The Potomac Nationals (5-1, 4-0) captured their fifth championship in franchise history with a 5-1 victory over the Myrtle Beach Pelicans (3-4, 0-2) on Wednesday night. LF Randolph Oduber’s first inning home run was the difference in the game as the P-Nats pitching staff retired the final 19 Pelicans batters they faced.
Potomac’s DH John Wooten was named as a unanimous MVP for the Mills Cup Championship Series. Wooten hit three home runs and collected eight RBIs in the series.
Oduber’s bomb in the first came with two on and two out against Pelicans starter LHP Luis Parra (L, 1-1). 2B Tony Renda reached on a walk followed by a two-out Wooten single to bring up Oduber.
Myrtle Beach put their lone run on the board in the top of the second inning against LHP Hector Silvestre (W, 2-0). SS Michael De Leon singled in CF Lewis Brinson to cut the Potomac lead to two. Silvestre dazzled in the series clinching game. He tossed six innings allowing the one run on five hits with six strikeouts.
The Nationals answered the Pelicans run with one of their own in the second. C Pedro Severino drove home SS Stephen Perez with a single up the middle. The P-Nats added one final insurance run in the seventh when 1B Shawn Pleffner knocked in Tony Renda’s leadoff triple.
Myrtle Beach’s offense was completely shut down following RF Royce Bolinger’s third-inning single. With Silvestre and a relief core of RHP Manny Rodriguez and RHP Gilberto Mendez, Potomac’s pitching staff set down 19 batters in a row to clinch the series. Rodriguez twirled a perfect pair of frames in the seventh and eighth while Mendez slammed the door shut in the ninth. The final out came on a check-swing, 0-2 pitch to Lewis Brinson. Home plate umpire Cody Oakes said Brinson went around, and the P-Nats mobbed the mound in celebration
The Potomac Nationals Baseball Network, which is accessible at www.potomacnationals.com, will be back on the air in 2015 for opening day after enjoying their championship-filled offseason.
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Chris Graham
