AMSTERDAM – The Jamestown Jammers, forced to play all but one playoff game on the road, defeated the Amsterdam Mohawks 8-6 to win the franchise’s first Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball League championship 2 games to 1.
Manager Anthony Barone spoke with WNYNewsNow within minutes of winning the title. He said he was proud of the effort and said winning on the road was anything but easy.
“I’m just so happy for our guys, the organization, for the city of Jamestown,’ Barone said. “To win a championship in this league is a very difficult thing and our boys really just exemplified how to be a champion in this whole process.”
Asked how he keeps fielding winning teams with a new roster each year, said it’s expected.
“It’s just the expectation, you know when you put a Jammers uniform on you’ve got to play the right way, do things the right way in the community and be a champion on and off the field,” he said.
Winning the title is tough enough, but winning a title with all three games 6 hours away from their home field was even harder.
Barone said it “was a lot more difficult than people could imagine but our boys made a really neat story out of it.”
Amsterdam used the long ball often and early, but it was late comeback heroics once again for the Jammers.
The Mohawks rolled out to an early 5-0 lead with three home runs, one each from Joe Genord, Justin Foscue (back to back) and one in the third inning from Michael Ludwig.
Sterling Hayes had the early answer with a three-run crusher that cut the lead to 5-3.
The two teams traded runs in the fourth.
Jamestown took the lead with a 3-run seventh inning and an insurance run in the eighth inning to boost the title.
Winning pitcher of both game one and game three was Ryan Boyer from Pitt-Bradford. He was named the series most outstanding player.
WNYNewsNow will have more details on this breaking story as they become available.
