Charleston Statesmen (99-63) vs. Crystal Lake Sandgnats (103-59)

  VS.  

August 8: Game 1 @ Gnat Field – Charleston wins 1-0 (box score / game log)

August 9: Game 2 @ Gnat Field – Charleston wins 2-0 (box score / game log)

August 10: Game 3 @ Moultrie Park – Crystal Lake wins 6-1 (box score / game log)

August 11: Game 4 @ Moultrie Park – Crystal Lake wins 8-5 (box score / game log)

August 12: Game 5 @ Moultrie Park  – Charleston wins 4-3 (14 innings) (box score / game log)

August 13: Game 6 @ Gnat Field – Crystal Lake wins 11-0 (box score / game log)

August 14: Game 7 @ Gnat Field  – Charleston wins 4-3 (box score / game log) 

Charleston vs. Crystal Lake – CST wins 4-3

Game recaps can be viewed by clicking the “Read more…” link below.

Game 1: A crowd of 34,472 raucous Sandgnats fans packed Gnat Field on a chilly October Sunday evening in anticipation of the team’s second trip to the Planetary Extreme Championship.  They came draped in green and gold garb, though in many cases these displays of hometown patriotism were covered up by blankets intended to take the sting off the bitterly cold winds circling through the stadium.  Their opponents, the Charleston Statesmen, were making their very first appearance on the PEBA’s grandest stage.  On the mound, José Cruz entered the 2010 PEBA playoffs with 55 1/3^rd playoff innings under his belt, dwarfing the paltry 8 innings of previous playoff experience possessed by Charleston ace Víctor “Alibi” Matos.

Experience favored the Sandgnats, and yet the story of this game was written before a Gnat batter even got to take a hack.  After a double play ball off the bat of Jeffery Graham – who appeared in the 2008 PEC with Crystal Lake – ended the threat from Vicente Bernal’s leadoff walk, Jeff “Cajun” Wilson strode to the plate.  Cajun entered the playoffs as a postseason bust, collecting just 9 hits in 55 previous October at bats (good for a .164 AVG).  He’s been doing everything possible to shed that label during these playoffs, however, going 10-33 (.303) with 2 HR entering the PEC.  On the first pitch he saw from Cruz – a 91 MPH fastball that caught too much of the plate – Cajun cracked a hard liner that barely cleared the right field wall for a solo home run.  The fans were briefly silenced but quickly regained their voice when Cruz recovered to strike out Yong-zhan Hu.  They had no way of knowing that, just three batters into the game, their team’s fate was sealed.

It was sealed because “Alibi” Matos and the Statesmen would play the “bend but don’t break” game all night long, frustrating Gnats fans with tantalizing scoring opportunities that would never come to fruition.  Despite getting the leadoff man on base in five innings – including four straight from the 4^th to the 7^th – Crystal Lake just could not find that one hit they needed to get off the schneid.

Crystal Lake’s first missed opportunity came in the bottom of the 2^nd when Eduardo “Pappy” Molina was erased on a double play ball from Sok-man Yi.  A similar scene played out in the 4^th; Gnats fans’ excitement over Powell Clark’s chopper base hit quickly died when Eric Morse immediately followed with a 6-4-3 double play groundout.

The bigger disappointments were yet to come.  After Yi opened the 5^th with a single, Pablo Espinosa lifted a 1-out, 1-0 curveball softly over the third baseman’s head and down the left field line.  By the time Chris Allen had caught up to it, Espinosa was on second base with a double.  The ponderously slow Yi was given the “hold” sign by the third base coach, a seemingly wise move with the sac fly in play.  As he would do all night, though, Alibi bounced back.  He struck out the next two batters, and just like that the threat evaporated.

Undaunted, the Gnats would again mount a charge in the 6^th.  Clark led off with a single and promptly swiped second base.  Despite three cracks with a runner in scoring position, however, the Gnats weren’t able to bring Clark home.

