Burlington forfeits Tri-State final, Bethlehem moves on

Copyright Kevin Roberts Rep-American  8/4/23

The Bethlehem Plowboys are headed back to the Connecticut Tri-State Baseball League World Series, but they got there in unexpected fashion.

Tri-State commissioner Ed Gadomski said Wednesday that the Burlington Hunters had to forfeit the semifinal series against Bethlehem due to a team wedding and last-minute family commitments that would have left them with not enough players to field a team. Burlington hadn’t expected to make it this far into the playoffs. Gadomski said Hunter player/coach Andrew Bunger was very apologetic about the situation. “Unfortunately we have an older roster, players with wives and families. This weekend is just a perfect storm of family obligations that our guys just couldn’t miss,” Bunger said. “But we’re at peace with the ending given our regular season success and wish Bethlehem luck in the Tri-State World Series.

Second-seeded Bethlehem will play the winner of top-seeded Tri-Town and the fourth-seeded Valley Ducks in next weekend’s World Series. “We’ve run it back with the same guys and added a few pieces to help us get back to the World Series,” Plowboys coach Rich Revere said. The situation with Burlington is something Gadomski tries to avoid ahead of time. “Every year, I always ask up front, tell me what days are bad and we’ll try to work around them,” Gadomski said.

Bethlehem was swept by Tri-Town in last year’s best-of-three World Series and split the four games during the regular season. The Plowboys swept the seventh-seeded Winsted Whalers in the first round best-of-three series. If Bethlehem gets Tri-Town, it knows what it’s in for. Revere said Tri-Town is the best overall team in the league. “We think after splitting the season series with Tri-Town at two games apiece, we have as good a shot as any, but they are still without a doubt the toughest team we’ve faced in years,” Revere said. “We can’t make silly mistakes in the field. We need to play clean baseball, get into their bullpen after Miles (Scribner) and Bobby (Chatfield), and do what we do best, hit the ball. We’re the best hitting team in the league, but Tri-Town is the best team overall. We will see who comes out on top for an exciting rematch.”

If Valley pulls the upset, hitting is still the key. “They’re a very sound baseball team, they are always a threat to put up double-digit runs,” Revere said. “(Valley player/coach Tyler) Pelletier does a great job getting his guys ready.”