The Binghamton Rumble Ponies defeated the Somerset Patriots, 2-0, Thursday night, securing a berth in the Eastern League Championship for the first time since 2014.

In preparation for the potential clincher, Binghamton’s lineup featured three of the organization’s top minor-league bats. Backstop Kevin Parada was given the night off as he deals with a sore leg from a hit by pitch. The trio of Luisangel Acuña, Jett Williams, and Drew Gilbert combined for a 2-for-10 line with a walk.

Steven Wojtowicz-MMO

As advertised, the game started off as a pitching duel as Mets’ right-hander Dominic Hamel faced off against Patriots’ workhorse Richard Fitts. After Fitts kicked off his outing by striking out Acuña, Williams, and Gilbert, Hamel responded with his own scoreless first.

For the first two innings, an Immovable Force (Binghamton’s Lineup) met an Unstoppable Object (Richard Fitts). The Immovable Force eventually won out; Luisangel Acuna‘s sac fly put the first run on the board for the Ponies in third. As good as Fitts pitched for the first four frames, Hamel matched basically him pitch-for-pitch.

Hamel’s mid-90s fastball stymied the Patriots through the first two times through the order. Despite its middling velocity, the steepness of the pitch gave the Patriots fits. The flatness of his fastball is an attribute that drove New York to select him in the third round of the 2021 draft. His sweeper and change-up were mixed in effectively, while an occasional curveball threw Somerset hitters off-balance.

Hamel ran into trouble in the sixth, allowing a leadoff double to Mickey Gasper. After retiring Jeisson Rosario on a fly-out, the righty then walked Trey Sweeney to put two ducks on the pond for Ben Rice and Spencer Jones, Somerset’s top two hitters. On an up-and-away offering, Rice popped up to Williams, and the following hitter, Jones lofted a fly-out into right-center field that a sprinting Gilbert was able to grab.

His start was a continuation of a second-half dominance for the 2021 draftee. Coming into his outing, the right-hander pitched to a 1.98 ERA since August 1st, compared to a 4.77 ERA beforehand. The nearly three runs of difference in ERA can be attributed to Hamel’s improvement in limiting extra bases. Before August 1st, opponents slugged .398 off of the right-hander; it’s been a .308 mark since.

Steven Wojtowicz-MMO

After a quiet seventh, Hamel returned to the rubber in the eighth, sitting on 78 pitches. After a lead-off single from Caleb Durbin, skipper Reid Brignac instructed his fireman Paul Gervase to start getting loose in the pen. Durbin attempted to steal second on Gasper’s strike three and, after a brief rundown, was only called safe after Acuña committed defensive obstruction trying to tag him out.

Hamel induced a ground-out from the following batter, Grant Richardson, his final of the night. In arguably his biggest start as a Met, Hamel shone, shoving over 7 2/3 efficient frames, allowing a measly five baserunners. Hamel received loud applause from the crowd upon leaving, not only from the contingent of Ponies fans alongside the third-base line, but from the entire stadium.

The Sally All-Star Gervase relieved the right-hander with two out and while Trey Sweeney hit it hard, his ground-out was right at Williams at short. Gervase kept the ball for the ninth. Despite rally towels and Somerset chats flailing through the night, Gervase and mid-90s heat settled down, ringing up Agustin Ramirez for the final out.

With their victory, Binghamton will now advance to the best-of-three championship series, which starts Sunday. The franchise has won the chip three times, most recently in 2014. They will play the Erie SeaWolves, who swept the Lakeland Flying Squirrels 2-0.