The Interstate Series: Western League Championship
Game 1: Yakima 6, Eugene 3: Eugene manager Reggie Barnum is going to get some heat over this one: with his best reliever on the mound in
Jed Cianciolo having allowed a pair of baserunners on a single and a seeing-eye bunt, he brought in left-hander
Jeffrey Morehouse to face the righty-hitting
Chet Myers. Even the most partisan Emeralds fan could see what was coming: Myers clubbed a 3-run homer to make a 3-2 Eugene lead 5-3 in favor of the Yaks. Yakima would go on to win game 1 by the final of 6-3.
Game 2: Yakima 5, Eugene 6: After the first 2 innings, it looked like this game was going to be 13-12, but both starters settled down and kept it at 3-3 until Yakima's
Stew Elamin knocked a 2-run homer. Eugene got one back in the 7th on
Harland Hubbert's RBI double, but the Emeralds missed a golden opportunity to tie it when they couldn't bring Hubbert home from 3rd with one out. It looked like poor luck was going to be the rule of the day for the Emeralds after the 8th, when they had runners on 1st and 3rd with one down, but
Keith Hix grounded into the inning-ending twin killing. That all changed in the 9th, though, when
Porfirio Alcaide took league saves leader
Daniel Willman deep for a pinch-hit, game-tying leadoff homer. Two straight singles followed, but
John Savory couldn't bunt the runners over. With pinch-hitter
Brian Vallejo at the plate, the Emeralds through caution to the winds and put on the double steal. You could practically hear the collective gasp in Civic Stadium, but the ploy worked. Vallejo singled, and the Emeralds tied up the series at a game apiece.
Game 3: Eugene 3, Yakima 2:
Barry Dimas for MVP! The oft-maligned Dimas, who became the 3rd starter by default due to the rash of injuries, turned what looked early on to be a runaway Yakima win into the game of his career. After allowing a pair of runs on 4 hits in the 1st, Dimas was a model of efficiency afterward, giving up just 1 more hit in his 8 innings of work.
John Savory tied the game for the Emeralds with a 2-out, 2-run single in the 2nd, and
Carlos Rodriguez made it 3-1 in the 3rd with an RBI single. The Emeralds now lead the series 2-1.
Game 4: Eugene 2, Yakima 3: This one was another terrific game, coming down to the final innings tied 1-1 despite both teams having opportunity after opportunity to break the game open. Eugene's
Thomas Samuel gave up a run in the first but worked his way out of a bases-loaded jam, and later worked out of a second bases-loaded inning with no runs scoring. Eugene had a number of chances to score on
David Pena, but he always seemed to come up with a big strikeout when he needed it, and racked up a career high 9 in the game, despite only working into the 7th. The game turned in the bottom of the 8th, when
Paul Licht and
Roger Ross singled back-to-back and each drove in runs.
Keith Hix homered in the bottom half for Eugene, but the Emeralds couldn't get the tying run.
Game 5: Eugene 1, Yakima 0: The Emeralds got only 3 hits, but one of them was a solo homer in the 3rd by
Orestes Arellano that gave
Jose Garcia all the run support he needed. Yakima picked up 7 hits off Garcia, but could never get a rally started. Garcia walked just 1 and struck out a career-high 8, and sends his team back home leading the series 3 games to 2.
Game 6: Yakima 7, Eugene 6: Yet another one run game, the 5th of this series. The Yaks were down 6-5 going to the 8th inning, but they had the heart of the order due up.
Chet Myers doubled to put runners on 2nd and 3rd with no outs and
Stew Elamin tied up the seesaw battle with a sac fly. It looked as though it would stay tied up and head to extra innings, but with runners on 1st and 2nd and 2 outs,
Chet Myers struck again, his 4th hit of the game, and this one would be the game-winning single.
Game 7: Yakima 8, Eugene 1: As close as this series was, for it to end in an 8-1 blowout seems somehow unfair, and certainly disappointing for the home team, who had two chances to close out the series in front of their own fans and failed both times. The big blow came in the 4th, when Eugene's
Thomas Samuel gave up 2-out singles to
Antonio Delmas and
Stew Elamin before walking
Cesar Perdomo. That brought up
Peter Creek, who silenced a capacity crowd with a majestic bomb, sailing over the center field fence for a grand slam. They played 5 more innings, but they could have stopped right there. Yakima's
David Pena had no intention of letting Eugene back in the game. He went 7 scoreless innings, allowing 6 hits, and picked up his second win of the series.
Series MVP:
David Pena
2-0, 1.31 ERA, 20.2 IP, 21 hits, 5 walks, 16 strikeouts.