Giants Win California League Championship
September 20, 2009 - California League (CalL1)
San Jose Giants News Release
The San Jose Giants won the 2009 California League championship with a come-from-behind 4-3 victory over the High Desert Mavericks in Game Three on Saturday evening at Municipal Stadium. San Jose overcame an early 3-0 deficit eventually scoring the go-ahead run on a wild pitch in the bottom of the sixth inning en route to sweeping the best-of-five Championship Series. The victory caps a memorable year that saw San Jose win a team-record 93 regular season games as the franchise earns their third league title in the last five years.
"I'm thrilled for my guys and for my staff" said manager Andy Skeels. "These players never quit fighting. When it really counts, that's when we've played our best. It was a very special year and a special group of guys."
Eric Surkamp, in only his second appearance with the Giants since a promotion from Augusta earlier in the month, struck out 12 over eight innings to pick-up the win. Surkamp allowed three runs on seven hits during his stint on the mound, but retired 17 out of the final 19 batters that he faced. Rafael Cova (1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 0 SO) worked around a one-out walk and a pair of wild pitches to record the save. Cova retired High Desert's Travis Scott on a deep fly out to center field stranding the potential tying run at third base to set off a wild celebration.
San Jose scored single runs in the third, fourth, fifth and sixth innings with Championship Series Most Outstanding Player Francisco Peguero (2-for-5, RBI), Nick Noonan (2-for-4) and Brian Bocock (2-for-4) each producing multi-hit games at the plate. The Giants pounded out 11 hits in the contest - all during the four run-scoring innings.
With San Jose trailing by a 3-0 score, Bocock started the third-inning rally with a one-out single up the middle. Tyler Graham followed by reaching on an error before Peguero grounded a single into left field to bring home Bocock with the Giants' first run of the night.
In the fourth, Conor Gillaspie led off with an infield single before Johnny Monell hit a deep fly ball to the warning track in left field that was lost in the lights by High Desert's Jamie McOwen. Monell raced into second with a double as Gillaspie advanced to third on the play. Then with two outs, Graham reached on an infield single to shortstop plating Gillaspie to bring San Jose to within 3-2.
The Giants tied the game in the bottom of the fifth inning as consecutive singles on back-to-back pitches from Noonan and Thomas Neal put runners on first and second with none out. Roger Kieschnick followed with a sharp ground ball down the right field line for a double as Noonan scored to make it 3-3. However, Neal was thrown out at the plate for the first out of the inning as he attempted to score a second run on the play. Mavericks starting pitcher Michael Pineda then recovered to strikeout the next two hitters, Gillaspie and Josh Mazzola, to keep the game tied.
San Jose scored in their fourth consecutive inning in the bottom of the sixth capitalizing on a leadoff walk and a wild pitch. Monell began the frame by drawing a walk before Bocock blooped a single into shallow right to advance the potential go-ahead run to second base. After Graham struck out on a bunt attempt, Peguero singled to load the bases. Edward Paredes was then summoned from the bullpen to replace Pineda and he promptly struck out Noonan on a 2-2 pitch for the second out of the inning. However, the strike three pitch bounced away from the catcher Scott as Monell easily scored from third base to give the Giants a 4-3 lead.
Surkamp dominated on the mound after surrendering three runs in the first two innings. The left-hander retired 13 consecutive High Desert hitters from the third through the seventh innings, retiring nine of the batters during the stretch via the strikeout. Surkamp fanned two each in perfect third, fourth, fifth and sixth innings before Scott finally singled with one out in the top of the seventh to give the Mavericks their first base runner since the second inning. Surkamp though immediately pitched out of the inning when he induced the next hitter, Juan Diaz, to bounce into a 5-4-3 double play.
"Eric Surkamp could have quit, but he pulled it back together," said Skeels. "He had a tremendous outing for us."
"Between the second and third innings, I got a little more comfortable and got into a groove," said Surkamp. "Guys were playing good defense behind me and everything started working."
In the top of the eighth, Jeffrey Dominguez singled with one out to put the potential tying run on base, but Surkamp retired league MVP Alex Liddi on a pop out to second before Joe Dunigan flied out to center.
Cova replaced Surkamp to begin the top of the ninth and after setting down Carlos Peguero on a pop out to shortstop, pinch-hitter Kyle Seager drew a full-count walk. A Cova wild pitch advanced Seager to second base, but McOwen fouled out to the catcher Monell for the second out of the inning. Scott was up next and the first pitch of the at-bat sailed past Monell for another wild pitch as Seager moved to third. However on the 2-0 offering, Scott flied out to center field ending the threat and sending the Giants to the league championship.
Pineda suffered the loss for the Mavericks after yielding 11 hits and four runs (three earned) over 5 1/3 innings. The right-hander struck out seven and walked one.
High Desert initially took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning on consecutive one-out RBI singles from Peguero and Brent Johnson. In the second, Tyson Gillies singled with one out before Liddi connected for a two-out RBI double into the right center field gap to make it 3-0. Liddi though was thrown out at third on the play and the Mavericks would not have another hitter reach base against Surkamp until Scott's one-out single in the seventh inning.
"As a team, we just got better as the season went along," said Neal, the team MVP. "It's an unbelievable feeling. Every time new guys came in, they stepped up. As a group, we knew we had the talent to win a championship and we just kept working hard every day."
"I think a measure of a team is how well they play under pressure and I think our guys stood up to the pressure better than anyone else this year," added Skeels. "In my mind, this was the best team in professional baseball in 2009. I thought we handled ourselves with dignity and composure. I thought we played the game that way it should have been played and they were rewarded for it."
Notes: San Jose has won five California League championships in the last 12 years (1998, 2001, 2005, 2007, 2009) ... This marked the first time in team history that the Giants swept the Championship Series ... Including the postseason, San Jose finished the year with a 99-49 record ... The Giants had 14 at-bats with runners in scoring position on Saturday (5-for-14) and left nine runners on base - all in the third through the sixth innings ... San Jose hitters were retired 1-2-3 in the other four frames ... Peguero led the Giants with a .387 batting average during the playoffs.
California League Stories from September 20, 2009
- Giants Win California League Championship - San Jose Giants
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