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Lackawanna Trail’s offensive attack too much for Northwest Area

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Lottery Numbers for Friday, Sept. 16

<p>LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. &#8212; With hits at premium throughout Game 4 of the Governor&#8217;s Cup championship series between the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders and Gwinnett Braves, it was a baserunning play that proved to be the difference.</p><p>Series Most Valuable Player Jake Cave&#8217;s slide on a stolen base attempt kept the top of the sixth inning alive and allowed the visitors to grab the lead, which the RailRiders bullpen made stand-up in a 3-0 win before a Friday night crowd of 4,617 at Coolray Field.</p><p>Daniel Camarena allowed just five hits and struck out four in 5 1/3 shutout innings in his first Triple-A start, while relievers Johnny Barbato, Tyler Webb and Giovanny Gallego retired the final 11 G-Braves hitters they faced to give the RailRiders a 3-1 series victory, and their first Governor&#8217;s Cup title since 2008.</p><p>&#8220;This is a special group,&#8221; Scranton/Wilkes-Barre manager Al Pedrique said of his team. &#8220;These kids play the game the right way. We got great pitching and defense, and I think timely hitting definitely helped.&#8221;</p><p>As it has been throughout the series, pitching was a big key Friday, with four hurlers extending a dominating stretch in which the the RailRiders&#8217; staff allowed Gwinnett just two runs over the final 36 innings following a six-run top of the first by the G-Braves in the opener.</p><p>However, Gwinnett&#8217;s pitching was also strong throughout the series, and the RailRiders had a hard time figuring out Wooten (0-1) early on, as the 31-year-old right-hander set down the first nine batters he faced, and eventually matched his career high with eight strikeouts.</p><p>But Scranton/Wilkes-Barre finally broke through against Wooten, a converted reliever who has never pitched more than six innings in an outing in his career, with the help of some slick baserunning by Cave in the top of the fifth.</p><p>With one out, the 23-year-old centerfielder broke for second while Wooten pitched out, giving catcher Braeden Schlehuber a chance to make a strong throw to second that arrived in plenty of time. But Cave, who was 1-for-3 with a walk on the night, slid around the tag of second baseman Sean Kazmar Jr. and made it to the bag safely after a second attempt at a tag, which wound up keeping the inning alive after Wooten struck out Jose Rosario.</p><p>And after Cito Culver drew a two-out walk, Mark Payton took advantage by lifting a single into right that brought home Cave with the game&#8217;s first run.</p><p>&#8220;I love the way Gwinnett plays the game. They play hard,&#8221; Pedrique said. &#8220;That&#8217;s what going to happen in a tight series like that. One little mistake, one little chance or break, and that&#8217;s what we got (Friday) night. We got that break at second base &#8230; and it was contagious.</p><p>&#8220;We knew that once we had the lead with the pitching staff and a bullpen that was well rested, we knew we had a good chance to win.&#8221;</p><p>Clint Frazier, a native of nearby Loganville, Ga., then brought home another run to make it 2-0 by legging out an infield single on his bouncer in the hole between third and short, which turned out to be enough thanks to another strong outing by the RailRiders pitching staff.</p><p>Camarena (1-0) got himself out of trouble by inducing double-play grounders in three of the first four innings before facing Gwinnett&#8217;s biggest challenge in the bottom of the sixth.</p><p>Back-to-back one-out singles by Emilio Bonifacio and Mel Rojas Jr. prompted Pedrique to go to the bullpen for Johnny Barbato, who faced an even tougher situation when each runner moved up on separate stolen bases.</p><p>But the second one by Rojas was on a swinging third strike to Ronnier Mustelier, and the 24-year-old right-hander got Kazmar, with a little help from shortstop Pete Kozma&#8217;s nifty fielding play, to keep the RailRiders&#8217; 2-0 lead intact.</p><p>&#8220;It was tough. I thought that was going to be the inning for us,&#8221; Gwinnett manager John Moses said. &#8220;But we couldn&#8217;t come through, and unfortunately, I think our bats got cold a little bit. But what are you going to do? You&#8217;ve got to give (the RailRiders) a little credit, too, on the other side.&#8221;</p><p>Payton, who finished the night 3-for-5, then added a little insurance with an RBI triple off the glove of a leaping Rojas in right in the top of the seventh, and the RailRider bullpen put the game away with Webb and Gallegos combining for two straight 1-2-3 innings following Barbato&#8217;s heroics in the sixth.</p><style>
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<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta><p>By David Friedlander</p><p>For Times Leader</p></bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><shirttailMeta><p>Reach Times Leader sports at 570-829-7143 or on Twitter @tlsports.</p></shirttailMeta></div>

Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders capture Governor’s Cup crown