RiverDogs RunDown Championship Edition

LEADING OFF

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SERIES PREVIEW

HISTORY IN THE MAKING

BY THE NUMBERS

The Low-A East Championship Series between the Charleston RiverDogs and Down East Wood Ducks shifts to the Holy City for game three as well as games four and five, if necessary.

The RiverDogs returned home with a 2-0 lead in the bestof-five series thanks to a pair of wins in Kinston earlier in the week. They escaped with a 4-2 win in the opening contest on Tuesday and then broke a tie in the ninth inning on the way to an 8-5 victory on Wednesday. The teams met 12 times in the regular season with Down East winning eight of the match-ups.

The Wood Ducks, an affiliate of the Texas Rangers, were the only team in the league to post a winning record against the RiverDogs this season. The pitching staff finished with a 4.27 earned run average, good for fourth in the league during the regular season. The rotation is led by Owen White, a 2018 second round pick, who struck out 11 RiverDogs in his final outing of the regular season on Sunday. On offense, Down East resides in the middle of the pack in most categories, but did lead the league by a wide margin in stolen bases. Center fielder Jayce Easley swiped more bases than any other player in the Low-A East, while Cristian Inoa has been the driving force behind the Wood Ducks attack in the first two games of this series.

The RiverDogs, a Tampa Bay Rays affiliate, enter tonight’s game needing just one more win to secure their first championship as an organization. It would also be the first title claimed by a Charleston professional baseball team since 1922 when the Charleston Pals won the South Atlantic League crown based on their regular season record. Johan Lope has been a spark plug at the plate, driving in four runs during the two games in Kinston. The RiverDogs finished with the best batting average and the most home runs in the league during the regular season. On the mound, Charleston finished with the lowest ERA and most strikeouts of any team in the circuit. Ben Brecht and Seth Johnson each turned in their longest outings of the season as the starting pitchers in games one and two, respectively.

Friday, September 24, 7:05 p.m.: Low-A East Championship Series Game 3: Playoff T-Shirt Giveaway/$1 Beer/Post-Game Fireworks: The RiverDogs run to the playoffs is presented by Nucor Steel Berkeley. Budweiser invites fans to celebrate a fantastic season of RiverDogs baseball this weekend. The first 1,500 fans into the ballpark will receive a free RiverDogs playoff t-shirt. In addition, a Thursday night tradition shifts to Friday with $1 beers available throughout the ballpark. The team hopes to celebrate a championship on the field after the game, but win or lose, the night will end with a fireworks show!

Saturday, September 25, 6:05 p.m.: Low-A East Championship Series Game 4 (If Necessary): The RiverDogs run to the playoffs is presented by Nucor Steel Berkeley. Budweiser invites fans to celebrate a fantastic season of RiverDogs baseball this weekend.

Sunday, September 26, 5:05 p.m.: Low-A East Championship Series Game 5 (If Necessary): TThe RiverDogs run to the playoffs is presented by Nucor Steel Berkeley. Budweiser invites fans to celebrate a fantastic season of RiverDogs baseball this weekend.

A large part of the excitement surrounding Opening Day for a Minor League Baseball team revolves around the unknown. That statement has never been more accurate than in April 2021. Following a 15-month pause made necessary by the COVID-19 pandemic and a widespread shuffling of leagues and affiliations, no one knew what to expect over the next five months. There were new protocols to follow and a brand new partnership with the Tampa Bay Rays and their well-regarded farm system to wrap one’s head around. All of that nervous anticipation has long since passed and as the season approaches its conclusion, it would be hard to imagine a more successful year for the RiverDogs on and off the field.

The season started in a relatively pedestrian manner. In the first three series, the RiverDogs went 9-9 including a series loss to the Down East Wood Ducks at home.

That defeat at the hands of the Wood Ducks would turn out to be the only series that the team did not win or split over the next four months. In series play, the team enters this week with 14 wins (including four sweeps) and three splits. The RiverDogs will close the regular season in Kinston, NC against Down East with a chance to avenge their earlier defeat.

The most impressive part about how the team has taken care of business on the field is the consistency they have played with on a nightly basis. The team has only one “losing streak” during the 108 games they have played and that streak lasted just three games.

On the other hand, the squad enters this series with an eight-game winning streak, a number they have reached once before this season. In total, the RiverDogs have won six or more games in a row on five separate occasions.

The history of the Charleston baseball franchise, including stints as the Royals and Rainbows, has not been filled with a great deal of success. Having already secured a spot in the Low-A East Championship Series later this month, the RiverDogs will become the first team to play for a title since 1988. The franchise came into existence in 1980 and has never boasted a championship-winning team. Despite playing 20 fewer games this season than in previous MiLB campaigns, the 2021 team has already shattered a couple of notable records. With 12 games remaining in the regular season, the RiverDogs have combined to hit 112 home runs, a new single-season high. The previous standard (109) was achieved by two other teams in the mid-2000s. With 77 wins already under their belt, the highest winning percentage in franchise history will also belong to this year’s group no matter how they finish the year. If the team can win 9 of the final 12 games,

they will also post the highest win total in team history. That honor currently belongs to the 1988 team that won 85 games.

In a year that featured primarily games against divisional opponents, the RiverDogs won the South by a landslide. The Dogs begin this series holding a 16-8 mark against Myrtle Beach and have finished off their battles with Columbia and Augusta having gone 23-12 and 25-6, respectively, against the duo.

In Minor League Baseball, a team that has a great deal of success also generally features a great deal of turnover to the roster. This year has been no different in the Lowcountry. The team has had 15 different players receive a promotion to High-A Bowling Green throughout the 2021 campaign. At the start of this series, only 10 players who were a part of the opening day roster are still with the club.

There were, of course, several notable individual achievements that captured the attention of baseball enthusiasts in both Charleston and Tampa Bay. Alexander Ovalles collected a team-record 10 runs batted in during a game in Columbia on May 15, with help from three home runs. Reliever Andrew Gross posted a 31.0 inning scoreless streak, the longest such streak for a pitcher in MiLB this season. Diego Infante is currently leading the league with 77 RBI and has launched a team-high 14 home runs. Australian Curtis Mead was named Low-A East Player of the week on two separate occasions with Brett Wisely, Heriberto Hernandez and Tanner Murray each receiving the honor once.

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Number of championships won by the Charleston RiverDogs since the organization came into existence in 1980.

Players remaining on the RiverDogs active roster that were with the team on opening day in May. 17 different players received a promotion to High-A Bowling Green throughout the season.

Number of years since the last professional baseball championship won by a team that called Charleston home. The most recent champion was the Charleston Pals in 1922.