WEYMOUTH, Mass. (August 9, 2022) -- A familiar team will return to the winner’s circle later this week as the Futures League champion in 2022 will be decided between the Vermont Lake Monsters and Nashua Silver Knights.
Vermont will host the first and, if necessary, third games of the best-of-three series. The opener is scheduled for 6:35 p.m. Wednesday at Centennial Field in Burlington, Vt.
The scene will shift to Historic Holman Stadium in Nashua, N.H., for Thursday’s 6 p.m. contest. If the series went the distance, the deciding game would take place back at the Lake Monsters’ home ballpark at 6:35 p.m. Friday.
Defending champion and top-seeded Vermont took down Westfield by 6-2 and 10-2 scores to ensure its return trip to the finale, while Nashua began its quest for a league-record sixth title with 11-3 and 3-0 semifinal round victories over New Britain.
After establishing a single-season league record for victories for the second straight summer with their 44-19 mark, the Lake Monsters handled a Westfield club that was making its first-ever playoff appearance. Outfielder Kyle Hoog (Northeastern) was the star Lake Monster against the Starfires, going 5-for-9 with three RBI and a run scored over the two games.
Second baseman Tommy Martin (Yale) and outfielder Jimmy Evans (Tufts) drove in two runs apiece during Vermont’s first series of this postseason. Evans was voted as the 2021 Championship MVP after hitting .381 with a double, triple, 10 RBI -- the highest total in league history in a single postseason -- and six runs scored during the Monsters’ five-game run, including the three-game title series victory over Pittsfield.
The Silver Knights continued their all-time dominance of the “second season” in cruising past New Britain, improving the franchise’s cumulative Futures League playoff record to 23-8. Second baseman Jack McDermott (Amherst) started the series with a two-homer, five-RBI performance in Monday’s dominant win before catcher Kyle DeRoma’s (WPI) solo shot proved to provide the winning run in the series clincher a night later.
Nashua received a pair of dominating pitching performances in the semifinal round. Aiven Cabral (Northeastern) set the tone with a postseason-record 12 strikeouts across six innings in the opener, while the duo of Nolan Lincoln (Eastern Connecticut State) and Will Andrews (Wake Forest) capped off the two-game series with a combined one-hit shutout.
Both of this year’s semifinal series were completed in the minimum two games for the first time since 2017, a postseason that resulted in Nashua’s fourth of five previous titles.
All three games of the 2022 Futures League Championship Series will be streamed live on fcblnetwork.com, powered by BlueFrame Technology.
For the latest Futures League news and information throughout the year, visit thefuturesleague.com and follow the league’s Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages.
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