Crystal Lake’s best chance to break through came in the 7^th.  Once again, Yi led off an inning with a base hit, a shallow blooper to center.  The next batter, Pace, attempted to bunt him over to second.  León Valentín, who pinch ran for Hu in the top of the inning and stayed on to play first base, fielded the bunt and decided to attempt to force the slow-footed Yi at second.  Yi beat the throw, though, and both runners were safe.  Espinosa, the next batter up, failed to successfully lay down his own sac bunt.  He made amends by bouncing a base hit past second baseman Fernando Rivera and into right field.  Yi’s poor wheels once again haunted the Gnats; he had to be held at third.  Still, with the bases loaded and nobody out, the Sandgnats seemed certain to finally break the ice.

“Not so fast!” was the cry from the Statesmen’s pitching ace.  With the crowd in a frenzy of excitement, Alibi struck out first Cliche and then pinch hitter Bob Jefferson on six consecutive pitches.  Clark followed by rolling a grounder down the third base line.  It was almost a forgone conclusion when Nathan Holloway’s low throw to first was scooped up beautifully by Valentín for the final out in the inning.  One could almost hear the collective air let out of the fans in the stands.

On the Charleston side, very little was happening offensively.  Their best chance to score against Cruz came on a solid shot to center off the bat of Enrique Ortega that got carried by the 17 MPH winds blowing out right.  Centerfielder Pace was pushed to the warning track but managed to get back in time and close his glove on the ball to make it just a long, loud out.  In the 6^th, the Statesmen wasted a 2-out triple by Graham.

That was just about all she wrote as far as Charleston scoring opportunities went.  Cruz was dealing after surrendering the 1^st inning homer.  He came within two batters of pitching a complete game, giving up just four hits and two walks while striking out nine.  Charleston stranded only two runners the entire night, a testament to how locked in Cruz was.

The Sandgnats would have one final chance after Alibi was lifted from the game.  Statesmen closer Guonçalle Malatestiano surrendered a 1-out single to Pace, who replaced by pinch runner António Romero.  When Espinosa followed with a single to right, Romero made the turn at second and slid into third ahead of the throw.  Then came the head-scratcher of the game; in a perfect sac fly situation, Cliche laid down a bunt.  It was fielded by Valentín and tossed to Rivera, who was covering on the play, for the second out.  Asked after the game, Cliche explained that he was attempting to bunt for a base hit and that manager Wayne Kedsch did not call for the bunt.  If he was truly acting on his own, it was an extremely questionable decision at best, and one that proved disastrous when pinch hitter Chris Harris grounded out to the pitcher to seal a 1-0 Charleston win and a night of bitter frustration for Gnats fans.

Game 2 will again be held at Gnat Field on Monday night.  First pitch is scheduled for 7:11 PM CT.  Dean “Fate” O'Monahan of the Statesmen will face off against Crystal Lake starter Norberto “Pickles” Pacheco.

Game 2: It was “Second verse, same as the first“ for Charleston and Crystal Lake on Monday night.  The only difference is that it took Charleston’s fourth batter of the game to give the Statesmen all the runs they needed – one more than in Sunday night’s 1-0 pitcher’s duel.

Dean “Fate” O'Monahan and Norberto “Pickles” Pacheco had a tough act to follow after the gems hurled by Víctor “Alibi” Matos and José Cruz the night before.  Both pitchers proved they were up to the challenge.  Though they were both brilliant, it once again could be argued that the Gnats outpitched the Statesmen.  That’s cold comfort to the 34,572 in attendance Monday night.  Of course with a first pitch temperature of 45°, Gnats fans were cold right from the start, though few were complaining after Sunday night’s gusting winds turned Gnat Field into an icebox.

Crystal Lake mounted the first threat of the evening.  After retiring leadoff hitter Powell Clark, Fate surrendered back-to-back singles to Eric Morse and Sok-man Yi to place runners at first and second.  Two quick fly ball outs short-circuited the inning for the Sandgnats.

The first batter up in the top of the 2^nd, Yong-zhan Hu, provided all the offense Charleston would need.  Hu took a wicked cut at a 1-1 changeup, lining it over the right field wall to give the Statesmen a 1-0 lead.  The homer was Hu’s 5^th of the postseason.  Pickles rebounded by striking out the next three batters, but the damage was done.

