NALB - 2025 League 2 Series

K. Fields
2025-09-14T14:04:36-04:00
Baseball

2025 League 2 Series - Stade Maples (90-72) vs St. James Crusaders (95-67)

Game 1: Stade 2, St. James 0
Game 2: Stade 6, St. James 1
Game 3: St. James 6, Stade 0
Game 4: Stade 3, St. James 2
Game 5: Stade 4, St. James 2

The Stade Maples of 2024 were truly a cinderella team. With only 80 regular season wins, they were an unlikely division winner. After losing the opening game of the 2024 League 2 Series to the St. James Crusaders, they won four straight games to advance and eventually win the World Championship Series. They returned to the League 2 Series this year with a stronger team anchored by tremendous pitching and fielding. Once again, their opponent was the St. James Crusaders. As they did last year, the Crusaders won 95 games thanks to great offense and defense. They have many strengths and few weaknesses. Along with home field advantage, they came in as the favorites.

The opening game starters were Stade's Renato Balcazar (14-7, 2.08 ERA) and St. James' Eddie Rodríguez (13-7, 2.70 ERA). It was a classic pitchers' duel. The deciding moment came in the top of the eighth. Jamie Nieto blasted a pinch hit two-run homer to give the Maples a 2-0 win.

Game two featured starters Yusuf O'Croly (10-3, 1.58 ERA) for the Maples and Bobby Kirkup (12-6, 2.93 ERA) for the Crusaders. Kirkup struggled while O'Croly shined. Although not known for their hitting, Stade's batters pounded Kirkup for six runs in 4.1 innings on way to a 6-1 win.

The Crusaders came to play in game three. With Gutierre Jiménez (3-6, 2.14) getting the start, St. James looked like a different team. The Maples' starter, Braulio Crame (12-10, 2.78 ERA) didn't stand a chance. The Crusaders got hit after hit, 16 in all. St. James won 6-0 but the score could have been even more lopsided.

For game four, the St. James started Ángel Martínez (4-11, 2.52 ERA). Stade started Alex Mobley (10-6, 2.99 ERA). Both pitchers lasted six innings and gave up two runs. The bullpens were effective and the game went into extra innings. In the bottom of the 12th inning, the Crusaders had 37-year old veteran reliever Joe Farrell on the mound. Jordan Blanchard hit a walk-off solo home run to give the Maples a 3-2 victory.

With a 3-1 series lead, the Stade Maples had a chance to close things out at home in game five. That is exactly what they did. The starting pitching was a rematch of game one—Rodriguez vs. Balcazar. Both pitchers were sharp again. After six innings, the score was tied 1-1. It was a battle of the bullpens the rest of the way and the Maples had the edge. They took a 2-1 lead in the seventh inning only to see the Crusaders come back to tie it 2-2 in the eighth. Stade came through in the bottom of the eighth, however. Kurt Johnson was hit by a pitch and Mead Ward doubled. Aluino Zúñiga's single provided the clutch hit that scored two runs. Stade prevailed 4-2.

Although the St. James Crusaders had the deeper and more well-rounded team, they could not solve the Stade Maples. The Crusaders were 8-15 against the Maples in the regular season and 1-4 against them in the playoffs.

"This isn't the big one, but of course we need to get through this before we can win a World Championship, so it's an important step," said Stade's Justyn MacLugash as he took a break from celebrating. "Our guys are happy and excited to be moving on."

MacLugash was named series MVP, as he hit .357. He had 2 home runs, drove in 4 RBI and scored 3 runs.