Magic take commanding 2-0 ALCS series lead

HUDSON LAKE- The American League Championship Series kicked off on Wednesday night as the Maple City Magic traveled to Pine Park for Games 1 and 2 against the Hudson Lake Heat. Hudson Lake took 2 out of 3 at Pine Park in their regular season matchup but things were much different this time around.

Coming off of their destruction of the Pterodactyls in the ALDS, Maple City stayed red hot winning Game 1 (26-8) and Game 2 (21-6). Things were ugly from the start as Wes Ellis and Zach Liberatore started Game 1 with back to back Home Runs. Following a John Arndt groundout, Alex Friedman and Shane Anderson went back to back as well forcing Hudson Lake to change pitchers. They used 3 different pitchers in the 1st inning while giving up a combined 10 runs.

Maple City is currently playing their best ball of the season as they have scored 20+ runs in 7 consecutive games and have outscored their opponents 104-49 in their 4 playoff victories. With all of their starters hitting over .500 in the playoffs as well as Wes Ellis batting a ridiculous .800, Maple City is poised to reach their 2nd ORWBL World Series.

Meanwhile, Hudson Lake now must wait until next week to try and make a historic ALCS comeback. Down 2-0, the odds are against Hudson Lake, but if there bats can start to show any signs of life it would be wrong to count them out. Their trio of Jared Monhaut, Bob Bushman, and Ben McDonald must play at an elite level if they are going to dig themselves out of this 2-0 deficit.

Maple City will look to clinch the American League pennant next Friday at Magic Park where Maple City is 8-0 so far this year. They played 3 of their home games at the Grassy Knoll and 3 of their home games at Rose Park during the HD Classic. Hudson Lake will need to win all 3 games on the road if they hope to reach their first World Series in franchise history.

#Magic #Heat