NALB 2009 Playoffs - League 1 Series

K. Fields
2010-10-23T11:37:36-04:00
Baseball

2009 League 1 Series - Nashville Firecats (84-78) vs. Brooklyn Knights (121-41)

Game 1: Brooklyn 1, Nashville 0
Game 2: Nashville 5, Brooklyn 2
Game 3: Brooklyn 13, Nashville 5
Game 4: Brooklyn 5, Nashville 4
Game 5: Nashville 10, Brooklyn 5
Game 6: Nashville 6, Brooklyn 2
Game 7: Nashville 3, Brooklyn 0

The Nashville Firecats were making their first playoff appearance since 2000, the league’s inaugural year. In contrast, the Brooklyn Knights were playing for the League 1 championship for the tenth straight season. Home runs were plentiful in 2009. Many long shots were expected in this series, as it featured the NALB’s top two home run hitting teams. The Knights had the edge in head-to-head meetings, winning 20 out of 29 games against the Firecats.

In the opening game, two left-handers put on a pitching clinic. The Firecats’ Robert Givens (13-7, 5.78) battled against the Knights’ Tracy Corkhill (13-8, 2.82 ERA). Givens baffled most Brooklyn hitters on his way to a four-hit complete game. His one mistake came in the third inning, when he surrendered a home run to Hooks Goetz. Corkhill pitched into the seventh and the Brooklyn bullpen did the rest. The Knights won the opener 1-0. Perhaps the biggest news to come out of game one was the injury to Brooklyn’s star closer, Bernard Gastelu. He pitched the ninth inning but hurt his shoulder on the final play of the game. He is expected to miss the rest of the series.

Nashville had their ace, Terrance Steinman (16-9, 2.72 ERA), on the mound for game two. A leading candidate for the Outstanding Pitchers Award, Steinman led the NALB in ERA. Facing Steinman was the NALB’s only 20 game winner, right-hander Bob Wiesner (21-4, 3.81 ERA). The Firecats got a couple of hits and scored quickly in the first inning. The Knights took the lead back in the bottom of the first, thanks to Hooks Goetz’s two-run homer. Nashville struck hard in the sixth with a pair of two-runs home runs by Charles Difranco and Cipriano Delgudo. Gail Hernandez and Verdo Mlicki came on in relief to close out the 5-4 win for the Firecats.

The Firecats were excited to play game three in front of their fans in Nashville. Unfortunately, their first home playoff game in nine years was a disaster. Nashville starter Francisco Rodil (10-10, 4.22 ERA) was anything but sharp. He gave up three hits, five walks, and seven runs and was unable to finish the first inning. The shell-shocked Nashville crowd got back into the game when their team scored two runs in the bottom of the first. After that, the Knights’ young starter José Arisa (17-2, 3.18 ERA), settled in. Brooklyn’s Dan Kelley silenced the crowd in the second inning when he hit a Peanuts Levering fastball into the centerfield bleachers. The Knights had a comfortable 10-2 lead. Cipriano Delgudo generated some excitement with his fourth inning solo homer. However, Hooks Goetz erased any hopes of a Nashville comeback with his two-run blast in the fifth inning. Goetz’s homer in his third consecutive game helped expand the lead to 13-3. After the home run, Kevin Dees plunked Kid Detherage. Detherage was not happy at all. He stormed the mound and threw a punch at Dees. This ignited a benches-clearing brawl. Dees and Detherage were both ejected. The Firecats showed some life in the ninth, but it was too little, too late. A Clay Robson solo home run and an Alfredo Herrán double made the final score 13-5.

Getting his first ever playoff start in game four was the Knights’ Ralph Kerfoot (13-8, 3.61 ERA). Kerfoot had been acquired in a July trade with the Dunedin Otters. The Firecats decided to go with their game one starter, Robert Givens, once again. The Firecats’ catcher, Gene Noke, started the scoring with a solo home run in the second inning. In the top of the third, Brooklyn took a 2-1 lead after back to back homers by Dick Moran and Ted Pollet. The Knights added a run in the fourth inning, and two more runs in the fifth. Nashville cut the lead to 5-3 with a solo homer by Atlee Deleon and Gene Noke’s second dinger of the game. The Firecats’ first baseman, Paul Lyons, got into the action in the bottom of the eighth inning with a solo shot of his own. With Gastelu out, Ron Deluna and Carl Hatton pitched the ninth inning. They sealed the Knights’ 5-4 win.

