The Connecticut Tigers needed a victory over Lowell or a Vermont loss on Sunday afternoon to extend their season and couldn't get either.

The Tigers lost 6-5 in 16 innings, the victims of a wild pitch. Vermont, meanwhile, trailed 5-0 before coming back to beat the Tri-City Valley Cats 11-7 and eventually claim the New York-Penn League's Stedler Division and a berth into the league's playoffs.

Connecticut finished the season 39-35, as did Vermont, but the Lake Monsters finished 6-3 against the Tigers during head-to-head meetings this season, earning the tiebreaker. It was Vermont's first championship since 1996.

In the top of the 16th inning at Dodd Stadium, Lowell's Keury De La Cruz led off with a ball hit into left field that was misjudged by Tyler Collins for a two-base error. De La Cruz reached third on a sacrifice bunt and scored the winning run on a wild pitch by Nick Avila.

Tigers starting pitcher Brennan Smith had a streak of 34.2 scoreless innings snapped in the fifth inning, when Lowell took a 1-0 lead, and the Spinners made it 2-0 in the seventh. Lowell then broke the game open with three runs in the eighth off reliever Jeff Barfield to make it 5-0.

The Tigers forced extra innings by scoring once in the eighth and four times in the bottom of the ninth. Dean Green had a two-run double in the ninth, Green scored on a wild pitch to pull the Tigers within 5-4 and Jeff Holm singled in Aaron Westlake with the tying run.

Matt Perry finished 3-for-5 with an RBI for Connecticut, while Green was 2-for-4 with the double and two RBI.

- Day Staff Reports