[DOWN ON THE FARM] Niemann And Davis Lead Bulls Into IL Championship Series
Tim Beckham September 8th. 2008, 7:18amGame 3: Durham 3, Lousiville 2 (Bulls lead 2-1). Jeff Niemann saved possibly his best performance as a pro for when the Bulls needed it most. Niemann took a no-hitter into the 8th inning, and finished with 11 strikeouts to only 3 walks in 8 innings of work, allowing 1 run on 2 hits. Despite giving up 1 run late, Niemann appeared to get stronger as the game moved along. He struck out 7 in his final 3 innings of work…Jonny Gomes provided all of the offense with a 2-run home run in the 1st and adding an RBI single in the 5th.
Game 4: Durham 9, Louisville 1 (Bulls win series 3-1). Wade Davis struck out 7 in 6 innings, giving up only 1 run on 4 hits and 3 hits…Dale Thayer and Heath Phillips threw the final 3 innings, striking out 5 and not allowing a run…Jonny Gomes homered for the second straight game, a solo shot. He also started the scoring with an RBI single in the first…But the offensive star was Matt Spring, playing in just his second triple-A game, his first start. Spring finished 3-4 with a double, a home run and 6 RBI. His bases-clearing double in the 4th broke a 1-1 tie and his 3-run home run in the 6th put the game out of reach.
Staten Island @ Hudson Valley (canceled, rain). The Renegades concluded their season 40-35 in 3rd place, 9 games back…Tim Beckham played in only 2 games for Hudson Valley and sat out the final 4. He finished his debut season hitting .246/.309/.350 with 2 home runs, 14 RBI and 6-7 in steals.
NOTES FROM DOWN ON THE FARM…
- This will be the Bulls’ 6th appearance in the Governors Cup Finals in the last 11 seasons. They will face the Scranton/Wilkes Barre Yankees. Game 1 will be tomorrow in Scranton as will Game 2. Games 3, 4 and 5 will be in Durham. [Durham Bulls]
- The Rays have signed an extension with the Hudson Valley Renegades for two more seasons. [Poughkeepsie Journal]
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Good summary of last two Bulls games. Will have to grit my teeth and say something nice about Tampa — if they hadn’t called Jaso up, we wouldn’t have gotten Spring and who knows what would have happened? And (wearing out my teeth here) Gomes is really looking good at bat and in the field. Do have to say that I’ve never seen a twitchier batter in the box — if there’s something he doesn’t adjust or scratch I can’t imagine what it would be.
Niemann now has two quality starts in a row and three out of the last four. I like what I’m seeing!