For awhile it's now been, Jersey is the best team never to make the playoffs. Falling short every year despite having 2 90+ win seasons and never falling below .500. Obviously this was the year the Bags would make the playoffs, winning 97 games, claiming the Wild Card and getting that proverbial monkey off of their backs. Happy just to be in the playoffs, they quickly got down 0-2 to Toronto before the "shine" faded and they won 4 games in a row to take out Toronto. An epic inner-division 7 game series with Greenville could have gone either way and the Bags snuck by on a late 2 run HR by Perez to send fans into a frenzy and into their first ever World Series. We already knew Hendersonville, who finished off LA in 5 games, would be watching and waiting. What turned into an entertaining series, the Bags couldn't finish off the Hitmen and fell in 7 games. Regardless the season was much a success. Here is the BSA Championship breakdown.
Game 1
The first game of this series would pit former teammates and respected aces Art Ellis and Scott Hill against each other on the mound. Ellis who was Hill's teammate in Hendersonville for 4 seasons before being traded to Madison in October 2013. Both pitchers on full rest turned out to be quite the pitchers duel, which was to be expected. Vic Robertson got the crowd into the game as the #2 hitter for Hendersonville blasted a 407 foot HR into the right field bleachers to open the scoring in the bottom of the first inning. While Hill cruised the 2nd, Ellis was again in trouble when a walk to Jud Younger and a single from Victor Franco led off the inning. A K of Anastasio Lopez was the first out followed by a single from veteran Gregg Burkholder loaded the bases for Robertson again. This time Ellis got the best of him striking him out swinging on a full count for the 2nd out. Ellis would make MVP candidate Jeff Cole look silly striking him out on 3 pitches to end the threat. The pitchers would both cruise along until the Top of the 4th inning with 1 out, Mike Bryant got out in front of a Hill fastball and knocked it into Souvenir City in right field to tie the game at 1. Looking into stats, this was the first HR period Hill had given up since before the All Star break and only the 2nd HR given up to a left handed hitter in the past 2 years.
The Bags would again get to Hill in the 5th when SS Marvin Taylor would slice a double down the left field line with 2 outs. On a 2-2 count to Scott Powers, Hill would throw wide of Lopez for a wild pitch sending Taylor to 3rd and would score on the next pitch when Powers would fist a ball into right center for a Jersey lead of 2-1. From here, the pitcher's would take over. Hendersonville left the bases loaded in the 6th, and runners on first and 2nd in the 7th. Relievers both entered the game in the 8th relieving the starters and Jersey, with the help of some bad defense, broke the game open in the 9th. A one out single by CLCS MVP Alberto Perez got the ball rolling. Manny Romero hit a grounder, that should have been an inning ending double play, that gobbled up Younger at 3rd for an error leaving both runners safe. The next batter Al Ryan hit a grounder to Jeff Cole that he couldn't handle which loaded the bases for Taylor. Unlike the Hitmen, Jersey took advantage. Taylor hit a hard liner to the gap in left center that would get to the wall and bring everyone home making it a 5-1 Jersey lead. Bryant would add an RBI single later in the inning to make it 6-1 and Mungo Saenz would close out the game with a 1-2-3 inning to mark Jersey's first ever WS win and give them a 1-0 advantage in the series.
Game 2
If Jersey had any chance in this series they would have to play Hill tough, and that they did. Game 2 would get no easier with the Hitmen throwing 2014 Cy Young award winner Walter Bamber to take on the left handed Rob Goodship. One Cy Young award winner to the next. Maybe the D-Bags didn't know who Bamber was, because they sure didn't treat him like an elite starter. 3 singles and a walk to the first 4 hitters gave Jersey a 1-0 lead and the bases loaded with 1 out. A strikeout for Leon Foster would be the first out, followed by a double for Romero that brought in 2 and a single from Perez to bring in another run as Jersey batted around in the first and put up 4 runs on Bamber. But that by no means would put the Hitmen out of this one. They got 1 in the 2nd on a Younger single and broke out in the 4th. A solo HR by Jorge Cruz made it 4-2, back to back doubles by Robertson and Younger made it 4-3 and a single from the catcher Lopez tied the game at 4 as we headed to the 5th inning. The tie didn't last long as in the bottom half of the inning superstar Shumei Yokoyama would send Goodship to the showers with a tie breaking 399 foot solo HR to give the Hitmen their first lead of the game.