The Sandgnats best chance to break their scoring drought came in the bottom of the 2^nd.  Pablo Espinosa lifted a 1-out duck snort into shallow right.  Neither second baseman Fernando Rivera nor right fielder Vicente Bernal took charge on the play and the ball ended up dropping between them.  Perhaps rattled by the defensive miscue, Fate uncorked a wild pitch that allowed Espinosa to advance to second and then followed that up by plunking Anthony Pace on the upper arm.  After inducing a fly out from Bob Jefferson, Fate’s 0-1 pitch to Clark was lined hard into the right field gap.  Bernal, on his horse, made a spectacular backhanded stabbing catch on the run, holding onto the ball despite colliding with the outfield wall.  A collective groan arose from the crowd as Bernal lifted his glove triumphantly to show that the ball had stuck in the webbing, and Crystal Lake’s Planetary Extreme Championship scoring drought remained intact.

Matsusuke Nakayama’s 363’ home run in the 4^th put the Statesmen up 2-0, though the inning could have bee worse for the Sandgnats.  After a Chris Allen base knock, Miguel Morales sent a deep drive to right field.  Jefferson raced back and made a leaping catch against the wall.  Replays seemed to show that the ball would not have left the park, but Jefferson certainly saved at least a RBI double.

Another prime chance for Crystal Lake to get on the board passed by in the bottom half of the inning when Chris “Trapper” Holmes led off with a double down the third base line.  Fate short circuited any hopes of a rally by inducing infield popups from the next two batters, then sitting down Jefferson on a 93 MPH heater that painted the outside corner of the plate.

Morse added his own double with 1 out in the 5^th, setting up the heart of the Sandgnats order for a prime RBI chance.  Again the Gnats couldn’t capitalize.  Yi made good contact, but centerfielder Morales was positioned perfectly to nab the line drive.  In the next at bat, P.J. Thomas saw three pitches and took three hacks, failing to connect with any of them.  Crystal Lake’s last, best chance to get on the board against Fate had just passed them by.  O’Monahan went seven innings, allowing seven hits and striking out nine.  He didn’t issue a single walk.

Meanwhile, Pickles was dealing.  Outside of the two solo home runs, Charleston batters could only muster three base hits and two walks against him over his eight innings of work.  Bernal almost had Charleston’s third solo job of the night in the 8^th, but his towering shot to left field got blown back by the wind and ended up being just a long, loud out.  Minor scoring chances went by the wayside in the 6^th and 7^th.  Jeffery Graham was hit with a pitch to lead off the 6^th but was thrown out trying to steal second base.  In the 7^th, Allen drew a leadoff walk and advanced to second on Enrique Ortega’s 1-out sacrifice bunt, but Rivera was unable to drive him home.

In their last chance of the night, pinch hitter Edmond Cliche pounded a ball past the glove of closer Guonçalle Malatestiano and over the second base bag, bringing the tying run to the plate with no one out.  Malatestiano made quick work of Crystal Lake’s 7-8-9 hitters, though, and the Gnats again found themselves shut out by the stifling Charleston pitching staff.  The save was Malatestiano’s second in as many PEC games.

The action moves to Charleston, South Carolina for Game 3 on Wednesday night.  20-game winner Nelson “Nails” Anderson will take the hill for Crystal Lake.  Meanwhile, the Gnats will try to score their first run of the PEC against Charleston pitcher Carlos Cervantes.  Statesmen pitchers have twirled three straight shutouts and 31 consecutive scoreless innings, both PEBA postseason records.  Meanwhile, Crystal Lake is suffering through a 19-inning scoring drought.

Game 3: Having lost the opening two games of the Planetary Extreme Championship at home, the Crystal Lake Sandgnats were being second guessed at every turn.  Pundits from coast to coast have been writing their obituary.  All the talk has centered around the Gnats inability to score.  Overlooked has been the fact that Sandgnats pitchers have been downright dominating – arguably even better than Charleston’s.  Any team that can roll out Nelson “Nails” Anderson as their #3 pitcher is far from having a foot in the grave.

You couldn’t tell that to the diehard fans in Charleston, though.  They did their city proud, turning out in record numbers.  The announced attendance of 38.804 ranks as the largest crowd ever to watch a PEC game.  Moultrie Park was awash in a sea of red as fans were handed Statesmen-red “Squash the Gnats!” t-shirts on their way into the park.  This was the first PEC game ever played in South Carolina and Charleston fans came ready to enjoy it.

