September 16, 2007

Click here to listen to a replay of today's game broadcast

http://www.sportsjuice.com/player/asx.aspx?A|2379

Gary, Indiana—Willie Glen allowed just three hits and one run in a complete game performance as the Gary SouthShore RailCats defeated the Calgary Vipers 5-1 to win the 2007 Northern League Championship on Sunday afternoon at U. S. Steel Yard in Gary. A crowd of 1,747 attended the contest, which was the fifth and deciding game of the best-of-five league championship series.

Glen struck out 10 and walked six while improving his record in the 2007 post-season to 4-0 and his RailCats career playoff record to 8-0.

The RailCats built a 3-0 lead in the third inning. With one out, Nate Price singled to center, stole second, and went to third on an error. Eric McNamee walked. Dave Detienne followed with a single to center to drive in Price and make it 1-0. Three batters later, Steve Haake singled to center to drive in both McNamee and Detienne to give Glen all the runs he would need.

Calgary scored its lone run in the fifth when Buddy Morales singled, went to second on a sacrifice, to third on a base hit to center by Manubu Kuramochi, and scored on the same play when Jermaine Allensworth mishandled the base hit to make it 3-1. But with the tying runs on base, Glen struck out Carlos Duncan to end the inning.

Gary added two more runs in the eighth on a pair of RBI singles by Allensworth and Tanner Townsend to make it 5-1.

In the ninth, Glen walked the first two hitters in the inning but then struck out Morales, got Jorge Tang to fly to left on a nice running catch by Nate Price, and got Kuramochi to ground to the mound to end the game.

It was the second championship in three years for the RailCats, who became just the second team in independent Northern League history to go to the league championship series in three straight years and win the title twice during that period.

Amazingly, the RailCats are 15-1 in elimination games under manager Greg Tagert over the 2005-'07 season (games when a loss would either end their season or mathematically eliminate them from post-season play). All 15 wins are at home with the only loss on the road (at Fargo-Moorhead in game four of the 2006 Northern League Championship Series. The RailCats came back from two-games-to-one deficits in both the South Division playoffs against Winnipeg and the Championship Series vs. Calgary.

Glen allowed just three earned runs in 33 innings over his four playoffs starts this season after throwing 17 scoreless innings in the post-season in 2006.

It was a tough loss for a solid Calgary ballclub that pulled to within one win of a title on Friday night with a 14 inning 4-3 win, but the RailCats allowed only three runs combined over games four and five of the series.

Calgary Vipers 1 (2-3)

Player AB R H RBI BB SO PO A LOB

------------------------------------------------------

Brinkley, D cf........... 4 0 0 0 0 1 5 0 1

Miller, D lf............. 3 0 0 0 1 2 3 0 0

Duncan, C 3b............. 4 0 0 0 0 3 0 4 2

Colson, J 1b............. 2 0 0 0 2 0 6 0 0

Nichols, K dh............ 2 0 0 0 2 1 0 0 0

Ashman, S pr............ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Castro, N ss............. 2 0 0 0 1 0 1 1 1

Morales, B c............. 4 1 2 0 0 2 6 0 0

Tang, J rf............... 2 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 2

Kuramochi, M 2b.......... 4 0 1 0 0 1 1 0 2

Groeger, J p............. 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Klatt, R p.............. 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Alexander, J p.......... 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0

Minami, K p............. 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Gruesel, E p............ 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Totals................... 27 1 3 0 6 10 24 6 8

Gary 5 (3-2)

Player AB R H RBI BB SO PO A LOB

------------------------------------------------------

Dave Detienne 1b......... 4 1 2 1 0 0 6 2 0

Jay Pecci ss............. 3 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 1

Eric Blakeley dh......... 3 1 1 0 1 0 0 0 0

Steve Haake rf........... 4 0 1 2 0 1 2 0 1

Jose Yepez c............. 4 1 0 0 0 0 10 1 2

Jermaine Allensworth cf.. 4 0 2 1 0 1 2 0 0

Tanner Townsend 3b....... 4 0 1 1 0 1 0 3 0

Nate Price lf............ 4 1 1 0 0 1 2 0 0

Eric McNamee 2b.......... 3 1 1 0 1 0 3 1 3

Willie Glen p............ 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 0

Totals................... 33 5 9 5 2 5 27 9 7

Score by Innings R H E

-------------------------------------------

Calgary Vipers...... 000 010 000 - 1 3 1

Gary................ 003 000 02X - 5 9 1

-------------------------------------------

E - Morales, B; Allensworth. LOB - Calgary 8; RailCats 7. 2B - Blakeley;

Allensworth. SH - Castro, N; Tang, J 2; Pecci. SB - Detienne; Price.

Calgary Vipers IP H R ER BB SO AB BF NP

--------------------------------------------------

Groeger, J.......... 2.2 3 3 3 2 2 11 13 47

Klatt, R............ 0.2 1 0 0 0 0 3 3 11

Alexander, J........ 3.2 2 0 0 0 2 12 13 46

Minami, K........... 0.1 3 2 2 0 0 5 5 18

Gruesel, E.......... 0.2 0 0 0 0 1 2 2 11

Gary IP H R ER BB SO AB BF NP

--------------------------------------------------

Willie Glen......... 9.0 3 1 1 6 10 27 36 141

Win - Glen (4-0). Loss - Groeger, J (1-2). Save - None.

