Another dramatic come from behind victory has given the Trenton Thunder a three games to none sweep of the Portland Sea Dogs, earning the Thunder their second consecutive Northern Division Championship.
Jason Jones gave up three early runs to the Sea Dogs in the first two innings, but battled back to keep his team in the game with six quality innings of work.
Last season, Jones only pitched one inning of mop-up work in the playoffs. When we spoke yesterday, he told me how much he was looking forward to getting the opportunity to make more of an impact.
“I’m very excited,” Jones said.
“Given the past last year, it just brings that extra level of excitement to it. I want to be a part of this, and I want to be a big part of it.”
But the heroes on the pitching side of things were again the bullpen, as Kevin Whelan came up absolutely huge in relief of Jones, striking out five of the six batters he faced on the way to picking up the win.
That win wouldn’t have been possible without a huge performance out of Colin Curtis, who went 4-for-4 with a double, triple and two RBI on the night.
Curtis drew a bases loaded walk off of Miguel Asencio in the top of the 9th to give the Thunder a 5-4 lead.
Mike Dunn made his second postseason appearance, and promptly struck out two of three Sea Dogs batters he faced to give Trenton the third and decisive win in Hadlock Field.
Trenton has earned an additional two days off thanks to the sweep, and won’t play again (tentatively) until September 9th. Where they’ll play has yet to be determined, as the Akron-Bowie series has yet to be decided.
Assuming the EL doesn’t add a “travel day,” Trenton would host Game 3 on September 11th, Game 4 on September 12th and Game 5 on September 13th. Go to the Thunder website for ticket info.
Mike Ashmore, mashmore98 AT gmail.com
