Barnes celebrates birthday with sweep

Scott Barnes celebrated his 21st birthday by pitching the Augusta GreenJackets into the South Atlantic League Championship Series.

Barnes allowed one hit over seven innings in his first professional playoff appearance Friday as the GreenJackets completed a two-game sweep of the Asheville Tourists with a 4-2 win at McCormick Field.

Augusta awaits the winner of the series between the Lake County Captains and West Virginia Power. The SAL Finals begin Monday.

Barnes (1-0), selected by San Francisco in the eighth round of the 2008 First-Year Player Draft, struck out seven and walked three. He gave up a leadoff single in the first to Everth Cabrera but retired 17 of the last 18 batters he faced.

"He pitched a great game tonight. But he's been pitching a lot of good games for us," said Augusta manager Andy Skeels. "He shows no fear. He goes after hitters, had a good breaking ball, change and fastball."

After Cabrera singled, Darin Holcomb walks and Mike Mitchell drew two-out walks to load the bases. But Barnes escaped when Bo Bowman lined out to second baseman Nick Noonan.

"He had some jitters at the start," Skeels said. "He looked like he was trying to find his rhythm, but he bounced back. He threw a great game when we needed it."

Barnes started his pro career with three appearances in the Arizona League, then pitched in two games with Rookie-level Salem-Keizer in the Northwest League. In six regular-season starts for the GreenJackets, he was 3-2 with a 1.38 ERA.

Andrew De La Garza fanned two in 1 1/3 perfect innings to close it out and earn his second postseason save. His first save came in Thursday's opener, a 1-0 victory that featured another sterling performance by an Augusta starter as Madison Bumgarner struck out 10 over eight innings.

In Friday's clincher, Andrew Davis delivered a two-run single as the GreenJackets scored three times in the fourth to break a scoreless deadlock. Noonan's solo homer in the eighth closed the Augusta scoring.

Asheville starter Shane Lindsay (0-1) gave up three runs on four hits, fanning 10 and walking three, over six innings. Box score

In other SAL action:

West Virginia Power 10, Lake County Captains 0
Evan Anundsen hurled seven innings of two-hit ball as the Power pounded the Captains to even their best-of-3 series at 1-1. Zelous Wheeler hit a three-run homer and Steffan Wilson drove in two runs for West Virginia. Box score