They could call the team the Albany ValleyCats, but that's not a popular city in New York these days. Instead, they're the Tri-City ValleyCats, and that's who the Batavia Muckdogs will play in the first round of the NY-Penn League playoffs.
Tuesday's first game is in the ValleyCat's home park, which is on a college campus in Troy.
Games two and three (if a third is necessary) are at Dwyer Stadium. Both games are scheduled for 7:05 p.m.
Tri-City finished the regular season with a record of 38-36 to win the Stedler Division. The Muckdogs took the Pinckney Division crown with a record of 45-29. Brooklyn comes into the playoffs with the most wins in the season with 51. The Jamestown Jammers grab the wild card spot with a record of 43-32.
The Muckdogs will come into the game fresh off a win against Auburn, beating the Doubledays 7-0 in a Sunday afternoon match-up.
Starter Nick McCully (pictured, file photo), pitched six scoreless innings, giving up six hits to move his record to 4-2.
Matt Valaika and Jon Edwards each had two RBIs on two hits. Audry Perez, Joey Bergman and Pat Biserta also had two hit games.
Nick Longmire finished the season in the top 10 in seven offensive categories: Second in runs scored with 53; seventh in hits with 76; sixth in triples with 7; fifth in homers with 9; third in RBIs with 55; fifth in total bases with 128; and eighth in slugging percentage at .483.
Jon Rodriguez finished: third in homers with 12; 10th in RBIs with 40; sixth in total bases with 122; and seventh in slugging percentage at .500.
Audry Perez finished seventh in RBIs with 47.
Victor Sanchez finished sixth in doubles with 19.
Joey Bergman finished eighth in on-base percentage at .400.
In pitching, Zach Russell had the ninth best ERA at 2.93.
Jose Rada, who was called up earlier in the season, had 10 saves while in Batavia, which was the sixth best in the league.
Justin Edwards (77 1/3) and Andrew Moss (75 1/2) were seventh and eighth, respectively, in innings pitched. Also, Edwards was fourth in strike-outs with 66, and Moss was eighth with 61.
Moss's eight wins were tied for second in the league.
"They could call the team the
"They could call the team the Albany ValleyCats, but that's not a popular city in New York these days...."
Huh?? I take it you're interjecting your own opinion here? According to my Great-Uncle who lives in that part of the state and follows the team, they're called the Tri-Valley Cats because three cities; Troy, Albany, and Schenectady call the team their own. About 30 years ago the team was based in Little Falls.
If the three cities claim the
If the three cities claim the team, that's only because that's how they market it.