But you had to assume more scoring from these two juggernaut offenses. The Top of the 7th rolled around with Sergio Rodriguez and Mike Bryant hitting back to back 1 out singles before Matt Doyle flew out to put Bamber 1 out from getting out of trouble. But Foster would get revenge from the earlier K and ground a ball down the line past a diving Younger to bring home both runners and give Jersey back the lead at 6-5. Bamber would be yanked and replaced by Tommy Smith who got Romero to softly ground to the SS Franco who threw wild and allowed Foster to score to pad Jersey's lead and put Romero at 2nd. Smith couldn't get Perez to end the inning as he singled in the hole to give Jersey an 8-5 lead catcher Albert Lopez struck out. Relievers would take care of the rest of the game for Jersey as Jose Gomes, Greg Schaefer, Saenz and Daniel Morris combined to go 4 2/3 innings, giving up 1 hit, 1 walk and striking out 5 to slam the door shut on a game 2 win for Jersey. This win essentially gave the D-bags home field advantage and a commanding 2-0 lead.
Game 3
The third game of the series would be the first in Jersey as 35 year old Dan Macias would take the hill against hard throwing right hander Greg Casey. Things didn't start well for Macias. After giving up a single, he got 2 quick outs before Yokoyama singled and, quiet through the first 2 games, Manny Coprivizia lauched a 3 run HR to left to give the Hitmen an early 3-0 lead. Macias would settle in after that though. Both pitchers continued with out much trouble until the bottom of the 4th when Jersey would get a 2 out rally going. Matt Doyle would coax a 2 out walk, which tuned into trouble for Casey. The next batter Al Ryan would take a 2-1 mistake of a fastball and clobber it into the stands to bring Jersey within 1 run. Macias and Casey would go toe-to-toe giving up nothing but the occasional walk or single until the bottom of the 7th. A one out single would send Casey to the showers and was replaced by Smith. He got Taylor to fly out before walking Peter Larson. OF Jose Ortiz would single on a 3-1 count to CF to load the bases. Questions were asked after the game why catcher Lopez was not pinch run for with speedster Sergio Rodriguez on the bench because Smith would get Bryant to weakly ground out ending the inning and Bags last real threat of the game. The top of the 8th saw Macias get the first 2 outs before he got into trouble as well. A Cole double followed by back to back walks of Yoko and Cobra loaded the bases for the left handed hitting Cruz. Team manager Kevin Davis would have no more of this as he brough in left handed specialist Mungo Saenz who threw 2 curveballs and a fastball clocked at 100 MPH to get Cruz on 3 pitches.
Daniel Morris would come to pitch the 9th and this is when the Hitmen bats would wake up. A single from Franco, walk to Lopez, single from Robertson and a double from Cole would bring in 3 runs. Schaefer was brought in to stop the bleeding and was met with a Yoko 2-run HR before finally getting Cruz to end the inning, but not before 5 runs pretty much ending the game. The Bags would go down in order in the 9th, conceding the first game at Jersey to Hendersonville by a final score of 8-2.
Game 4
In a surprise move by most, Hendersonville would start Marcus Guerra in game 4 instead of going to Hill on short rest. Jersey would send two-time hero Jerry Burgess to the mound to face his old team. Teams traded 1st inning runs on a HR from Roman Guzman and an RBI triple for Mike Bryant. Jersey would wait til the 4th to blow open the game. A single from Doyle would lead off the inning and a mile high fly from Ryan would land 370 feet away giving him his 2nd HR of the series and the D-Bags a 3-1 lead, but they weren't done there. After the HR Guerra would Perez to fly out before losing control. He walked Foster-Lopez and Taylor back to back to back to load the bases for Peter Larson. The left handed hitting Larson flew a ball deep the right-center gap allowing all 3 runners to come around, extending the lead to 6-1 for the Bags. Guerra would be done before getting out of the 4th and Felipe Rodriguez would come to see and Ortiz groundout bring in Larson and Mikey "Coffin" Bryant hit a first pitch HR into the right field bleachers capping off a 7 run inning, giving the Bags a 8-1 lead.
