Allentown Railers one win away from ACBL championship

http://blogs.mcall.com/groller/

FROM KEITH GROLLER

The Allentown Railers, in just their second year of existence, find themselves one win away from the Atlantic Collegiate Baseball League title.

The Railers defeated the Trenton Generals 8-2 in the winners bracket final on Saturday and now have two chances to get one win over North Jersey on Sunday to win the title in the season-ending, double-elimination ACBL tournament at Ridgefield Park, N.J.

The teams will play at 2 p.m. Sunday and if North Jersey wins that one, they'll play again at 6 p.m. for the title. North Jersey has bounced back for two wins after losing its first game in the tournament to Trenton, 8-7.

Allentown finished the ACBL regular season with a 27-13 record and tied for first place with. The Railers, who are managed by Dylan Dando, have won their first two games in the postseason tournament, beating Trenton 8-2 in an opening-round game on Friday night.

In the win over the Generals, Adam Davis (Hazleton HS/Delaware University) allowed two runs over seven innings for the Railers  to get the victory. Joe Forcellini had three RBIs and two hits for the Railers. Andy Brandstetter (Parkland HS/East Stroudsburg U), Jeff Birkofer andJesse Kelso also each posted two hits apiece.

An Allentown team hasn't won the ACBL title since the Allentown Wings, owned and operated by Lee Butz,  won five titles in a six-year span with the last one coming in 1983.