The Somerset Patriots beat the Sugar Land Skeeters 6-5 (box) in a see-saw game that opened the Atlantic League playoffs on Tuesday night.
Somerset took an early lead thanks to Jeff Baisley‘s second inning solo home run, but Sugar Land tied the game in the third and took a 3-1 lead in the fourth thanks to Brian Burgamy‘s two-run homer.
The Patriots drew closer in the fifth thanks to an unearned run, and went ahead for good in the sixth when Burgamy’s 2008 Newark Bears team mate Cory Aldridge hit a two-run homer of his own to make it a 4-3 game.
The Patriots and Skeeters traded runs in the seventh and eighth, with Aldridge adding a second home run, and the game went to the ninth with the Patriots leading 6-5. Patriots closer Jon Hunton struck out Josh Pressley and got Burgamy to fly out with the tying run on base.
Somerset and Sugarland will play game two tonight at 7:05 p.m. central time, while Long Island will host Southern Maryland at 6:35 p.m. to open the Liberty Division series.
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