Albany Athletics to Open World Series Play Thursday

After going 40-9 in 2015 and capturing the AABC North Atlantic Regional Championship, the Albany Athletics of the Albany Twilight League will open play on Thursday in the AABC National World Series at Farmingdale State College on Long Island.

They'll take on the Westchase Express out of Houston, Texas. They'll play at 10 a.m.

The A's, owner of the Twilight League's best record and a second-place finisher in the league, avenged their Twilight League title series loss to the Blue Slate Bluehawks by beating them in the regional, 4-0.

Some of the following information comes directly from information provided by the Albany Twilight League:

With a win on Thursday, the A’s advance to the second round at 4 pm Friday. With a loss, the A’s play at 10 am Friday in the loser’s bracket.

Westchase has won its Regional Tournament the last four years and makes its 4^th straight World Series appearance.  The A’s, meanwhile, make their fourth trip to the World Series. They won the series in 2012.

The A’s outlasted five other teams from Syracuse, Westchester, North Jersey and North Haledon (NJ) in the regional.  Former ValleyCat Chris Salamida was named Tournament MVP after tossing a complete game shutout and seven strikeouts in the championship. He also scored the game-winning run in the bottom of the 7th in a Round #4 game and went 2-for-8 with 4 runs and 3 RBI with the bat in 5 tournament games.

All in-game updates of the World Series games can be followed on both Facebook and on Twitter @AlbanyAthletics, as well as GameChanger where scoring of every pitch of every game will be tracked. Log into the World Series site http://smws.usapremiersports.com/.