[Westheim]

CONTINENTAL LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES
Portland Raccoons (95-67) vs. Oklahoma City Thunder (93-69)

Game 3 – Kinji Kan (17-11, 2.02 ERA) vs. Dragoljub Djukic (9-4, 3.79 ERA)

Djukic had missed considerable portions of the season due to arm and elbow issues, but at age 24 he was a strong pitcher, who struck out a lot of batters and also was the 1981 CL Rookie of the Year.

Alex White socked a leadoff home run to get the Raccoons up 1-0, but after loading the bags with nobody out they failed to score. This promptly came back at them when Troy Scott (that fool…) ALSO hit a leadoff homer off Kinji Kan.

Neither team put up a serious threat in the next four innings in the 1-1 game. Mark Dawson belted a solo home run to lead off the sixth inning, getting the Raccoons 2-1 ahead again.

Kinji Kan left in the seventh, having covered 6.1 innings with 103 pitches and was done. David Jones could not get out Troy Scott (who had NEVER played that well in Portland!!), but Jason White got a grounder to end the inning with a double play, but then surrendered a double to Jose Gonzales in the eighth. Burton Taylor came in to face lefties, but threw a wild pitch that advanced Gonzales to third. The runner scored on the following flyout and the game was tied.

Both teams were surrendered in order in the ninth to get the game to extra innings. There emerged Seung-ook Yi, the feared closer of the Thunder. The Raccoons were surrendered quickly again, while Wally Gaston put runners on the corners with two out in the bottom 10th. Grant West came in to face lefty Marc Shaw, who drew a walk and brought up the catcher Sam Dadswell with the bags full. West struck him out.

The Thunder again got a runner to third in the 11th, but West wrestled through there. The Thunder now removed Yi for possible future use while the series was still in Oklahoma, and Alex White reached second on a throwing error to lead off the top 12th, but the Raccoons didn’t get him around.

West was removed for Ackerman in the bottom 12th. This was the role for him: cover those extra inning marathons, especially with no team getting anything done.

Turned out, the Raccoons couldn’t get anything done for longer. They were entirely harmless, and Ackerman was overwhelmed in the bottom 15th. Marc Shaw homered to right for two, it was over. Thunder win, 4-2. Smith 3-7;

Oklahoma can now still finish this at home.

Game 4 – Charles Young (7-5, 2.64 ERA) vs. Ray Shaw (11-9, 3.18 ERA)

We put in Spencer Dicks to catch the knuckleballer Young (and since Enrique Sanchez had not set the plate on fire so far) and also Jayson Bowling at second, where Winston Thompson was hitless after two and a half games. We had not seen much from Ray Shaw so far, but he seemed to be an above-average guy throughout. There was also no question we had to take this game.

Mark Dawson drove in Alex White in the first inning for an early 1-0 lead. Spencer Dicks’ solo shot in the second made it 2-0. But Young was crashed in the fourth inning, with a leadoff jack to Jose Gonzales and they kept reeling off hits and scored three in the inning.

Mark Dawson returned the favor in the fifth with a 2-run homer off Shaw. That made it 4-3 Raccoons again.

Young was removed for Thompson to pinch hit in the top 6th with a runner on third and two out, but Thompson grounded out. In the bottom of the inning we burned through three relievers trying to keep Oklahoma from scoring. They had runners on the corners with two down, when Scott Spivey tried to steal second, but was nailed by Dicks.

4-3 was too close a score for Dawson’s taste – he socked another home run to drive in Daniel Hall and make it 6-3. Both his homers had come with two out in this game, and now the bullpen of the home team was crumbling. The Raccoons scored four in the top 8th, including a 3-run clubber by Hall, to lead 10-3.

Wally Gaston pitched two wild innings to get the game home, and the Raccoons won 10-4 to tie the series. A. White 2-5, BB, 2B; Hall 2-4, BB, HR, 3 RBI; Dawson 4-5, 2 HR, 5 RBI; Walker 2-5; Bowling 2-5;

Game 5 – Christopher Powell vs. Hunter Frazier

Sanchez was catching again, but Bowling remained in, because Thompson had not contributed any so far.

Both pitchers started dialed in well and it looked like another scoreless slough here, but Powell led off the top 3rd with a double to deep right center and was driven in by Chris Smith, 1-0 Raccoons.

Powell was not flawless, though. Alfonso Aranda drove a ball to right that Alex White barely managed to scrape off the top of the wall. Still, the lead remained unscathed through four.

The Raccoons again came to bat in the fifth. Powell struck out to lead off, but White and Smith got on base and were driven in by Daniel Hall with a MONSTROUS 400+ft home run to left center. 4-0 Raccoons.

But Oklahoma reeled off three straight hits to start the bottom 5th, and suddenly the game was 4-1, with runners on second and third and nobody out – but Powell chopped through them and no more runs scored in the inning. Powell still was removed in the bottom 6th, when he hit Jose Gonzales with a pitch. David Jones struck out Marc Shaw to continue.

Jones then hit Scott Spivey to put two on with nobody out in the bottom 7th. This time the team couldn’t get out without some scars. Cunningham gave up two singles and two runs scored. 4-3 Raccoons. Uh-oh.

Walker and Bowling both singled to lead off the top 8th, but didn’t score, then Cunningham fireballed his way through the bottom of the inning. The ‘Coons again put on two and didn’t score in the ninth against Yi.

Bottom 9th, up 4-3, enter Grant West. He struck out Frederick Webb. Sandro Delgado grounded to Walker, and Troy Scott flew out to Daniel Hall in left, and OVER!!

4-3 Raccoons! We go to Portland LEADING this thing!! Smith 3-5, RBI; Dawson 2-5; Workman 2-5, 2B; Walker 2-5; Bowling 2-4; the ‘Coons had 16 hits – 13 singles.