The 5th saw the Bags capitalize on a single, hit by pitch and 2 walks to extend the lead to 9-1. Burgess would cruise into the 7th allowing only the 1st inning HR. The Hitmen lead off the inning with a double, walk and single to load the bases and get Burgess out of the game and get into the Jersey bullpen. Jose Gomes would come in and immediately get a strikeout before allowing a run scoring single from Cobra. A walk to Cole forced in the 2nd run and things looked up when he got Yoko to ground back to the mound for a force out at home and the 2nd out of the inning. That wouldn't happen because Cruz came through with a 2 out single which scored 2 more before Gomes was yanked from the game. At this point the Hitmen had made it 9-5 and a much more manageable game. Brian White was brought in and walked Robertson to load the bases once more and Hendersonville scored a 6th run when White couldn't handle a come backer from Younger resulting in an error. The inning finally ended when Cole Bradley struck out giving us a 3-run game at 9-6.
The once jovial Jersey crowd was quiet as the 8th inning got underway and a 1 out double from Guzman brought us our 3rd reliever of the night in Jaime Saenz. Back to back single from Cobra and Cole brought in a run and an RBI ground out from Yoko gave us a 1 run game. Cruz would ground out ending the Hitmen's 8th inning, but a 9-1 deficit was now 9-8. Jersey's bats in the 8th went down in order and Daniel Morris came out for the 9th. He got Robertson to ground out in 1 pitch and struck out younger in 3 pitches. Burkholder would pinch hit and single to right putting himself on as the tying run. The catcher Lopez would foul off 2 pitches before striking out swinging giving Jersey the win and a 3-1 series lead and a huge sigh of relief. Only 1 win from the BSA title, could the Bags do it? If anyone could win 3 in a row it would be the Hitmen, especially considering Hill-Bamber were going in the next 2 games.
Game 5
Game 5 should have been better. It was the last game at home for Jersey for the season. Their ace Ellis was on the mound. A win would give them a title. The game was not good. Ellis started out wild walking the first 2 batters, 1 which would come around to sore a fielder's choice. This in turn would be all Hendersonville would need. You wouldn't even think it was the same Hill we saw in Game 1, because he was dominate, and so were the Hendersonville bats. 2 runs in the 3rd and 3 more in the 5th made it 6-0. This would last til the 9th where a HR, a triple, a walk and 3 singles would add 5 more to put a exclamation point on a dominate 11-0 victory. Hill pitched 7 innings, giving up 5 hits, all singles, walking 1 and striking out 3. Ellis was charged with 6 ER on 5 hits in 4.1 IP. The surprise was he walked 7 batters, which in turn was a season high.....by a lot. Nothing good happened for Jersey. Bats were non existent and now they had to go back to Hendersonville still holding on to a 3-2 series lead.
Game 6
After an off day we headed back to Hendersonville for the pivotal Game 6. This game would bring back the Game 2 staters and pit Goodship against Bamber. Neither pitched very well in Game 2, but this game would see both these starters reverse that trend. Hendersonville, as they had done lately, would get on the board early and no surprise courtesy of their big 3. Jeff Cole walk, Yoko double and Cobra single attributed to the games first run in the bottom of the 1st inning. Not a half inning later Jersey would reply when Doyle and Foster would lead off the inning with back to back double to put Jersey in business. Perez followed up with a single to put runners on the corners with no outs. Manny Romero would ground into a double play with somehow not scoring Foster from third and a ground-out from Morrow would end the inning with amazingly only one run coming across the score.
After the score in the 2nd, both Goodship and Bamber would bore down matching zeros across the board until Bamber was pulled in the Top of the 7th throwing 104 pitches. We went to the bottom of the 7th still deadlocked at 1. A walk from younger, sacrifice bunt from Franco and a strikeout by Lopez put a runner on 2nd with 2 outs. Guzman came to the plate and belted a ball to deep center that was barely out of the reach of Foster which would have ended the inning. Instead Guzman ended up with a a triple, plating the go ahead run. End of 7, Hitmen up 2-1. Alfredo Gonzalez came in and set down the Bags in order in the 8th while Goodship came out for the 8th. A monster solo HR from Yoko would put the finishing touches on his day and give Hendersonville an insurance run as Goodship would pitch 8 innings, giving up 3 runs on 5 hits and striking out 6. Donahue gave up a leadoff single to Doyle to give the Bags some hope, but 3 straight outs would end the game and deadlock the series at 3. We would go to a game 7 for the BSA Championship for the 2nd year in a row.
