The Brockport Riverbats won the NYCBL title series Saturday, Aug 9th defeating the Glens Falls Golden Eagles in ten innings 3-2.

Complete recap of game 3 (of the best of 3) is at the link below:

http://nycbl.blogspot.com/2008/08/riverbats-win-nycbl-championship.html

Below is the boxscore link:

http://www.nycbl.com/08playoffstats/gfbr0809.htm

The Brockport Riverbats and the NYCBL (New York Collegiate Baseball League) are sanctioned by Major League Baseball and is development league for professional baseball.  33 NYCBL players were taken in the June 2008 draft.   Four Riverbat alumni were taken in the 2007 Major League Baseball draft and a total of seven Riverbats are playing professional ball. The 14 team league plays a short-season 42 game schedule in 7 weeks.

The story of the year is 23 year-old Jake Dennstedt managing the Riverbats to its first NYCBL title.  Dennstedt was assistant coach with the team in 2007 and is an assistant coach at the College at Brockport.  Although very nearly the same age as many of his players Dennstedt fused the recruits into a winning championship team.  Dennstedt faced a veteran coach of over 40 years in John Mayotte who managed the Glens Falls dugout.

Below is a link to a report on John Mayotte:

http://www.glensfallsgoldeneagles.com/news/040711article.shtml

Although very early in his managing career Dennstedt always made the right calls.  He used the entire bench effectively and players responded.

Below is the link to the  report from the Glens Falls newspaper:

http://www.poststar.com/articles/2008/08/10/sports/today/13808107.txt

The teams' roster consisted of 23 players recruited from all over the US who are currently playing at the collegiate level including five players from Texas, two from the Carolinas, two from California, three from Massachusetts, three from Pennsylvannia, one from New Jersey, and seven from New York.

Special recognition goes to the pitching staff led by two year Bat veteran PJ Saporito (NJIT - NJ), Ryan O'Rourke (Merrimack - Massachusetts), Logan Hull (Texas Lutheran - TX), Jeremy Macklin (Texas Lutheran - TX), and Matt Branham (University of South Carolina - Upstate - SC). The pitching staff ERA was in the top five all season (3.10) and led playoff teams with a 2.00 ERA in seven playoff games.

All the position players delivered both on defense and offense throughout the season. Led by Jesse Bosnik (St. Bonaventure University - PA) and Ryan Nokelby (Texas Lutheran - TX) the 'Bats led the league in On Base Percentage (.372) with Billy Herman (Slippery Rock - PA) leading the league with 32 walks and Nokelby right behind him with 29 free passes.

The deciding game of the championship demonstrated the ability of Dennstedt's team to exert its will. Corey Taylor (Binghamton - Vestal, NY) got the 'Bats into the game with a two-run double in the sixth inning allowing the team to take a 2-1 lead. Tied 2-2 in the top of the 10th and very strong pitching performances by Saporito and Macklin, Jeff Abram (Binghamton - Rochester, NY) singled to start the 10th. David Ahonen ( Ithaca - Farmington, NY) advanced Abrams to second with a sacrifice bunt. Kyle Harvey (Texas Lutheran - TX) and Herman battled for consecutive walks to load the bases. After a Glens Fall pitching change Ryan Nokelby sent a sacrifice fly ball deep to left center field that easily scored Abrams for the winning run.

Congratulations to the 2008 Brockport Riverbats!!!!!! A great TEAM!!!!

Player recruiting for the 2009 season has already begun.