NALB - 2024 League 1 Series

K. Fields
2024-09-24T13:49:53-04:00
Baseball

2024 League 1 Series - Luisville Beasts (86-76) vs. Brooklyn Knights (108-54)

Game 1: Brooklyn 14, Luisville 3
Game 2: Brooklyn 5, Luisville 0
Game 3: Brooklyn 3, Luisville 0
Game 4: Luisville 3, Brooklyn 1
Game 5: Brooklyn 13, Luisville 4

It came down to the last day of the season for the Luisville Beasts to clinch their division for the eighth straight year. They battled the Otters and Firecats over the course of a hard fought season. The Brooklyn Knights won 108 games on their way to the League 1 Series. Last year, they lost the World Championship Series in the 11th inning of a heartbreaking game seven. For them, 2024 is all about redemption in a quest for their first championship since 2018.

Game one featured two of the league's best starting pitchers. Luisville's Whitney Sanders (13-12, 3.78 ERA) faced Brooklyn's Tony Tamayo (15-8, 2.76 ERA). Tamayo looked comfortable at home, striking out seven over a solid five innings. It was the Knights' offense that made the difference, however. Brooklyn had 16 hits and scored 14 runs. The highlight was eight runs in the eighth inning, which led to a crushing 14-3 win in the opener.

Luisville's starter, Paco Rivera (13-13, 5.09 ERA), struggled and was pulled in the third inning of game two. The Brooklyn Knights got a strong performance from pitcher Marcos Delgadillo (10-10, 3.55 ERA), who stymied the visiting Luisville Beasts en route to a 5-0 win. The Beasts could never get a bead on Delgadillo, who threw 6.1 innings of shutout ball.

If the Beasts hoped to turn things around in Luisville for game three, they were disappointed. The Beasts' Ton Tsuruta (12-9, 3.22 ERA) pitched a fine game. However, the Knights stifled the Beasts by a score of 3-0. Knights' lefty Dan Courtlandt (16-6, 3.63 ERA) had a strong performance. He threw 7.0 innings of shutout ball.

After getting shutout in back to back and down 3-0 in the series, every game was a must win for the Luisville Beasts. With their backs to the wall, they responded in game four. It was a pitcher's duel between Luisville's Fernando Villazana (5-4, 2.65 ERA) and Brooklyn's Aaron Patterson (10-9, 3.74 ERA). Villazana spent most of the season as a relief pitcher but showed he can deliver the goods as a starter. He looked sharp over 6.1 innings and led his team to a 3-1 victory.

Game five was the last game in Luisville. The starters were Sanders and Tamayo as in game one. If there was any home field advantage, you wouldn't know it by the play of the Beasts. The Knights hitters were on fire, scoring in four of the first six innings. Brooklyn's power was on display as Nick Koche and Toshiro Kakkuta homered, while Don Hartz homered twice. The Beasts put up a bit of a fight late in the game but lost convincingly, 13-4.

The Knights looked every bit the series favorite. It was a disappointing series for the Luisville Beasts, however. They were outscored 36 to 10 and committed 8 errors.

Knights' designated hitter Blas Ramos was chosen as the series MVP. He put up a .385 average with a .520 on-base percentage, scored 3 runs, and had 4 RBIs.