Championship Series Bound! Thunder Stop Phillies, 5-4 To Win ELDS

(Trenton, NJ) - Ryan Pope induced a game-ending double-play grounder from EL MVP Darin Ruf with the tying and winning runs on base in the ninth and the Trenton Thunder held off the Reading Phillies, 5-4, in game four Sunday afternoon night at Waterfront Park to clinch the series win 3-1. Addison Maruszak and J.R. Murphy homered for Trenton, which won the final three games of the series to advance to the ELCS for the fourth time in the last six seasons.

With the Thunder leading by one run, Reading pinch-hitter D'Arby Myers led off the ninth with a single against Pope. After Tyson Gillies popped up trying to sacrifice, Cody Asche singled to put runners on first and second base for Ruf, who had homered back in the sixth inning. Pope got the Minor League home run leader to hit a ground ball to shortstop that Maruszak fielded to begin a game-ending 6-4-3 double play.

Trenton broke open a 1-1 tie in the fourth with three runs against Reading starter Adam Morgan (0-1). David Adams led off with a double and scored two batters later when Maruszak singled him home. Murphy followed with a drive to left that just cleared the fence for a two-run shot that put the Thunder in front 4-1.

The Phillies rallied for a pair of sixth-inning runs against Thunder starter Nik Turley (1-0) including Ruf's only long ball of the series, a solo shot deep down the left field line. But Maruszak struck with his second homer of the series in the bottom of the inning, a line drive just inside the pole in left against Morgan that made the score 5-3.

David Aardsma, on Major League rehab for the Yankees, allowed a run in the seventh on Asche's RBI single but escaped further damage when he induced a double-play ground out from Tug Hulett. Trenton turned three double plays in the game.

Mark Montgomery pitched a scoreless eighth inning with a pair of strikeouts, setting the stage for Pope to earn his second save of the series in the ninth. Turley allowed three runs on six hits in five innings of work, while Morgan was charged with five runs on five hits in six frames.

Trenton will next play in the Eastern League Championship Series against the winner of Sunday night's Bowie-Akron game five. Game one will be on the road on Tuesday night, with the Thunder expected to throw righty Brett Marshall (0-1, 5.14). Radio coverage on 91.3 FM (WTSR) and also streaming online is tentatively scheduled to begin at 6:45 pm.