Of course Crystal Lake had designs on spoiling the fun, and they got right to work on that in their first trip up to bat.  With 2 outs in the 1^st and Eric Morse on first, Eduardo “Pappy” Molina lined a Carlos Cervantes fastball into the right field corner for a RBI double.  Cervantes seemed unsteady out of the gate.  Having already issued a walk to Morse, he followed Pappy’s double by uncorking a wild pitch that allowed the runner to advance to third.  Jeffery Graham ran out to the mound to settle his pitcher down.  Whatever he said didn’t work because, three pitches later, Cervantes grooved a 3-2 pitch that Sok-man Yi was able to sock into center to bring home the second run of the inning.

Charleston looked to answer in the bottom of the frame.  Vicente Bernal got things rolling with a base hit.  After a Graham fly out, Jeff “Cajun” Wilson socked a double that placed runners at second and third.  Charleston’s chances of scoring looked excellent with the red-hot Yong-zhan Hu headed to the plate, but Nails was able to induce an infield popup from Hu before retiring Matsusuke Nakayama to stymie the threat.

After shaky starts, both pitchers settled in after the 1^st.  Cervantes allowed only one hit from innings 2-4.  He struck out the side in the 4^th, though the strikeouts were mixed in with the aforementioned single as well as a hit batter.  Nails was equal to the challenge, giving up two hits during the same stretch while striking out four.

Crystal Lake got back on the board in the 5^th.  Powell Clark got things going by reaching out to poke an outside fastball into the outfield down the first base line.  Bernal made a valiant diving attempt on the ball but was unable to get there in time to make the catch.  He was able to keep the ball from bouncing past him but by the time he regained his feet and got his throw into the infield, Clark had reached second with a standup double.  Clark was able to advance to third on P.J. Thomas’s groundout and that turned out to be an important play when Pappy was able to beat out an infield chopper to third.  Clark was able to score on the play and the Sandgnats exited the inning with a 3-0 lead.

That lead would double in the 7^th.  A leadoff walk to #9 hitter Chris “Trapper” Holmes set the stage for the big inning.  A walk to Morse and a fielder’s choice grounder off the bat of Thomas put runners on second and third with two away.   With Cervantes having thrown 111 pitches, Charleston skipper Aric Kinast chose to bring Yoshii “Racehorse” Ikeda in from the bullpen.  The move failed to pay off, however, as Pappy came up big again with a base hit to right.  Clark scored easily and Bernal’s throw to the plate was too late to nab the sliding Morse.  The Gnats were able to tack on an extra insurance run thanks to back-to-back singles by Yi and Pace that plated Pappy for their sixth and final run.

A gem of a catch by Bernal saved further damage in the 8^th.  After Trapper had reached on a 1-out double, Clark sent one into the gap that looked certain to get down.  In full extension, Bernal left his feet and caught they ball, somehow managing to hang on despite the impact with the ground.

Despite the beautiful play, the Statesmen bats never caught fire.  Charleston’s lone run of the game came in the bottom of the 7^th on a Chris Allen 400’ bomb to straightaway center that just cleared the wall.  Aside from that glitch, Nails was in top form.  He scattered five hits and two walks while punching out six Statesmen batters.

Charleston never mounted a threat against Nails until the 9^th.  By that time the Gnats’ hurler was clearly running out of gas.  He hit Hu and walked Allen to spark the fans’ hopes of a late rally.  Wayne Kedsch came to the mound to take ball from Nails, who ended up throwing 123 pitches in a game the Sandgnats had to win.  Dreams of a rally were squashed when Pablo González came in and quickly punched out the next two batters to end the game and earn Crystal Lake their first win of the 2010 PEC.

Game 4 will be played tonight at Moultrie Park.  Bryan “Booker” Stewart of Crystal Lake will be opposed by Mathys Crête of Charleston.  First pitch will be at 8:08 PM ET.

Game 5: It’s been a postseason filled with records.  One of these would be extended Friday night, while another would be set.  The crowd of nearly 40,000 arriving at Moultrie Park on  a beautiful 68° fall evening in Charleston had no way of knowing this, nor would they care.  Their only concern was to see their Statesmen avoid a home sweep at the hands of the surging Crystal Lake Sandgnats.

