchers for 22 hits and 11 runs. They were led by Dave Mitchell's 2 booming doubles, and also got 3-hit games from Doug O'Brey, Dean Little, and Ron Massaroni.
Scott Ross, Randy Craft, Mike Girard, and TJ Scorsone all had 2 hits each.

Wayne Newcomb worked his way into the 8th inning having only given up 4 runs entering the inning. He got a little tired and the San Diego Pirates took advantage, scoring 3 times in the frame, to close the gap to 11-7. With one out and a man on second, Doug O'Brey came on and immediately induced a grounder to short, the Braves turned the one out into two by running a pick off play at third that worked perfectly, to end the rally.

With the 11-7 victory, the Albany Braves secured the number one seed in their division of the tournament.
The playoffs start tomorrow with the Albany Braves (5-1) playing the Canadian Playboys (4-2) at 9:30 am. If and when the Braves advance to the semi-finals, the game will be played at 1:30 pm.
Keep those toes and fingers crossed!