Saturday
13Sep2008
Sacramento River Cats Grab 2-1 Lead In PCL Championship
Saturday, September 13, 2008 at 09:52AM MLN - THE RAW FEED - www.mlntherawfeed.com - MLN Newswire - www.mlntherawfeed.com - Oklahoma City, OK - The Oklahoma RedHawks dropped an 8-5 final to the Sacramento River Cats on Friday evening at AT&T Bricktown Ballpark in game three of the Pacific Coast League Championship Series. The River Cats knocked 14 hits, including two home runs, to gain a two games to one series lead.
The River Cats gained an early
lead on Wes Bankston's three-run home run in the first inning. The RedHawks managed a run on the bottom half
of the inning when Chris Shelton scored on an error by Carlos Gonzalez. Oklahoma tied the game in the second when
Casey Benjamin tripled in Max Ramirez and Ben Harrison.
Sacramento regained the lead in the fourth. Donnie Murphy was hit by a pitch and Gregorio
Petit walked with one out. Justin
Knoedler hit a sacrifice fly and Chris Denorfia singled in the second run to
give the River Cats a 5-3 lead. Oklahoma
came within a run in the bottom of the inning after Jason Ellison scored on a
ground out by Ryan Roberts. Sacramento
added a run the in fifth on a solo home run by Brooks Conrad and a pair in the
seventh on a wild pitch and a sacrifice fly.
The RedHawks capped the scoring when Ramirez hit a solo home run in the
seventh. Oklahoma put two on in the
ninth and had the tying run at the plate when the game ended on a
strikeout.
RedHawks' starter Tommy Hunter (1-1) took the loss after surrendering six
runs on nine hits over five innings, while River Cats reliever Jared Lansford
(1-0) earned the win with a pair of scoreless innings. Bret Prinz notched his first post season
save, striking out to in the ninth to close out the game. Eight different players had hits and seven
different players scored runs for Sacramento, which won for the 11th
time in 12 Pacific Coast League Championship Series games. Ramirez paced Oklahoma with three hits, while
Casey Benjamin drove in a pair to lead the RedHawks.
Game four of this best-of-five series is scheduled for Saturday afternoon
at AT&T Bricktown Ballpark. Brian
Gordon will start for the RedHawks against the River Cats Brad Knox. The first pitch has been rescheduled for
12:05 pm, two hours earlier than originally slated.
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