The Gnats had other plans, of course.  They quickly jumped ahead of the hometown team in their first trip to the plate, though the inning might have been bigger.  Eric Morse was rung up on a terrible call by home plate umpire Nestor Klem after Powell Clark had walked to start the inning.  Víctor “Alibi” Matos’s knuckle curve appeared to be several inches outside, but Klem felt it had wrapped around the plate and called strike three.  Morse ripped off his helmet in frustration and made to slam it on the ground, a move that would likely have resulted in his ejection.  He caught himself and stalked back to the dugout with Klem boring holes into his back with his eyes.

After the blown call, Clark stole second on the first pitch to Sok-man Yi.  That proved wholly unnecessary when Yi absolutely crushed an Alibi splitter deep into the right field seats.  The ball, measured to travel 454’, landed midway up the second deck.  It was the third-longest home run recorded in Moultrie Park’s history.  For Yi, the blast extended his PEBA single postseason home run record to seven.  No other player has hit more than five homers in one postseason.  Rubén Cruz of New Jersey is the PEBA all-time postseason home run leader with 11.

Tempers flared again in the top of the 4^th when, after a 2-out P.J. Thomas double, Alibi drilled Anthony Pace with an 0-1 fastball.  Pace, believing the plunking to be retaliation for Bryan “Booker” Stewart’s beaning of Jeffery Graham the night before, instantly dropped his bat at home plate and began pointing and jawing at Alibi.  Klem put his hand on Pace’s chest to keep him from charging, though it didn’t prevent Pace from angrily expressing his displeasure to Alibi over Klem’s shoulder.  Both dugouts were issued warnings.

When baseball finally resumed, Edmond Cliche roped a liner into right.  Vicente Bernal charged the ball hard and quickly hit the cutoff man, forcing Thomas to hold up at third base.  The Gnats would leave the bases loaded after Chris “Trapper” Holmes flied out to deep left field.

Meanwhile, José Cruz was utterly silencing the Statesmen bats.  He was perfect through three, needing just 20 pitches to retire nine Charleston batters.  That perfection would come to a screeching halt in the bottom of the 4^th.  Graham’s 1-out single gave the Statesmen their first runner of the game.  The next batter, Jeff “Cajun” Wilson, gave Charleston their first runs of the game thanks to a line drive that just barely cleared the wall in right for a game-tying 2-run homer.

Some wildness by Alibi put Crystal Lake in position to regain the lead in the top of the 6^th.  Consecutive walks to Thomas and Pace placed runners at first and second with one away.  Alibi recovered by tossing a wicked 3-2 knuckle curve that made Cliche’s feeble swing look foolish.  Shortstop Enrique Ortega’s throw to first on a groundball by “Trapper” Holmes was just in time to nip the runner and end the inning.

Charleston threatened right back in the bottom half of the 6^th.  Bernal reached on a 1-out hit and moved to second on Graham’s fielder’s choice.  After a walk to “Cajun” Wilson, Hu got the crowd on their feet with a deep fly that sent Pace back to the centerfield warning track.  Hu picked the wrong part of the park to hit the ball to, though.  Pace closed his glove on what turned out to be just a long, loud inning-ending fly out.

Morse’s long loud fly ball with two outs in the top of the 7^th was much more meaningful.  It traveled 411’ to left center, breaking the tie.  The homer was Morse’s second of the playoffs, while the RBI was his 11^th.

Thomas’s 8^th inning 1-out slap shot through the right side of the infield knocked Alibi out of the game and brought Bobby Wright out of the pen.  Sensing an opportunity to secure a critical insurance run, Sandgnats manager Wayne Kedsch opted to lift Thomas for pinch runner Bob Jefferson.  Jefferson was able to swipe second with two away but was left stranded there on Cliche’s lazy fly out to left.

With just four outs remaining between them and a home sweep at the hands of the Gnats, Charleston rallied to tie the game.  Bernal stepped up to the plate with two gone in the bottom of the 8^th and belted a Cruz fastball 428’ to straightaway center.  The crows erupted in a roaring frenzy and Bernal pumped his fist twice while rounding first base.  His teammates were waiting to deliver good-natured congratulatory head-poundings at the top of the dugout.  The response in the visitor’s dugout was considerably more subdued.

