The Potomac Nationals rallied from a 7-2 deficit with ten unanswered runs to take Game Three, 12-7 and a 2-1 lead in the of the Mills Cup Championship Series.
And, believe it or not, it all started with a little bit of hustle.
After taking a 2-0 lead on John Wooten’s second HR of the series, a two-run shot over the LF wall with two outs in the 1st, the mood at the Pfitz went from jubilation to despair less than two innings later as the Pelicans chased starter Matt Spann on the eighth hit he allowed, a two-out grand slam that turned a 2-1 lead into a 5-2 deficit.
Kylin Turnbull came on and was immediately greeted with a sharp single to left, and a two-run dagger off the bat of twelv…er, 17-y.o. Michael De Leon to make it 7-2 in favor of the Sea Rats. He would get the final out on a lineout to short, but like the health club after the holidays, things were not looking pretty.
Turnbull set the Pelicans down in order in the 4th, putting up a badly needed zero after a quashed rally in the bottom of the 3rd. Mike McQuillan got thing going in the of the 4th with a leadoff double, while Stephen Perez plated him with a single to center to make it 7-3. After a walk to Khayyan Norfork, Pedro Severino laid down a sacrifice bunt to set up 2nd and 3rd with one out for Isaac Ballou.
Ballou cashed them both in with a triple to right to pull the P-Nats to within two at 7-5. Tony Renda, who had gotten thrown out at third to end the third, missed his shot at redemption with a groundout to third.
Shawn Pleffner followed with a high-hop grounder to the 3/4 hole. Like most first basemen, Pleffner isn’t going to win very many footraces, but he did win this on against Pelican starter Sam Wolff for an RBI infield single that made it 7-6.
That little bit of hustle set up Wooten, who jumped on Wolff for another two-run shot to put Potomac ahead 8-7 and knocked the Myrtle Beach starter out of the game.
Buoyed by the lead, Turnbull followed his zero in the 4th with one in the 5th. And the 6th. And the 7th. And the 8th. The 24-y.o. got the win with just the two runs allowed — HR in the 3rd — over five and a 1/3rd innings with one walk and eight K’s. Jake Walsh danced around a double and a two-out walk in the 9th to close it out for the 12-7 win.
Potomac will try for its third Carolina League title in five seasons with Hector Silvestre (1-0, 1.29) taking the hill against Luis Parra (1-0, 1.59). Silvestre did not face the Pelicans during the regular season while Parra was the winning pitcher for Myrtle Beach in an 8-6 victory over Potomac on July 29th.