vs    

Game 1 Rosehaven at Antioch
Chan Ho Park vs Roger Clemens

Antioch, opening at home this year, found themselves down 4-0 in the 7th inning, largely on a sloppy first inning by Roger Clemens. In the seventh, Park tired and allowed a run and left with the bases loaded, and Jay Powell got out with only one run further damage. Powell wasn't as fortunate in the next inning, allowing a tying pinch hit 2RHR to Tim Salmon. Ramiro Mendoza, after throwing a perfect ninth, started the tenth walk, Sosa RBI double, walk, and Jack Cressend came in a allowed a bases loaded double to John VanderWal. Nuff said. Game 1 to the River Dogs, 9-4.

               123 456 789 0   R  H  E
River Dogs     300 000 100 5   9 11  0
Wizards        000 000 220 0   4  7  2 
RRD - Park, Powell (7), DeJean (9)(W,1-0); ANT - Clemens, Cruz (8), Mendoza (9)(L,0-1), Cressend (10).  HR - ANT: Salmon (1)

Game 2 Rosehaven at Antioch
Hideo Nomo vs Andy Pettitte

Pettitte threw seven shutout innings, escaping allowing a run when Tim Salmon gunned down Mike Piazza at the plate to send the 7th. Helton's sac fly and Singleton's homer gave Antioch a 2-0 by that point, but it wasn't enough to avoid extra innings, as Jeter led off the 8th with a HR to narrow the score to 2-1, and Farnsworth allowed single, single, walk, balk to tie it at 2 in the 9th. Terry Adams was pitching for Rosehaven by then, and threw into the 11th, when he allowed three singles with one out. Esteban Yan came in, threw a strike, and then threw a wild pitch and the series was tied at 1.

               123 456 789 01  R  H  E
River Dogs     000 000 011 00  2  8  1
Wizards        100 001 000 01  3  7  0
RRD - Nomo, Stanton (8), Adams (9)(L,0-1), Yan (11); ANT: Pettitte, Moreno (8)(S,1), Cruz (8), Kline (8)(H,1), Farnsworth (9)(BS,1), Mendoza (11)(W,1-1).  HR - ANT: Singleton (1); RRD: Jeter (1).

Game 3 Antioch at Rosehaven
Russ Ortiz vs Woody Williams

The premier matchup, with Ortiz coming off his conference clinching no-hitter, while Williams won WS MVP in 2000. Williams threw fifteen shutout innings against Antioch in 2000 and threw another 7 here in game 3 as Rosehaven took a 2-1 lead in the series. Antioch left 11 on base, including John Franco getting Ramon Hernandez to foul out with the bases loaded in the 8th. The first Rosehaven run was unearned on A-Rod's error, and the second run came in the 7th after 2 outs and none on, Scott Rolen singled in Mike Piazza.

            123 456 789  R  H  E
Wizards     000 000 000  0  9  1
River Dogs  001 000 10x  2  5  0 
ANT - Ortiz (L,0-1), Cressend (7) RRD - Williams (W,1-0), Franco (8)(H,1), Isringhausen (9)(S,1). HR - none.

Game 4 Antioch at Rosehaven
Jason Johnson vs Jason Bere

Derek Jeter broke a 1-1 tie with a 5th inning homer, and Sammy Sosa singled in two seventh inning insurance runs, as Rosehaven went 3-1 up. The Wizards had only four hits, but failed in key situations.

            123 456 789  R  H  E
Wizards     000 100 000  1  4  1
River Dogs  000 110 20x  4  9  0
ANT - Johnson (L,0-1), Cruz (7), Maduro (8); RRD - Bere  (W,1-0), DeJean (8)(S,1). HR - Jeter (2).

Game 5 Antioch at Rosehaven
Roger Clemens vs Chan Ho Park

Sammy Sosa follwed two third inning walks with a 3RHR putting the River Dogs ahead 3-0. That was Rosehaven's last hit.  The Wizards failed to capitalize on their opportunities. In the 4th, Helton was out at third trying to advance on a semi-wild pitch before a Velarde single, and in the 5th, A-Rod left two on in scoring position. The Wizards finally broke through in the 7th, on Mike Darr's RBI single. A-Rod walked against Franco to load the bases, but Helton stranded them. Stanton allowed a walk and a double in the 8th, but pinchitter Doug Mirabelli lined out to end the Wizards' last threat, Rosehaven wins the series easily, 4 games to 1.

            123 456 789  R  H  E
Wizards     000 000 100  1  9  1
River Dogs  003 000 00x  3  2  1
ANT - Clemens (L,0-1), Kline (7), Moreno (8); RRD - Park  (W,1-0), Franco (7)(H,2), Stanton (8)(S,1). HR - Sosa (1).

Series stuff: MVP: Sammy Sosa, who drove in 7 runs in the series, including the game winners in games 1 and 5. His 2 run insurance single in game 4 also settled matters... Neither team shone at bat, with Rosehaven having a team O+S of .611 and Antioch at .577... The teams combined for 9 quality starts in 10 outings. If Clemens had been removed in the 7th rather than allowing a 4th run in his final frame, it would have been 10-10... Antioch middle relief, which had shone through the season and barely survived the Conference final, was spotty, as relievers Farsworth, Mendoza, and Cruz each getting touched for key runs... Antioch, who played the conference final without an error, made 5 in the Series, although it led to only 2 runs... Alex Rodriguez went 1-18.