Game 1 thoughts

The Patriots were held to three hits Tuesday in their Atlantic League South Division Championship Series first game 4-1 extra-innings loss to the Camden Riversharks.
The unstoppable offense that averaged nearly seven runs per game in its first 15 September games was nowhere to be found against Matt Beech.
Baseball and Sports Associates, the player procurement company that handles baseball operations for four teams, was a real winner Tuesday. BASA has taken a lot of heat this season and only one of its four teams made the playoffs, not the strongest defense it could make.
But BASA's late-season additions to the Riversharks made all the difference Tuesday.
Beech allowed one run and two hits in eight innings, carrying a no-hitter into the sixth.
Closer Lou Pote earned the victory with two scoreless innings.
Infielder Brett Metheny had a pinch-hit single in the three-run 10th-inning rally.
All three of them were acquired by BASA for the Riversharks in the last week of the regular season.
It all leaves the three-time champion Patriots on the verge of being eliminated from the playoffs for the first time since 2000.
The Patriots won the winner-take-all Game 3 of the 2005 South Division Championship Series and won two games facing elimination in the 2003 Atlantic League Championship Series.
Still, it's not a comfortable spot to manager Sparky Lyle. Here is what he had to say about losing Game 1 -- four hours losing it.

"It's so important. If you lose this game, your back is really against the wall. There aren't any two ways about it."

"In the playoffs in the big leagues, I always thought it was better when the series were seven games. Five games weren't enough."

"If you lose the first game, you're chances (of winning the series) are pretty bad."

"Even champions lose once in a while, but to be here, I'm very proud of these guys."