 |
 |
The 2023 Yawkey Baseball League Championship Series is set to begin on Friday 8/11. The Al Thomas A’s will be facing the Brighton Black Sox in a rematch of the past two YBL Finals. Al Thomas will be looking to win their third straight championship.
Al Thomas entered the playoffs as the #2 seed with a record of 16-7-1. In the semifinals Al Thomas faced the #3 seed East Boston Knights in best of five series.
Al Thomas would take a 1-0 series lead winning 6-4 behind a complete game by Paul Wydom. Al Thomas would easily take Game 2 winning 15-0 with a 17 hit attack that was paced by Spencer Cullen and Jake Beane who had 4 hits each. Cam Plank would add a double and a home run. Devin Perlman threw a 4 hit shutout with 12 strikeouts to secure the win. Game 3 would prove to be a battle with Al Thomas winning 1-0 in 9 innings to close out the series. Matt Rothermel threw 8 scoreless innings including 7 no hit innings to earn the win. Paul Wydom would pitch the 9th the pick up the save and send Al Thomas back to the finals.
The Black Sox entered the playoffs as the #1 seed with a record of 19-5. The Black Sox would play the #4 seed Brighton Braves who defeated the #5 McKay Club Beacons 9-5 in the 4 vs 5 wild card game.
The Black Sox would win Game 1 by a score of 8-4 with Scott Nosky picking up the win with 5 solid innings. The Braves would win a back and forth battle that saw the lead exchange twice late in the game. Trailing 4-3 in the 6th inning, the Black Sox would take the lead in the sixth on a 2 run home run by PJ Rioles. In the top of the 7th the Braves would retake the lead with a two out 2 run single by Ryan Bere. Jim McGrorry earned battling through 6 innings. Matt Donovan would come on to pick up the save with a scoreless 7th.
The Braves would take an early 1-0 lead in Game 3. Casey Williams would wiggle out of the second inning jam and settle in to pitch 4 innings to pick up the win 6-3. In Game 4, the Black Sox would take an early 2-0 lead that included a solo home run by Jared MacLeod. The Braves tied the game in the bottom of the third on a 2 run blast by Alex Klapes. The Black Sox would eventually build a 5-3 lead and hold on to win the game 5-4 with the tying and winning runs on second and third. Christian Quigley would pick up the win pitching into the sixth inning. Alex Mondro picked up his second save of the series to send the Black Sox to the finals.
Game 1 of the finals is scheduled for 8:00 PM on Friday August 11 at Brandeis.
Full schedule details can be found here
Full playoff schedule