Hogs Easily Put Away River Otters to Move On
October 8, 2001
Punxatawney, PA (AP)
The River Otters certainly made it interesting, winning the 3rd and 4th games
of the Punxatawney-Sacramento series. But in the end, a solid offensive effort
from the entire Hogs team led to a 9-4 series-clinching victory. Series MVP
Jon Lieber, who won for the second time, tossed 6 solid innings before being
pulled in the 7th. He did much better than Jeff Fassero, who gave up 4 runs in
less than 3 innings before he was relieved by Sidney Ponson, who did not do
much better.
"We got the job done. We scored early and often and they were too far behind
by the time they started coming back," said Lieber. "Everyone had a stake in
thise one."
The middle of the order carried the most of the offensive load, as Scott Rolen
and Jose Valentin each homered, combining to go 5-9 with 4 runs and 3 RBI.
Dave Martinez had a pair of hits and a pair of walks.
Now with Sacramento and that vile J.D. Drew out of the way, all eyes turn to
the next opponent--the very solid Washington Sea Dogs, who just came back from
a 2-0 hole against the team who just posted the winningest season in PVBL
history.
"Well, we showed Phoenix who was boss of this league two years ago so I guess
its time to do the same to Washington. But with Weiner on the other bench, you
never know what kind of decadent baseball action will occur," said manager Dan
Shapiro.
This series will be a challenge for both teams, but with Washington riding a 3
game winning streak and Punxatawney barely holding on to win their series, one
has to give the momentum advantage to the Sea Dogs. And while the Sea Dogs are
the wildcard winner, they had 4 more victories than Punxatawney. They also had
a 46-12 out of division record, the best in baseball.
"We've pulled off bigger upsets before. We can do it again," said Shapiro.
With his ace Jon Lieber having just thrown game 4, Shapiro will turn to Rocky
Coppinger to throw the opening game. He went 13-7, 3.35 in the regular season.
"We won game two with Rocky throwing, and he can do just as well under game 1
pressure," said Shapiro. "We can handle the Sea Dogs. We want Galena in the
series!"
