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EL1 Chesapeake Baysox

Berken Leads Baysox To Postseason

August 22, 2008 - Eastern League (EL1)
Chesapeake Baysox News Release


(Bowie, MD) - Jason Berken led the Baysox to a convincing 7-1 victory over the Mets in Binghamton to clinch the first playoff berth for Bowie since 1997. The Baysox scored six runs in the top of the second inning and never looked back. Ryan Finan, Jeff Nettles, and Blake Davis all went 2-for-4 and Mike Rodriguez drove in two runs to lead the Baysox to the postseason.

Ryan Finan led off the second inning with a single and Jeff Nettles picked up a base hit behind him. Mike Rodriguez smacked a triple to right field, scoring both runners to give the Baysox the lead. Jonathan Tucker singled Rodriguez home and Blake Davis kept the rally going with a double to right field, scoring Tucker. Binghamton starter Tobi Stoner got Sebastien Boucher to strike out for the first out of the inning but would not retire another batter. Carlos Rojas followed with a base hit to put runners on first and third. Matt Wieters hit a single to right field, scoring Davis and leaving runners on the corners again. Steve Torrealba drove Rojas home with a base hit to make the score 6-0 Baysox before Stoner was replaced by Eric Brown. Brown gave up one more hit before retiring the rest of the side without incident.

Berken took the lead and ran with it. He has been lights-out in his last two starts, having taken a no-hitter into the seventh inning his last time out against Binghamton. He allowed just three hits through 7.0 shutout innings while striking out eight batters. Perhaps most impressive is that he allowed zero walks for the first time in his last four outings. With the victory tonight, Berken has won eight straight decisions to improve to 12-3 on the year with a 3.37 ERA.

The Baysox added another run on a solo shot by Jeff Nettles to lead off the eighth inning. The blast gives Nettles 23 homers on the year, leading the team since Lou Montanez got promoted.

Rommie Lewis came on to take over for Berken and worked a shutout bottom of the eighth, allowing one hit. Gerardo Casadiego came on in the ninth and allowed a run on an RBI groundout by Josh Petersen. Casadiego got Shawn Bowman to fly out to left field for the third out and the celebration began as the Baysox locked up a spot in the playoffs.

With the victory, the Baysox record improves to 79-54 and they increase their lead to 4.0 games over Akron for first place in the Southern Division. The Baysox will fight for home field advantage in the first playoff series over the final nine games of the regular season. They get underway Saturday with RHP Brad Bergesen (15-4, 3.00 ERA) going up against Mets RHP Dillon Gee (1-0, 1.38 ERA).

The Bowie Baysox are out to Beat The Streaks in their 16th season as the "AA" affiliate of the Baltimore Orioles. The Baysox have not reached the postseason since 1997 and have never reached the Eastern League Championship. Playoff tickets are available now; tickets for all remaining regular season games are available on www.baysox.com or by calling the box office at (301) 464-4865.

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Eastern League Stories from August 22, 2008


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.

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