Curve complete sweep, advance to Championship Series

CURVE, Pa. - Behind a strong start from Austin Coley , the Altoona Curve knocked off the Bowie Baysox, 6-1, completing a Western Division Series sweep on Saturday night at Peoples Natural Gas Field and advancing to the Eastern League Championship Series.

Tweet from @AltoonaCurve: FINAL - Curve 6, Baysox 1WE ARE HEADING TO THE EASTERN LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES #FullSteamAhead pic.twitter.com/YYxoZmXZQS
Coley (Win, 1-0) pitched seven innings and allowed one run on six hits with three strikeouts. He has now allowed just one run over his last 22 innings pitched dating back to the regular season.  
Tweet from @AltoonaCurve: Three scoreless innings tossed by @AustinColey to start the nightWe're leading, 2-0, as we hit the fourth pic.twitter.com/gWyiXHngqM

Altoona jumped on the board first with two runs in the first inning. Mitchell Tolman walked to start the frame and advanced to third base when Pablo Reyes singled. Kevin Kramer , in his first at-bat since mid-June, hit a sacrifice fly to put the Curve ahead, 1-0. Later in the inning, Jerrick Suiter doubled and Reyes scored on a sacrifice fly by Jin-De-Jhang to extend the lead to 2-0.
Tweet from @AltoonaCurve: Sacrifice flies by @Kevin_Kramer7 and Jin-De Jhang bring home the first two runs of tonight's game pic.twitter.com/VqGRa9DhGg
The Baysox got a run back in the top of the fourth inning. D.J. Stewart launched a solo home run, his first of the postseason, to cut the lead to, 2-1.
The Curve extended the lead in the fourth. Suiter walked to open the inning and Jhang brought him around to score with an RBI triple to push the lead to 3-1.
Tweet from @AltoonaCurve: Jin-De Jhang drives in his second run of the night with a triple in the fourthOff to the fifth we go with a 3-1 lead over the Baysox pic.twitter.com/CCmHtk27fR
In the fifth, Pablo Reyes led off the inning with a solo home run to stretch the advantage to 4-1.
 Tweet from @AltoonaCurve: GONE. pic.twitter.com/EWDPcZiAsI
Altoona added two more runs in the sixth inning. Jhang led off with a walk and Wyatt Mathisen clubbed a two-run home run to widen the gap to 6-1.
Tweet from @AltoonaCurve: GONEx2. pic.twitter.com/ODCZw0kXCj
Tanner Anderson relieved Coley and pitched two scoreless innings to close out the game.
Tweet from @AltoonaCurve: .@tanneraanderson works a 1-2-3 eighth inningWe're heading to the ninth with a 6-1 leadTune in: https://t.co/aTxgMatY1x pic.twitter.com/HiVyDdUb5S
Reyes finished the game 2-for-4 with a homer, an RBI and two runs scored and hit .429 over the three-game series, tops on the team.
Baysox starter Lucas Long (Loss, 0-1) was chased after four innings, allowing three runs on three hits. Jordan Kipper surrendered three runs in 1.2 innings.
The Curve went 5-14 against the Baysox in the regular season this year before eliminating them in the playoffs with the three-game sweep. The series marked the Curve's first postseason sweep since they beat the Erie SeaWolves in three games in 2004 to advance to their first ELCS.
Altoona last appeared in the ELCS in 2010, topping Trenton in four games to win their only Eastern League championship to date.
Games 1 and 2 of the Eastern League Championship Series will take place on Tuesday and Wednesday, with first pitch for both games set for 7 p.m. at ARM & HAMMER Park.
Games 3 through 5 in the best-of-five series will take place at Peoples Natural Gas Field, with Game 3 beginning at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Game 4 (in necessary) starting at 6 p.m. on Friday and Game 5 (if necessary) taking place at 3 p.m. on Saturday.
For tickets or more information, visit AltoonaCurve.com, call 877.99.CURVE or stop by the Peoples Natural Gas Field box office.
-CURVE-