Brick City Boxing

NEWARK, NJ-The North Division Champion Newark Bears will take on the South Division Champion Somerset Patriots in the best-of-five Atlantic League Championship Series. The Patriots will host the first two games at Commerce Bank Ballpark beginning on Friday night before the series shifts to Newark for Game Three and, if necessary, Games Four and Five. All five games in the series will begin at 7:05 PM.

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Game Three at Bears & Eagles Riverfront Stadium will be on Sunday, September 23rd. Game Four would be on Monday, September 24th and Game Five on Tuesday, September 25th. Gates will open at 6:05 PM for all three games at The Den. Fans who attended Game One of the Divisional Series at Bears & Eagles Riverfront Stadium may present their ticket stub from that game at the ticket window and receive admission to any Championship Series games played at The Den.

To advance to the Championship Series, the Bears defeated the Long Island Ducks two games to none. Game One at The Den saw the Bears win 5-4 on a long home run by third baseman Corey Smith in the bottom of the eighth inning. In Game Two, the Bears jumped out to a 3-0 lead and held on for the 3-2 win. The Patriots outlasted the Camden Riversharks two games to one for the South Division Championship. After losing Game One at home in 10 innings, Somerset rallied to win Game Two, 3-2 in 11 innings, and then pounded the Riversharks 13-4 to wrap up the series.

The Bears, who have won 13 of their last 15 games, finished the 2007 regular season with a 72-54 record, going 36-27 in both halves. Somerset had a stellar second half going 40-23 to finish with an overall record of 75-51.

The Bears went 10-8 in the 18 head-to-head contests with the Patriots this season. The Bears won six of the nine games at Bridgewater and Somerset went 5-4 at The Den. The Bears, who led the Atlantic League with a .302 team batting average, hit .288 against the Patriots with Smith and first baseman Victor Rodriguez leading the way, hitting .348 and .338 respectively.

2007 Atlantic League Championship Series Schedule

Game 1: Friday, September 21-Newark at Somerset, 7:05 PM

Game 2: Saturday, September 22-Newark at Somerset, 7:05 PM

Game 3: Sunday, September 23-Somerset at Newark, 7:05 PM

*Game 4: Monday, September 24-Somerset at Newark, 7:05 PM

*Game 5: Tuesday, September 25-Somerset at Newark, 7:05 PM

* If necessary.