Game 7
Being up 2-0 and 3-1 most Jersey fans weren't excited to see game 7, especially on the road away from their park. GM Josh Swain made the decision to go away from Dan Macias and pitch Jerry Burgess in Game 7. Would this pay off? If you like a classic pitchers duel, this game was for you. Greg Casey would start opposite Burgess who already had a Game 3 win under his belt. Both pitchers would go 1-2-3 in the first inning breezing through the top part of the orders. Jersey was the one to strike first in game 7 though. It started with a lead off walk for the young budding superstar Doyle. Casey would zone in and get Ryan and Perez both to fly out before a Jose Ortiz single put runners on 1st and 2nd. Albert Lopez who in this series played great for the injured Duran came through with a single to center which scored a sliding Doyle and put Ortiz at 3rd. Scott Powers couldn't extend the lead or keep the inning alive as he grounded out to short to end the inning.
Both pitches would avoid trouble for the next inning would the Hitmen would strike back in the bottom half of the 3rd. Back to back singles to lead off the inning from Franco and Lopez put runners at the corners with no outs and looked like a classic Hendersonville big inning. Bugess got Guzman swinging for the first out. That brought Vic Robertson to the plate. On a 0-1 count Burgess lost control of Curveball and sent it to the backstop which allowed Franco to score the tying run before Robertson would hit a screeching liner that Morrow would snag and step on 2nd base for an inning ending double play. But the damage was done and we had a tie ball game. From this point forward pitchers dominated the game. No runner reached past 2nd base through the end of the 8th inning. Burgess went 6 1/3 giving up the 1 ER while striking out 6, Gomes and Saenz would relieve him and get the Bags into the 9th inning with no damage done. Game 7 would come down to the 9th inning.
Tommy Smith would place Casey, who pitched brilliantly. A lead-off walk to Bryant would get things going. Smith would get Doyle on a huge strikeout bringing Al Ryan to plate. On the first pitch, one which Ryan took, Bryant would break for 2nd and get thrown out stealing on a bang-bang play. No one knows for sure if it was meant to be a hit and run but it erased the runner and Ryan would ground out on the next pitch to end the inning. Daniel Morris would replace Saenz, in what could be his last appearance as a Bag. Yoko would single to lead off the inning which would bring up Coprivizia. Cobra has been known for his big hits in big situations and this would be no different. He would run the count to a favorable 3-1 before lacing a double to the gap. Runners on 2nd and 3rd, no outs, tie game, bottom of the 9th, game 7, Championship on the line. Didn't look good for the Bags. Jorge Cruz was intentionally walked to load the bases setting up the force at home. It wouldn't matter. Jud Younger came to the plate to be the hero. After taking 2 quick strikes and fouling off a pitch, he took a ball high before hitting a grounder to the hole between 1st and 2nd. With the infield playing in the grounder squirted past the drawn in infield and Yoko would score and be mobbed by teammates as the crowd went wild as Hendersonville notched another walk-off win and send the Bags home empty handed.
For Hendersonville it was business as usual, winning their 4th title in 6 season and 4th title in 4 tries. For the Bags it reaching within 1 run of a championship in their first postseason experience, not to mention knocking off the CL's two best teams and coming oh-so-close to knocking off the best team in baseball. Disappointing but nothing to shake your head at.
For Hendersonville it was pitching in the last 3 games that clinched it. They managed to hold down the Jersey powerhouse offense to 2 runs in the last 3 games. Not to mention the combined Big 3 of Yoko-Cole-Cobra knocked in 18 runs in the 7 game series. In perspective the Dynamic Duo of Bryant-Doyle knocked in 17 runs between the two of them for the entire post season. Great series of ups and downs. Gm Swain denied a press conference so that's it for now. We will bring to you the season review and off season agenda here soon at the Bag Report.
GO D-BAGS
