Long Island Ducks Sweep Blue Crabs to Win Fifth Atlantic League Title
Long Island completed a perfect 6-0 postseason with a 7-2 win over Southern Maryland, sweeping the final to claim its fifth Atlantic League title.
World Baseball News Editorial Team , 2 min read 
The Long Island Ducks completed a perfect postseason by beating the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs 7-2 on Friday, September 25, to sweep the Atlantic League Championship Series and win the fifth title in franchise history.
Long Island finished the playoffs 6-0, sweeping both the Hagerstown Flying Boxcars in the North Division Championship Series and Southern Maryland in the best-of-five final. The championship is the Ducks’ first since 2019 and adds to titles won in 2004, 2012 and 2013.
Margevicius finishes the job with a complete game
Left-hander Nick Margevicius delivered the defining performance of the clincher at Fairfield Properties Ballpark. He threw all nine innings, allowing two runs on seven hits without issuing a walk. Margevicius struck out five and needed only 97 pitches, including 79 strikes.
The former major leaguer was named Championship Series MVP after improving to 2-0 in the postseason. He held Southern Maryland scoreless through seven innings and retired 10 consecutive hitters before the Blue Crabs scored twice in the eighth.
Long Island gave its starter an immediate lead. Henry Kusiak and Jorge Bonifacio hit consecutive RBI doubles in the first inning against Andrew Thurman, putting the Ducks ahead 2-0. Jacob Robson added an RBI single in the fourth, and Alsander Womack doubled home another run in the fifth.
Wilmer Difo’s solo home run in the seventh stretched the margin to 5-0. Southern Maryland briefly cut the deficit to three on Ezequiel Pagan’s two-run double in the eighth, but the Ducks answered in the bottom half. Kole Kaler drove in a run with a double before Chris Roller followed with an RBI single to restore the five-run advantage.
A dominant finish to an 80-win season
Womack finished with two doubles, one RBI and one run, while Difo collected two hits, scored twice and drove in a run. Bonifacio, the Ducks’ 2026 team MVP, also had two hits and an RBI. Every Long Island starter recorded at least one hit, and seven different players drove in a run.
The title capped a season in which Long Island led the Atlantic League with 80 regular-season wins. The Ducks went 43-20 in the second half to win the North Division and then closed the year with six consecutive playoff victories.
Long Island’s five championships are tied for the second-most in Atlantic League history. The 2026 team also became the first winner of the newly named Frank Boulton Championship Trophy, honoring the league founder and former Ducks owner.
