P-Nats claim Carolina League title

WOODBRIDGE, Va.- The Potomac Nationals were novices at championship celebrations entering the 2008 season. Four post-game parties later, the P-Nats are pros and also 2008 Carolina League Champions following an 8-2 win over the Myrtle Beach Pelicans in Game 4 of the best-of-five Mills Cup Finals.

After a dramatic come-from-behind effort in Game 3 of the series, Potomac left little to chance in the clinching win. With two outs and a runner aboard in the bottom of the first inning after, Andrew Lefave beat out an infield single, and Dee Brown smacked a home run that just got over the right-center field fence putting the P-Nats up 2-0.

Ernesto Mejia followed with a leadoff homer to dead center off of starter Erik Arnesen (1-0) to open the second, cutting the lead to 2-1.

That would be as close as the Pelicans, the team that finished 10 games better than the Nationals during the regular season, would get. Boomer Whiting banged a two-run homer to left in the bottom of the second to answer Mejia and begin the scoring barrage.

Potomac added another run off of Myrtle Beach starter Cole Rohrbaugh (0-1) in the bottom of the third on a one-out RBI ground out off of the bat of Michael Burgess putting the P-Nats up 5-1 and knocking out the southpaw after just 2 2/3 innings.

The Nationals pulled away with a two-run bottom of the fourth and added another in the bottom of the sixth taking a commanding 8-1 lead into the final three innings.

It was more than enough for Arnesen, who aside from allowing another home run to Mejia leading off the top of the seven, was great for 6 2/3 innings holding the Pelicans to two runs on six hits while striking out four and walking a pair.

Jhonatan Solano, who tied Game 3 with a dramatic two-out, three-run homer in the bottom of the ninth, was named MVP of the Mills Cup Finals after going 6-for-14 (.429) with a double, two home runs, four RBIs, and five runs scored.

The Potomac Nationals became the first team in franchise history to win a Carolina League title since the Prince William Cannons defeated the Durham Bulls 3-1 in 1989. The franchise is now 9-2 in championship series as the P-Nats join the '89 Cannons and 1982 Alexandria Dukes as the only champions in its history.

The 2008 season will go down as a historical campaign as the Nationals finished a win shy of the '82 Dukes for most in a single season with 79. The club became the first team in the franchise's history to win both half titles and the first full-season Washington Nationals affiliate ever to qualify for the postseason since baseball returned to the District in 2005. The P-Nats join the DSL Nationals 1 as the only two Washington affiliates to win a league title this season.