Long Island Ducks (4-4, 1-3) @ York Revolution (6-3, 3-1)

Sunday, October 2, 2011

Sovereign Bank Stadium:  York, PA

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REVS REPEAT!

York Revolution reign as champs in 2011, winning back-to-back Atlantic League titles!

The York Revolution realized the ending they dreamt of for their magical 2011 season, defeating the Long Island Ducks 6-3 in Game 4 of the Atlantic League Championship Series on Sunday afternoon for their second consecutive Atlantic League championship.  This time, the Revs did it at home, and celebrated with the crowd of 3,767 on hand at Sovereign Bank Stadium.  The championship came exactly one year to the day of claiming their first crown, which was won in Bridgeport on October 2, 2010.

The Revs become just the second team in league history to repeat as champions.  Only the 2008-2009 Somerset Patriots had previously won back-to-back crowns.  Incredibly, they also become only the second club in league history to win the championship after losing the series opener, bouncing back to win each of the final three games of the series.  The Revs also become only the second team in league history to win the championship after failing to win the first half, and they are the only minor league team in the state of Pennsylvania to win their league championship in 2011.

Down 2-1 in the bottom of the seventh, the Revs received a leadoff double to right-center from Vince Harrison, who went 3-for-4 with two doubles in the clincher, and finished the postseason 18-for-34 with six doubles.  Jose Herrera then bunted for a single to put runners at the corners, and Harrison scored on a double play grounder by Liubiemithz Rodriguez.

With the score tied, the Revs then erupted for four runs in the bottom of the eighth inning, claiming their third last at-bat win of the playoffs.  Scott Grimes drew a leadoff walk from Ducks closer Jon Hunton to ignite the rally.  Bryant Nelson then smashed a single into right-center, and Ramon Castro was hit by a pitch in his left hand to load the bases and was forced to leave the game on the play.  Team co-Player of the Year Chris Nowak then ripped a go-ahead RBI single to left field giving the Revs the lead for the first time in the game.  Val Majewski drew a bases loaded walk, increasing the lead to 4-2, and chasing Hunton in the process.  Herrera later stroked an RBI single to right, and Rodriguez drove a sacrifice fly to center off reliever Jeremy Hill to cap the decisive rally.

Matt DeSalvo closed it out, allowing just an unearned run on a double by Matt Esquivel.  DeSalvo retired Freddie Thon on a bloop pop up to second base with Eric Eymann making the season-ending catch, and setting off a wild celebration near the pitcher’s mound on the Sovereign Bank Stadium infield.

Revs starter Nick Schumacher came back on three days’ rest in place of scheduled starter Corey Thurman, who listened to the radio call of the final out while with his wife Angela as the couple welcomed their first child, daughter Ella who was born on Sunday afternoon.

Schumacher allowed just two runs on three hits in 6.1 innings.  He allowed two runs or fewer and worked into at least the seventh in all three of his playoff starts.  In two starts against Long Island in the Championship Series, he allowed only seven hits combined in 14.1 innings.

Michael Nix (1-0) earned the win with 1.2 scoreless innings of relief, one year to the day after earning the save in the Revs’ first championship clincher.

Hunton (0-1) suffered the loss for Long Island.

The Ducks scored the first run on an RBI double by Kennard Jones in the top of the third.

York answered when Grimes doubled up the first base line and scored on Nelson’s RBI single to center, tying the game at 1-1.

Esquivel’s RBI groundout gave Long Island the lead again in the fourth at 2-1.

The comeback victory for the Revs was their fourth in six postseason games.  It was their third comeback win in the final three innings during the playoffs.

The Revs are also the first team in York professional baseball history to win back-to-back championships.  The closest timeframe between league titles for a team from York prior to this season was 1904 and 1906.

VINCE HARRISON EARNS POSTSEASON MVP HONORS

Baseball’s a game of failure.  Fail 70% of the time and you’re still a star.  And if hitting .300 makes you a star, hitting better than .500 must make you a legend, at least in small-town Pennsylvania. It’s a game where a short memory comes in handy.  Luckily for the York Revolution, third baseman Vince Harrison has just that. 

“I’m sure I’ve won an MVP award, back in high school, maybe somewhere.  But nothing like this.  This is awesome.”

And those were the first modest words from the York Revolution third baseman upon being named the 2011 Atlantic League post-season MVP, who graciously accepted his award rather than list his personal accolades. Perhaps such an unassuming approach is the only way to succeed in a game of failure. 

Harrison’s whole family was in attendance for the clinching Game 4 on Sunday, their eyes welling with pride as they watched the Revolution dog pile on the mound from beside the dugout, and the emotion bubbled over as they embraced together in a circle after hearing the announcement of Vince’s MVP award.  It’s a family accustomed to success on the playing field; for starters Vince played SEC Football and Baseball at the University of Kentucky, and his brother Josh is only an infielder in the Majors for the Pittsburgh Pirates.  But this day was decidedly Vince’s.

Harrison went 3-for-4 with a double and a run in the series clinching victory, and by the standard he set throughout the playoffs, it was actually rather ho-hum.  In the 2011 postseason, Harrison batted an eye-popping .529 in nine games, stroking five doubles and a triple while driving in five runs and scoring three against Lancaster and Long Island, the best the Atlantic League had to offer.

When Harrison rapped his third hit, the double to lead off the seventh, most reporters immediately put his name on their playoffs MVP ballot and turned it in.  The score may still have been tied 2-2, but the feeling a big inning was brewing against the Long Island Ducks bullpen was palpable, and indeed Harrison would score two batters later for a 3-2 lead.  Three more runs ensured a 6-3 victory and a series win in four games for the Revolution. 

The significance of the accomplishment, and his own season-long contribution was not lost on Harrison, who first joined York in 2010 from the Winnipeg Goldeyes of the Northern League for the tail-end of the regular season and championship run a year ago.

“Last year was the first championship I was ever a part of, and it was a little different because I was only here a month.  But this one, to be here from April, from day one, it’s a different feeling.  Words can’t even describe, it’s a great feeling”

A season hasn’t ended without the popping of a cork for the Revolution since 2009.  Either way, it always seems difficult to grasp the fact that summer is over, and tomorrow, there is actually not a baseball game to go to.  For the die-hard fans who gathered outside of the clubhouse Sunday afternoon until the Revs herded out to give them a little beer and champagne shower of their own as the celebration spilled outside, that great feeling Vince Harrison is enjoying is certainly mutual.