Yanks Top Pick Helps Staten Island Beat ‘Cats

A bit of good news, bad news for the Capital Region baseball fan on Wednesday night....

The bad news? The Tri-City ValleyCats fell in Game 1 of their New York-Penn League playoff series. The 'Cats, who have advanced to two consecutive championship series,' now need to win two games in a row to head back to the title series.

The good news? The Staten Island Yankees are the team that beat the 'Cats. The really good news? Top Yankees draft pick James Kaprielian pitched very well in the start, tossing six innings and allowing just one run on four hits. He walked nobody and had four strikeouts.

Kaprielian, the UCLA product, isn't that far off from the major leagues according to several people. He could be in the Bronx as early as next summer.

He was the ace of the Bruins' staff this year and Yankee fans should be encouraged to see him throwing well in professional ball in just his first season.

He's only thrown 11.1 innings thus far as the Yankees have monitored his workload, but it's a good sign to see him step up in the playoffs.

Game 2 is scheduled for tonight at Joe Bruno Stadium.