The Rockland Boulders, Pomona, NY’s professional independent baseball team, have secured a hard earned spot in the Can-Am League Championship Series for the first time.
The championship will be a best-of-seven series against the New Jersey Jackals, according to Boulders spokesperson Christian Heimall. The first game will take place tonight at Yogi Berra Stadium in Monclair, NJ. After two games, the teams will come back to Provident Bank Park in Pomona for two home games (if necessary, the fifth game would also be in Pomona, with any subsequent games back in Monclair).
The Boulders were established in 2011, becoming the second Hudson Valley-based team (the first being the Renegades). Since then, the Boulders have become a hometown favorite for the Hudson Valley. Despite having strong ties to the community—the team holds a kids club and baseball camps for youths—the Boulders’ players come from all over the world, stretching from New York to South Korea. A few players are from New York State, but none of them hail from the Hudson Valley.
There were some other newsworthy events this season to go along with the history making playoff win. In July, outfielder Jerod Edmondson broke the all time Can-Am record for career hits according to the Rockland County Times. In August, outfielder Antone DeJesus was named Can-Am Defensive Player of the year and was named to the All-Star team, joining his teammates Edmondson and outfielder Ryan Stovall.
The games this weekend are planning for a big crowd, selling discounted tickets in hopes to fill all 4750 seats in the stadium. Free t-shirts and fireworks will also be part of the festivities.
The team has had a 56-40 season and their counterparts the Jackals had a 55-41 season, hopefully making the playoffs into a exciting end to a wonderfully surprising season.