Inherited runners/scored: Klatt, R 2/0; Alexander, J 1/0; Gruesel, E 2/0.

Pitches/strikes: Groeger, J 47/28; Klatt, R 11/8; Alexander, J 46/32; Minami, K

18/12; Gruesel, E 11/6; Glen 141/90.

Umpires - HP: Hank Himmanen 1B: Brad Hungerford 2B: Mike Baker 3B: Harry

Fredenburg Start: 2:00 Time: 2:54 Attendance: 1747

Calgary Vipers 1st - Brinkley, D struck out looking (1-2). Miller, D out

at first 1b to p (2-2). Duncan, C grounded out to 3b (0-1). 0 runs, 0 hits,

0 errors, 0 LOB.

Gary 1st - Detienne flied out to cf (0-1). Pecci struck out looking

(3-2). Blakeley fouled out to c (2-2). 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB.

Calgary Vipers 2nd - Colson, J walked (3-1). Nichols, K walked (3-0);

Colson, J advanced to second. Castro, N out at first 3b to 2b, SAC, bunt (0-0);

Nichols, K advanced to second; Colson, J advanced to third. Morales, B struck

out (1-2). Tang, J grounded out to ss (0-2). 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 2

LOB.

Gary 2nd - Haake struck out (2-2). Yepez grounded out to ss (0-1).

Allensworth flied out to lf (1-1). 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB.

Calgary Vipers 3rd - Kuramochi, M grounded out to 2b (2-1). Brinkley, D

flied out to cf (0-1). Miller, D struck out looking (2-2). 0 runs, 0 hits, 0

errors, 0 LOB.

Gary 3rd - Townsend grounded out to 3b (1-1). Price singled to center

field (1-1). Price stole second, advanced to third on a throwing error by c.

McNamee walked (3-0). Detienne singled to center field, RBI (0-1); McNamee

advanced to second; Price scored. Pecci flied out to rf (1-0); McNamee advanced

to third. Detienne stole second. Blakeley walked (3-2). Haake singled to center

field, 2 RBI (0-1); Blakeley advanced to third; Detienne scored; McNamee

scored. Klatt, R to p for Groeger, J. Yepez reached on a fielder's choice

(0-2); Haake out at second 3b to 2b. 3 runs, 3 hits, 1 error, 2 LOB.

Calgary Vipers 4th - Duncan, C struck out (1-2). Colson, J walked (3-1).

Nichols, K struck out (1-2). Castro, N flied out to lf (0-1). 0 runs, 0

hits, 0 errors, 1 LOB.

Gary 4th - Allensworth doubled to left field (3-1). Townsend flied out

to lf (0-2). Alexander, J to p for Klatt, R. Price popped up to ss (0-0).

McNamee flied out to cf (1-2). 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 1 LOB.

Calgary Vipers 5th - Morales, B singled to center field (1-2). Tang, J

out at first c to 2b, SAC, bunt (1-1); Morales, B advanced to second.

Kuramochi, M singled, advanced to second (2-2); Morales, B advanced to third,

scored on an error by cf. Brinkley, D flied out to rf (0-1); Kuramochi, M

advanced to third. Miller, D walked (3-2). Duncan, C struck out (1-2). 1

run, 2 hits, 1 error, 2 LOB.

Gary 5th - Detienne singled up the middle (1-2). Pecci grounded out to

p, SAC, bunt (0-0); Detienne advanced to second. Blakeley grounded out to 3b

(3-2). Haake flied out to rf (1-0). 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 1 LOB.

Calgary Vipers 6th - Colson, J flied out to cf (1-2). Nichols, K lined

out to ss (0-2). Castro, N flied out to rf (0-0). 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors,

0 LOB.

Gary 6th - Yepez flied out to cf (1-1). Allensworth struck out looking

(2-2). Townsend struck out (0-2). 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0 LOB.

Calgary Vipers 7th - Morales, B singled (1-0). Tang, J out at first 1b

to 2b, SAC, bunt; Morales, B advanced to second. Kuramochi, M struck out (0-2).

Brinkley, D grounded out to 3b. 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 errors, 1 LOB.

Gary 7th - Price popped up to cf (2-1). McNamee singled (0-2). Detienne

popped up to lf (3-2). Pecci popped up to 1b (0-1). 0 runs, 1 hit, 0 errors,

1 LOB.

Calgary Vipers 8th - Miller, D struck out (2-2). Duncan, C struck out

looking (2-2). Colson, J lined out to 1b (2-2). 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 0

LOB.

Gary 8th - Minami, K to p for Alexander, J. Blakeley doubled (1-2).

Haake grounded out to 3b (1-0); Blakeley advanced to third. Yepez reached on a

fielder's choice (1-2). Allensworth singled, RBI (3-1); Yepez advanced to

second; Blakeley scored. Townsend singled, RBI (0-1); Allensworth advanced to

second; Yepez scored. Gruesel, E to p for Minami, K. Price struck out looking

(3-2). McNamee popped up to cf (2-0). 2 runs, 3 hits, 0 errors, 2 LOB.

Calgary Vipers 9th - Nichols, K walked (3-2). Castro, N walked (3-1);

Nichols, K advanced to second. Ashman, S pinch ran for Nichols, K. Morales, B

struck out swinging (1-2). Tang, J popped up to lf (2-2). Kuramochi, M grounded

out to p (1-1). 0 runs, 0 hits, 0 errors, 2 LOB.