lakewood blueclaws win 2009 sal championship!

Congratulations to the Lakewood BlueClaws, the 2009 South Atlantic League champs! Last night in Greenville, South Carolina, they beat the Drive 5-1 to win the best-of-five championship series in four games. Korey Noles went seven strong and Austin Hyatt finished the final two innings. It was another team effort, with stand-out performances from speedster Anthony Gose, clutch Troy Hanazawa, and stalwart Travis D'Arnaud. Kudos, too, to skipper Dusty Wathan.

The 'Claws won Games 1 and 2 at home, lost Game 3 and came back to win Game 4 for their second SAL championship. In post-season play, they are now 10-2.

Outfielder Brian Gump waits his turn at bat Tuesday night at Lakewood. Check out his blog at www.briangump.blogspot.com.

Harold Garcia heads for the plate after hitting a homer to left field game 1 in Lakewood on Monday night.

On a September school night the crowd was more senior than junior but the kids at the game still got a charge from Buster, the 'Claws mascot. Buster did something cool in the late innings. He appeared over the home dugout with a little camera and started snapping shots of the crowd.

The BlueClaws took Game 2 of the championship playoffs 3-0 in Lakewood. Closer Santo Hernandez put two on and was giving the usher standing near me fits, but Hernandez got the final out on a fly to right fielder Brian Gump and gave the fans one last chance to wave their rally towels.