Neither team was able to push a run across in the 9^th, and so Game 5 became just the fourth extra-inning game in Planetary Extreme Championship history.  Charleston had the first opportunity to draw blood in the bonus frames when Fernando Rivera drew a 2-out walk from Crystal Lake reliever Mitch Waymouth.  Rivera forced the action by breaking for second on the first pitch to Bernal.  He beat Morse’s throw and put himself in scoring position.  Bernal followed by sending a grounder back up the middle that Clark was able to make a nice backhanded grab on.  His throw beat Bernal to the bag and ended the inning.

Minor threats ensued over the next two innings.  Pace led off the 11^th with a single and Cliché advanced him to second with a sacrifice bunt.  Neither “Trapper” Holmes nor Pablo Espinosa was able to get him home, though.  In the bottom of the 12^th, Chris Allen coaxed a walk out of Waymouth and got into scoring position on a 2-out single by Ortega.  Waymouth struck out Rivera to extend the game.

The Statesmen would have another chance to end it in the 13^th thanks to a leadoff single by Bernal, who was promptly lifted for pinch runner Víctor Martínez.  Waymouth was able to induce a fly ball out off the bat of Graham, but his first pitch to “Cajun” Wilson sailed way wide of the plate and all the way to the backstop, allowing Martínez to advance to second.  He would move to third on Cajun’s groundout.  With the crowd cheering like mad, Hu stepped up to bat and ripped the first pitch he saw on the ground to the left side of the infield.  It looked like it might get through, but defensive sub Jack Campbell made a nice sliding stop, recovered his footing and fired a strike to Maurice Kelley at first base to silence the crowd.

The Gnats had been playing with fire throughout the extra frames and finally got burned in the 14^th.  Kedsch opted to allow Waymouth to come out to start the inning even though he had already thrown 3 1/3^rd and 41 pitches.  Waymouth had never gone deeper than 3 1/3^rd over the course of the year.  He was able to get Jesús Cruz to fly out to center, but he was not so lucky with the next batter.  At 11:55 PM local time, Chris Allen stepped up and delivered a 418’ shot into the warm Charleston night.  As the ball flew over the center field wall, the faithful who had stayed – which was nearly everybody – broke into song as the scoreboard prompted them to chant the “Charleston Charge!” rally theme that has become so popular this postseason.  At 14 innings, Game 5 was by far the longest in PEC history innings-wise, easily eclipsing the 11-inning affairs in 2008’s Game 4 and 2009’s Game 3.

Though they lost the game, the Sandgnats can take comfort in the fact that they wrested back home field advantage by taking two out of three in Charleston.  The action moves back to Crystal Lake for Game 6, where Crystal Lake was 54-27 during the regular season.  Dean “Fate” O'Monahan will be trying to hand the Statesmen their first Rodriguez Cup.  He will be contested by Norberto “Pickles” Pacheco, who will be aiming to give his team a shot at a Game 7.  Start time will be at 7:11 PM CT.

Game 7: For the second year in a row, the Planetary Extreme Championship came down to a do-or-die Game 7. In 2009, the “cardiac” New Orleans Trendsetters finally ran out of steam, failing to put up much of a fight against the hometown Aurora Borealis in a 5-0 whitewashing. The 2010 edition of the PEC Game 7 would be a much, much different affair.

As has been the norm throughout this series, a great crowd turned out to root on their Crystal Lake Sandgnats. The enthusiastic 43,266 in attendance were not greeted by similarly great weather. An already chilly 42° October night in Illinois was made colder by the light drizzle that began falling just before first pitch at 7:11 PM Central Time. With umbrellas not being allowed into Gnat Field due to security concerns, fans were forced to choose between finding shelter under the concourses or slowly dampen up as the rain fell. Most chose the latter option.

If the weather had any affect on the festivities, it was completely undetectable. Hours before the game started, Gnat Field was alive with excitement. Fans poured in early in hopes of seeing batting practice, and although that was cancelled due to the threatening skies a pregame fireworks display went off as planned much to the thrill of the crowd. By the time the National Anthem was performed by blues legend Buddy Guy, the entire ballpark was rocking and ready for action.

