GCL Nationals Win GCL Championship

With a 7-2 win over the GCL Red Sox, the GCL Nationals have swept the best-of-three series to win the 2013 Gulf Coast League Championship.

Offensively, the G-Nats struck first with three in the 2nd, exploiting a pair of walks and a wild pitch to score the first run, while Wilmer Difo and Garrett Gordon drove in the second and third runs with RBI singles.

The G-Sox got one back in the 4th on starter Wander Suero’s one bad inning, as the 21-y.o. Dominican got two quick outs, then gave up a single and a pair of walks, then hit a batter. Suero recovered and was finished after five innings, giving up the one run on three walks and one hit while striking out seven.

Drew Ward’s RBI double put the lead back to 4-1 after the top of the 5th and the G-Nats broke it open with a three-spot in the 7th, with Ward collecting another single and Jose “Orange” Marmolejos-Diaz capping off the rally with a two-run double. The G-Nats racked up 11 hits total with Ward, Marmolejos-Diaz, Osvaldo Abreu and Garrett Gordon each having multiple hits.

Philips Valdez followed Suero out of the ‘pen and was touched for a run in the 7th but earned the hold for his two innings of work. Mike Sylvestri finished off the game with two scoreless innings including a 1-2-3 ninth to lock down the win.

The GCL championship is the second for the Nationals (2009) since the organization relocated from Montreal in 2004.