Vermont Shutout In Deciding Game Three
BURLINGTON, VT — Garret Garbinski, the FCBL’s ERA league-leader during the regular-season, tossed seven scoreless innings and combined with reliever Thomas Harding to retire the final 17 Lake Monsters as the New Britain Bees claimed their first-ever Futures League Post-Season Championship with an 11-0 victory over Vermont in the third-and-deciding game in front of 2,750 on Delta Dental Diamond at Centennial Field Sunday afternoon.
Garbinski, who went 4-0 with a 1.37 ERA during the regular-season, gave up just a single in the first, double to Travis Stroh (CVU/Dayton) in the second and a one-out single to Thomas Moss (Trinity TX) for Vermont’s final baserunner of the game in the fourth. He walked two and had seven strikeouts, while Harding had two strikeouts in his two innings.Â
Owen Rich was the hitting star of the game, finishing 5-for-5 with four runs, three doubles and three RBI. He doubled and scored the game’s first run in the second, while adding a two-run double as part of a five-run fourth for a 6-0 Bees lead. Tim Hennig added a solo homer, his second of the series, in the fifth for a 7-0 advantage.Â
Vermont’s best offensive chance came in the bottom of the first inning when Tyler Wiltsey (Rutgers) walked with one out and Jake Lopez (Indianapolis) followed with a single thru the left side that advanced Wiltsey to third and Lopez to second on the throw. But the umpires got together and ruled that the ball had hit Wiltsey in the leg, making the play dead with Wiltsey called out and Lopez back to first base.Â
Isaac Jensen (Endicott), making his first start of the season, allowed six runs (four earned) on four hits with three walks and two strikeouts over the first three innings, while reliever Brady Lane (Brandeis) one run (Hennig homer) on three hits over four innings for the Monsters.Â
Vermont, which finished the regular-season with a league-best 42-15-1 record, is now 1-3 in its four Futures League championship series appearances over its six FCBL seasons.