That action would come a little faster than Gnats fans may have wanted. Vicente Bernal got Charleston rolling right out of the gate with a liner that crashed off the wall in center. The ball ricocheted and bounced away from centerfielder Anthony Pace. Edmond Cliche corralled it and fired off a throw but the relay was a little late. Bernal slid in under the tag to net the Statesmen a leadoff triple. Jeff “Cajun” Wilson did his job by hitting the ball on the ground to the right side of the infield, allowing Bernal to come home for the first run of the game.

Twin missed opportunities in the top of the 2^nd frustrated the Sandgnats. A mistake pitch from Carlos Cervantes was deposited in the left field gap by Eduardo “Pappy” Molina. Chris Allen couldn’t cut it off and it rolled to the wall, allowing Pappy to reach second base standing up with nobody out. P.J. Thomas followed with a sinking liner to left that got down for a hit. Pappy never hesitated on his way around third base. Allen fielded the ball on two hops and fired a BB to Jeffery Graham. The catcher had a split second to snatch the ball on the hop and brace for impact as the tall and lanky Pappy collided with him. Both players tumbled to the ground. Graham immediately lifted his glove up in the air to show that he had held onto the ball. Pappy ended up making the first out of the inning at the plate.

With Thomas on first, the Gnats have more fight left in them. Pace collects a base hit, but a second threat is dismantled when Cervantes induces a double play ball off the bat of Chris “Trapper” Holmes.

#9 hitter Jesús Cruz had a chance to spark something for Charleston in the 3^rd, but he got greedy trying to extend an easy double to left field into a triple. Pappy would have none of this, firing to third and gunning down Cruz by several steps. It ended up being a 6-pitch inning for Nelson “Nails” Anderson, who was settling in nicely after giving up the 1^st inning run.

What started as a drizzle had become a hard rain by the top of the 4^th. Crew chief Bill Chylak met with head groundskeeper Roger Bossard before the bottom of the inning and decided to let the game continue, but it was only a temporary stay of execution. Eric Morse reached on a walk and Sok-man Yi saw 9 pitches from Cervantes before the skies opened up and Chylak had seen enough. Play was halted with Morse at first and a 3-2 count on Yi.

The rain delay lasted 70 minutes. Cervantes never returned to the game. When baseball finally resumed at 8:28 PM, Mathys Crête had taken Cervantes place on the mound and inherited his full count on Yi. The next pitch was likely to be a critical one. Crête made it count. With one slider, Crête recorded two outs for the Statesmen thanks to a 6-4-3 double play.

“Nails” Anderson stayed in the game after the delay and breezed through his half of the 5^th, needing just four pitches to get through the inning. Through six innings Nails surrendered just 3 hits. He looked every bit the ace who won 20 games for the Sandgnats during the regular season.

The offense, held in check through the first half of the game, began to pick up in the bottom of the 6^th. Pablo Espinosa led off with a walk. Powell Clark followed by driving a Crête pitch deep to right that went for the second triple of the game. Espinosa easily came around to score Crystal Lake’s first run, tying the game.

Allen had trouble with Morse’s fly ball to left, almost losing it in the wind and rain, which had started back up by this point. He ended up stumbling and lunging for the ball at the last minute, barely snagging it in the webbing of his glove. Clark taged up and Crystal Lake took a 2-1 lead.

Charleston would come right back in the top of the 7^th. A little one-our flare just over the head of Clark allowed Yong-zhan Hu to reach base. Graham moved him over to second with a full count walk. A deep fly to left from Allen put a scare into the crowd, but Molina hustled under it to record the second out and bring Miguel Morales up to the plate.

Morales clubbed 103 HR in his 4-year Alianza Béisbol Al Sur de la Frontera career with the Zapopan Torrenas. He didn’t join Charleston until he was signed as a free agent on August 1^st and he hit 10 HR in just 43 games with the Statesmen. Morales had been ice cold during the playoffs, though, going just 8-for-53 (.151) with a whopping 20 strikeouts and just 1 home run.

All that frustration disappeared on the very first pitch Morales saw from “Nails” Anderson. Morales clubbed it into the right field seats for a 3-run homer that gave the Statesmen the lead back at 4-2. Enrique Ortega threatened to go back-to-back but Cliche squeezed the mitt on the long fly ball at the warning track for the third and final out of the inning.

