The defending National Champions Albany Athletics will be recognized on perhaps one of the grandest scales in the world of baseball. On May 25th, the A’s will be honored for their World Series title by the National Baseball Hall of Fame between innings of the Hall of Fame Classic Game. Major League Baseball Hall of Famers will be on hand to participate in the game and be a part of the weekend celebration. Game time is 2 pm and each member is expected to be announced on the field in the 5th inning.
Albany, which captured the Twilight League title for the fourth year in a row in 2012, went 47-7 overall and 22-2 in the league and captured their first National Championship in dramatic fashion. At the AABC World Series in Port St. Lucie, Florida Dan Barbero hit a walk-off three-run homerun in the bottom of the 9th inning for a 7-5 victory over the Tampa Elite Rays.
The A’s were down 4-0 early and 5-3 heading into the final inning. Tournament MVP Ben Paniccia (9-for-19, 6 RBI, 6 runs) singled to lead off the 9th, then scored on a sac fly by Al Barbato to make it 5-4 before setting the stage for Barbero with two outs and a 2-2 count. Barbato hit a solo homer in the 8th to pull the A’s within 4-3 but Tampa added a run in the top of the 9th before the drama unfolded. Righthander Pat Landers relieved starter Chris Smith and only yielded one run and one hit in 4 innings of relief for the win.
The Athletics are the first Twilight League team and the first AABC Upper New York State team to ever capture a National title since the World Series started in 1935. The Athletics become only the 2nd team since 1977 from the North Atlantic Region to capture the National World Series and the 6th North Atlantic team since the first year of the AABC World Series.
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