8/18/03
ATHLETICS FALL IN DECIDING GAME #5 OF TWILIGHT CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES; END SEASON 36-14 OVERALL

The Albany Athletics fell short of winning the Twilight League Championship when the squad dropped an 8-0 decision to Davies AC in game #5 of the championship series. Albany was down two-games-to-none, but battled back with wins on Friday night and Saturday night to knot the series and force a final deciding game.  

On Sunday night, the Athletics (36-14 overall/19-4 league) couldn't get anything going against the #3 seeded Davies scratching out only a pair of singles by Tim Egan in the entire game. Despite yielding four runs in the first, two of which were unearned, Albany starter Tim Ward was solid until the fifth inning when he gave up a two-run blast to Josh Kean.

 At the start of the series, Davies posted 7-1 and 4-0 victories over the A's, however Albany bounced back with a 6-1 win on Friday behind the fabulous pitching of right-hander Sam Greco who struck out 12 enroute to a complete game victory.

 On Saturday, Albany looked to even the series and was successful in doing so with a 9-6 win behind Angel Rodriguez's solo home run and two-run triple in the 5^th inning. Also, Dan Barbero added three singles and Tito Rivera had a pair of hits. Right-hander Gus Terry struck out 11 on his way to a complete game victory.

 Despite the outstanding run in the playoffs, Albany had lost three starting positionary players at the conclusion of the regular season, along with two pitchers one who was on the injured most the year anyway and one a top five starter.

 Infielder Mike Buchanan, pitcher Gus Terry, and outfielders Matt Phillips, John Venditte and Gautam Srivastava are current candidates for Twilight League All-Star awards.

 The Athletics finish the year with 36 wins the second most in the history of the franchise and a 19-4 league mark. The latter gave them their third straight division title in the league. In 2001, the A's posted a 40-7 record as their best franchise mark.

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