
The Yard Goats celebrate after Saturday night’s 3-1 win over Harrisburg to clinch the first half title of the EL’s Northeast Division. (Photo courtesy Hartford Yard Goats)
The Hartford Yard Goats have secured their first Eastern League playoff berth since coming to Hartford in 2016.
Pitcher Connor Van Scoyoc pitched 6 2/3rd innings, struck out six and allowed just one run and three hits to help the Yard Goats beat Harrisburg, 3-1 on Saturday night in Harrisburg, Penn., and clinch the first half championship in the EL’s Northeast Division.
The Yard Goats (37-30) will play the second half winner of the Northeast Division in September or the Northeast Division team that finishes second, if the Yard Goats win the second half, too.
Van Scoyoc (5-5) retired 18 consecutive batters at one point before being lifted in the seventh inning. Hartford relievers Jaden Hill and Seth Halvorsen closed out the contest. Halvorsen pitched a scoreless ninth inning to earn his sixth save of the season.
Yanquiel Fernandez hit a solo home run, and Ryan Ritter had the go-ahead RBI single in the fifth inning.
Harrisburg (38-30), who has lost three of five games to Hartford this week, is fighting to clinch a playoff spot in the Southeast Division. The Senators have a half game lead over Erie (36-29) and need to win Sunday’s season finale to clinch a playoff spot. The first half of the season ends Sunday.
Harrisburg took an early 1-0 lead as Brady House cranked a solo home run off Van Scoyoc in the first inning. But Van Scoyoc settled down and retired 18 in a row into the seventh inning.
The Yard Goats tied the game in the fourth inning when Fernandez led off the inning with his sixth home run of the season off Harrisburg starting pitcher Michael Cuevas.
Hartford took a 2-1 lead with a two-out rally in the fifth inning. Cristopher Navarro was hit by a pitch and advanced to second on a single by Bladimir Restituyo. Ryan Ritter followed with a single to right field, scoring Navarro from second base and giving the Yard Goats the lead.
Cuevas (1-7) and his Senator teammates only gave up three hits to the Yard Goats.
Hartford added a third run on a squeeze play in the ninth inning as Yard Goats’ Ronaiker Palma got Kyle Datres home on a bunt and it was 3-1 Hartford.
Cristopher Navarro, the second baseman for the Yard Goats, made a game saving defense play in the seventh inning with the bases loaded. Harrisburg’s Israel Pineda hit a hard grounder up the middle and Navarro made a backhanded sliding stop and threw him out at first base to keep the Yard Goats ahead 2-1.
Hill and Halvorsen got the job done out of the Hartford bullpen, which has allowed just two earned runs over the last 36 innings in a span of 10 games.
Hartford concludes their six-game series with Harrisburg on Sunday at 1 p.m. at FNB Field.
It’s been 15 years since this franchise has played playoff baseball. The last team in franchise history to secure an Eastern League playoff berth was the New Britain Rock Cats in 2009 at New Britain Stadium.
Gerry deSimas, Jr., is the editor and founder of The Collinsville Press. He is an award-winning writer and has been covering sports in Connecticut and New England for more than 40 years. He was inducted into the New England High School Wrestling Hall of Fame in 2018.


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