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Game 1 Antioch at Rosehaven
Andy Pettitte vs Chan Ho Park

Mike Piazza got the fourth consecutive single in the home fifth, driving in two runs and breaking a 2-2 tie.  A double play ball added a third run in the inning. Antioch got two back in the sixth, when Helton  drove in two, but Park got ARod and Salmon to end the inning. Antioch messed around a little too much with their middle relief, as Nelson Cruz and Justin Speier each allowed insurance runs. The Wizards were less successful against the Rosehaven pen, and game 1 went to the Fehr Conference champs.

            123 456 789   R  H  E
Wizards     100 102 000   4  9  1
River Dogs  020 031 10x   7 11  1
ANT - Pettitte (L,0-1), NCruz (6), Speier (7), Lowe (8); RRD - Park (W,1-0), Weathers (7)(H,1), Worrell (8)(S,1).

Game 2 Antioch at Rosehaven
Paul Abbott vs Woody Williams

Woody Williams continued his incredible post season run, winning his third straight decision, this time by limiting the high scoring Wizards to no runs and seven hits in seven innings. Williams left after allowing a leadoff double in the eighth - - that was only the second Antioch player to get as far as second base. The Rosehaven offense was diversified, with Rolen, Palmiero and Piazza contributing run scoring hits. Abbott's main problem was wildness. Five walks and a hit batsman over 6 innings provided the River Dogs baserunners to plate on their leisurely output of only 5 hits.

            123 456 789  R  H  E
Wizards     000 000 000  0  8  1
River Dogs  010 121 00x  5  5  0 
ANT - Abbott (L,0-1), James (7), Swindell (8); RRD - Williams (W,1-0), Manzanillo (8), Tam (9). HR - RRD - Piazza (1).

Game 3 Rosehaven at Antioch
Makato Suzuki vs Scott Elarton

Edgardo Alfonso's dramatic three run home run with two outs in the seventh was the key hit as Antioch won their first game of the series. Trainling 2-1 going into the inning, Ben Grieve led off the inning off Suzuki with a home run to tie the game at 2. After a single, a walk and two outs, David Weathers delivered the pitch to Alfonso, and the rest was perfunctory. Jim Edmonds had three of the six hits for Rosehaven.

               123 456 789  R  H  E
River Dogs     020 000 000  2  6  0
Wizards        000 100 40x  5  6  2 
RRD - Suzuki (L, 0-1), Weathers (7); ANT - Elarton (W,1-0), Rhodes (8)(H,1), G.White (9)(S,1).  HR - ANT: Grieve (1), Alfonso (1).

Game 4 Rosehaven at Antioch
Hideo Nomo vs Brett Tomko

Antioch scored seven times in the second inning, and got three more in the 4th. But Rosehaven closed twice and fell one short as the Wizards evened the series. The Wizards sprang to life in the rainy second inning, with getting a two run homer from Grieve, a three run homer from Alfonzo, and a 2 run homer from Alex Rodriguez, all off of Hideo Nomo.  But the River Dogs closed to 1 over the next two innings, with the big hit being Rafael Palmeiro's three run homer. Antioch got to Steve Parris in the next phase, putting together a string of singles, and a walk and an error, extending their lead to 11-6. But Palmeiro again hit a 3 run homer. In the 9th, with an 11-9 lead, Gabe White gave up walk, single, single, but he struck out Benito Santiago to preserve the 11-10 win. Series tied at 2.

               123 456 789  R  H  E
River Dogs     104 100 301 10 11  2
Wizards        070 310 00x 11 16  0 
RRD - Nomo (L,0-1), Parris (2), Painter (4), Manzanillo (8), Leskanic (8); ANT - Tomko, Speier (3), N.Cruz (4), Lowe (6)(H,1), Swindell (7), James (8),(H,1), G.White (9)(S,2).  HR - RRD: Palmeiro 2(2). ANT: Grieve (2), Alfonso (2), ARodriguez (1),

Game 5 Rosehaven at Antioch
Park vs Pettitte

In one of those games which defines a series, Antioch was three outs away from a three game sweep with a three run lead, but lost, sending the series back to Rosehaven with a 3-2 River Dog lead. Chan Ho Park only allowed three hits over 5.2 innings, but walked a staggering 11 batters, and Rosehaven was lucky to trail by only 4-1 after six. Andy Pettitte was rolling along in the eighth, when he was pulled with one out and one on and Mike Piazza at the plate. Lowe got out of it, but was pulled for a pinchhitter in the bottom of the inning. Arthur Rhodes started the ninth for the Wizards, and walked Rolen and Palmeiro. Gabe White came on for his third straight game, but allowed singles to Edmonds and pinchhitter Benji Gil. 4-2. Santiago struck out with the bases loaded, and Jeter popped out, leaving the Wizards one out away form the win. Charlie Hayes pinch hit for Pokey Reese, and Antioch went to Mike James. Wrong decision. A wild pitch plated one and moved the other two into scoring position, and then Hayes doubled into the gap, and the River Dogs stole one, 5-4. Antioch needs to win 2 in Rosehaven.

               123 456 789  R  H  E
River Dogs     000 001 004  5  8  0
Wizards        300 001 000  4  4  0 
RRD - Park, Weathers (6), Manzanillo (7)(W,1-0), Tam (9)(S,1); ANT - Pettitte, Lowe (8)(H,2), Rhodes (9), White (9)(H,1)(L,0-1), James (9)(BS,1).  HR - ANT: Helton (1).

Game 6 Antioch at Rosehaven
Paul Abbott vs Woody Williams

Woody Williams finished it off in style, winning via shutout, needing only one out support from Jeff Tam. Antioch threatened first, having Tim Salmon thrown out at the plate in the second inning on Ben Grieve's one out double, but Ramon Hernandez followed with a routine fly to center. Rosehaven picked up an unearned run in the third, helped by Paul Abbott's errant pickoff throw.  A walk and three singles in the fouth made it 2-0; it could have been more if Rosehaven had been less aggressive on the base paths. Doubles by Piazza and Sosa made it 3-0 in the 5th, and Rolen's home run in the 6th ended the scoring.

            123 456 789  R  H  E
Wizards     000 000 000  0  7  1
River Dogs  001 111 00x  4  9  0 
ANT - Abbott (L,0-1), Tomko (7); RRD - Williams (W,2-0), Tam (9). HR - RRD - Rolen (1).

Series stuff: MVP: Woody Williams, following on from his conference championship MVP. Williams threw 15.2 scoreless innings, picking up wins in games 2 and 6... On the offensive side, Derek Jeter had an OB% of .571, clocking up 10 hits, 5 walks, and a HBP in 28 PA... Mike Piazza had 2 hits in each of 3 games and 6 RBI... Rafael Palmeiro had 8 RBI, although 6 came in a losing cause in game 4, and Jim Edmonds had 9 walks and a .600 OB%...  The series wasn't a true classic, with only two games being decided by 1 run, although there were two come from behind wins in games 3 and 5... Phil Nevin of Antioch was injured in game 4, forcing Antioch to start Denny Hocking over the last 2 1/2 games. Nevin hit .077 on the series, Hocking went 5-13 with 4 doubles... Antioch starting pitching was the weakness though, with good starts only from Scott Elarton in game 3 and Andy Pettitte in game 5.