Two MWL Teams on the verge...

of punching a ticket to the MWL finals. Two others are almost done for the year.

@Burlington 3, Cedar Rapids 2:

From the Bees Website:

In the top of the first inning, Alexi Amarista singled and then moved to second when Roberto Lopez walked. A wild-pitch moved both runners up a base and then a passed ball score Amarista and moved Lopez to third. Beau Brooks then hit into an RBI ground-out to score Lopez and the Kernels led 2-0.

The Bees trailed 2-0 until the bottom of the fifth inning when they scored three runs. Cedar Rapids starting pitcher Ryan Chaffee did not allow a hit in his first four innings of work but allowed four hits in the fifth and did not make it out of the inning. Ryan Wood led the inning off with a base-hit and was replaced by Fernando Garcia, who reached on a Fielder's Choice. With two outs, Adrian Ortiz hit a bloop single to score Garcia for the Bees' first run of the day. David Wood then singled and Jason Taylor walked to load the bases. Shawn Griffin came to the plate and singled, which scored both Ortiz and David Wood, which gave the Bees the 3-2 lead.

From the Kernels version:

Game two of this best-of-three series between the Kernels and Bees is Sunday afternoon at 2:05 pm at Perfect Game Field at Veterans Memorial Stadium. Manaurys Correa starts for the Kernels against Sam Runion for Burlington. Gates open at 1:00 pm.

Game One in the Eastern Division Finals looks like a candidate for Game of the Year.

@Great Lakes 11, Fort Wayne 10 (11 innings):

TinCaps version

The Fort Wayne TinCaps led the Great Lakes Loons on four different occasions, but lost, 11-10, in 11 innings Saturday at Dow Diamond in Game 1 of the Midwest League Eastern Division Championship Series. A walk-off single by Jerry Sands in the 11th finished the game.

Four different leads? Surely one of them wasn't heading into the bottom of the ninth?

Fort Wayne again emerged in the top of the 9th, scoring three runs. Cole Figueroa hit a go-ahead RBI single to left, plating Decker to make it 7-6. Two batters later, Justin Baum scorched a two-run single up the middle to push the lead to 9-6.

That lead was erased in the bottom of the 9th. After the first two batters reached, Jaime Pedroza belted a three-run homer over the right-field wall off RHP Brad Brach to tie it at 9-9. It was the second home run Brach has allowed in his career, both coming against the Loons.

That Brach would be Brad Brach, the Midwest League Leader in saves, who went 33-for-34 in save opportunities during the regular season.

Wait. The final was 11-10...That would mean the team with the best record in Minor League Baseball had a lead in the...oh...

Fort Wayne scored again in the top of the 11th when Figueroa flipped a single to center. When the ball was misplayed by the center fielder, pinch-runner Jason Codiroli scored from second to put the TinCaps ahead, 10-9.

Great Lakes finished it in the bottom of the 11th. With runners at the corners and one out, Alfredo Silverio hit a game-tying sacrifice fly. Sands followed with a drive down the left-field line to plate pinch-runner Parker Dalton and deliver the game-winning run.

Looooooons version was not available yet. That's understandable.

Starters for Game Two? Not available either.

Newspaper articles with quotes and everything in the morning.