The Trenton Thunder won their third Eastern League Championship in franchise history on Sept. 12.
Trenton beat the Harrisburg Senators 11 to 4. This is the first championship for the Thunder since the team won the second of their back-to-back titles in 2008.
Trenton — who finished the season on a season-high nine-game winning streak and has not lost since Aug. 30 — was the first Eastern League team to sweep both the divisional and championship rounds of the postseason since Albany-Colonial (Yankees affiliate) did it in 1991.
During the championship game. the Thunder notched 16 hits, including four as part of the five-run inning. Trenton sent 11 batters to the plate in that inning, which knocked Harrisburg starting pitcher Nathan Karns out of the ballgame. Karns, who finished the regular season with 155 strikeouts in about 130 innings, lasted just 2.2 innings and was charged with five runs on four hits, three walks and a hit-by-pitch.
In the third inning, Trenton had two outs and a runner on first base with Jose Pirela batting. He had an 0-2 count against him before being plunked by Karns. That started a streak of seven straight batters to reach and turned a 1-0 deficit into a 5-1 lead.
Trenton’s offense was led by three-hit nights by Ramon Flores and Ben Gamel. Gamel finished the postseason by batting 8-for-15 (.533 AVG) with three walks (.611 OBP) in four games played. Mason Williams, Gary Sanchez and Tyler Austin each finished with two hits on the night and all nine starters recorded hits for Trenton.
Postseason MVP was Ali Castillo who played 46 games for the Thunder in the regular season, but was instrumental in many key moments for Trenton. Castillo, who rejoined Trenton’s roster after an injury to starting shortstop Carmen Angelini in the final series of the regular season, hit his first home run as a member of the Thunder in the fifth inning to pad what was a 5-1 lead at the time for Trenton. He finished the postseason batting 8-for-20 (.400) with two doubles, a run scored and two RBI.
Shane Greene was the starting pitcher for the Thunder and tossed 5.1 innings for the victory. Down the stretch, Greene’s final three starts were in the Wild Card-clinching game at Portland Aug. 31, Game 3 of the Eastern Division Championship Series at Binghamton and the championship game. He allowed two earned runs in 18.0 innings (1.00 ERA) and got the victory in each game.
The championship was the third for manager Tony Franklin in his seven seasons at the helm of the Thunder. It was also the third for Trenton third baseman Reegie Corona who was part of the 2007 and 2008 championship teams. The 26-year old had not appeared in an affiliated baseball game since 2010 due to an arm injury and finished with six hits in six postseason games.
More information is online at trentonthunder.com.