Down three games to one, the Firecats were in a precarious position. Nashville needed to win all three remaining games to take the series. In game five, they pinned their hopes on Terrance Steinman. The Knights decided to start lefty veteran Fred Millard. Both teams were without one of their players. The league suspended Kevin Dees and Kid Detherage for brawling in game three. Brooklyn’s offense wasted no time to get hot. They started the game with five consecutive hits and scored three runs. The Firecats didn’t panic. Cleanup hitter Paul Lyons hit a two-run home run in the bottom half of the inning. The score was tied 3-3 in the second inning by a double from Nashville’s leadoff hitter, Ricky Agganis. Two innings later, Agganis was at it again. He batted in another run to put the Firecats on top 4-3. A sac fly by the Knights tied the game in the top of the fifth. In the bottom of the fifth, DH Ford Mckelvey gave the Firecats the lead once more. As Nashville led 5-4, rain started to fall in the sixth inning. The rain didn’t bother the hometown hitters as Nashville scored two more runs in the seventh. They also scored three runs in an eights inning interrupted by a 22 minute rain delay. Ted Pollet hit a solo homer in the ninth, but that barely cut into the large deficit. Nashville won, 10-5.

Game 5 was the final game in Cornfield. It featured a rematch of the Game 1 starters, Gastelu vs. Bedford. Gary Mccreery opened the game with a leadoff home run. Hooks Goetz blasted a 3-run homer in the top of the third to expand Brooklyn’s lead to 4-0. The Axemen came right back and tied the score, 4-4. In the sixth inning, Michael Duhon hit a 2-run home run, giving the lead back to Brooklyn. Cornfield struck again with a Fletcher home run and several more hits. After six innings, Cornfield led 8-6. Brooklyn scored three runs in the eighth and had the lead once again. The Knights sent closer Jeff Ramirez in for two inning save. He worked the Knights out of a jam by getting a strike out and a double play. Ramirez blew the save in the ninth when he gave up a solo home run to John Edwards. In extra innings, the game was decided in the 11th inning when John Edwards singled off of Fred Millard. The Axemen pulled out a 10-9 win.

The series returned to Brooklyn, with the Knights leading three games to two. Brooklyn liked their chances with a mound matchup of Buddy Lake (12-15, 5.81 ERA) vs. Tracy Corkhill. In the top of the second inning, Paul Lyons homered to give his team a 1-0 lead. It was the third straight game that Lyons went deep. Michael Duhon scored off of a Dan Kelley single to tie the game in the bottom half of the inning. Atlee Deleon batted in a run and it was 2-1 Nashville after three innings. The fourth inning was a disaster for the Knights. One of the league’s best fielding teams, Brooklyn uncharacteristically committed three errors in the inning, which led to three Firecats’ runs. In the fifth, Nashville added another run to make it 6-1. The Knights scored a run in the bottom of the fifth but they continued to strand runners on base. With 12 runners left on base for the game, they could not cut into Nashville’s lead. 6-2 was the final score.

The Brooklyn Knights faced an all too familiar game seven. They lost the 2008 World Championship to the Vancouver Wild in a game seven played at home. They hoped to avoid a similar fate here. The pitching matchup for this do-or-die game was Francisco Rodil vs. Bob Wiesner. In the second inning, the Brooklyn fans looked concerned after Cirpriano Delgudo hit a two-run blast, his third homer of the series. Wiesner appeared unfazed, however. He continued to strike out Nashville hitters and put zeros up on the scoreboard. Unfortunately, the Knights offense continued to put up zeroes as well. Brooklyn was getting men on base but Rodil kept pitching out of jams. Wiesner went as long as he could but left in the eighth after giving up a double to Alfredo Herrán. Nevertheless, it was an impressive performance as Wiesner struck out 11. With Rigo Hurtado on in relief, Herrán scored. Verdo Mlicki saved the game in the ninth for a 3-0 shutout win. It was only the third time the Knights were shutout this season. All three were at the hands of the Firecats. As they had in game six, the Knights stranded 12 base-runners.

For the first time in NALB history, the Brooklyn Knights will not play in the World Championship Series. The Nashville Firecats earned their first playoff series victory and are on their way to the WCS. The League 1 Series MVP was Cipriano Delgudo. He was 8 for 17 (.471) with three HR and 7 RBI.