The Gnats were suddenly trailing again, however, and they’d need to rally quickly or face elimination. Pace was up to the challenge of picking up his teammates. He lined a shot down the left field line off of Crête, who was in his third inning of relief. The ball got stuck in the corner and Pace was able to reach third base before Allen could dig it out. It was the third triple of the ballgame. Pace scored on a pitch in the dirt to “Trapper” Holmes that Graham couldn’t block.

The deficit for Crystal Lake was back to one heading into the 8^th. “Nails” Anderson opened the inning with a 4-pitch base on balls to Cruz, prompting Sandgnats manager Wayne Kedsch to give Merlin Peters the call from the pen. Fernando Rivera came in to pinch run for Cruz.

In the following at bat, Pace made the defensive play of the series, one that will be shown on highlight reels for years to come. Bernal crushed Peters’s 0-2 pitch to the deepest part of straightaway center field. Pace broke back with the crack of the bat and went into a dive as the ball sailed over his head, somehow catching the ball over his shoulder. He landed with his back completely turned to home plate and with the ball in his glove for the first out. Rivera, who was running on the play, had time to get back to first and tag up to second.

Charleston kept the heat on the Sandgnats. Peters walked Britt Martin to put two on, and both runners advanced into scoring position on a passed ball charged to Morse. Peters continued to be wild, walking “Cajun” Wilson. Pablo González was brought into a bases loaded situation. It looked like he may get the Gnats out of trouble when he blew Hu away with a 98 MPH heater. Graham had other ideas, though. He smacked one to short that a leaping Espinosa just failed to snag. It landed in the outfield for a base hit. Both Rivera and Martin score on the play to give Charleston some much-needed insurance and a much more comfortable 6-3 lead.

That comfortable lead padding disappeared quickly. Clark opened the bottom of the 8^th with his second round-tripper of the postseason, a shot to right off reliever Bobby Wright that trimed the lead to two. Two outs later, “Pappy” Molina went the other way, socking a big fly to left. It carried into the stands and all of a sudden Charleston’s lead was back to one run at 6-5.

Charleston failed to rebuild its lead despite Ortega collecting a base hit and subsequently stealing second with one out. González was able to blow away León Valentín for the second out and then, after issuing an intentional walk to Bernal, he did the same to Martin. Crystal Lake came up to bat with three outs left to get the one run they need to tie the game.

Statesmen closer Guonçalle Malatestiano started things off well for Charleston in the last of the 9^th by retiring “Trapper” Holmes swinging on a nice sinking fastball and Cliche on a high pop to Ortega at short. With #9 hitter Espinosa representing their last hope, the end looked to be nigh for the Sandgnats. Espinosa had other plans, though. He slapped a Malatestiano 1-0 changeup into the hole at second. Martin made a great diving stop on the ball but couldn’t recover his feet in time to make the throw to first and beat the speedy Espinosa.

Clark, who hit a home run in his previous at bat and now represented the series-winning run, was announced to thunderous applause by the Sandgnats faithful. Clark took the first three pitches he saw from Malatestiano, drawing a 2-1 count. Espinosa was off and running on the next pitch, but Gnats fans’ dreams of an improbable comeback were dashed when Clark swung on the pitch and softly grounded to Valentín at third. His throw across the diamond to Hu beat Clark easily.

The stadium went silent as the Statsemen streamed out of the dugout and onto the field to start their celebration. For Charleston, this was a dream realized through determination. Though many had tabbed the Statemen as a preseason favorite for the Imperial League pennant, their inability to fend off the meteoric rise of the Florida Featherheads and capture the Dixie division crown earned them a number of skeptics. With the Sandgnats holding home field advantage, popular sentiment seemed to be that this would finally be Crystal Lake’s year to win it all. Charleston was not to be denied, though. As Víctor “Alibi” Matos – who was acquired in a trade with Arlington during the season and played a huge role in the team’s second half surge – accepted his series MVP award, the team gathered in front of the pitcher’s mound for photos. Everyone was wearing “Charleston 2010 PEC Champs” shirts that had been prepared before the game, and there were ear-to-ear grins all around. The team had lived up to its lofty expectations and earned the right to hoist the Rodriguez Cup.

Congratulations to the Charleston Statesmen; they are your...

2010 Planetary Extreme Champions!!