CHARLESTON, W.Va. --- As the dust settled at Appalachian Power Park on Thursday night, the Augusta GreenJackets were left as the top team in the South Atlantic League.
A 4-3 win over the West Virginia Power completed a postseason sweep and a successful SAL title run for GreenJackets manager Andy Skeels and his young team. Amid hugs, handshakes and locker room toasts, the magnitude of a 93-50 season started to hit home.
"I'm a little speechless right now," Skeels said. "It definitely means a lot to me. I think it's a testament to the hard work and preparation we all had this year. My staff and my players made me look real good."
For Skeels, the championship was his first as a manager.
For pitching coach Ross Grimsley, an 11-year Major League Baseball veteran, it was his first ever.
"I've never ever won a championship," Grimsley said to the players in a locker room huddle after the game. "I've been to the World Series and lost. I've been in the playoffs and lost. This is my first. Thank you."
It was not a first for Augusta. The SAL championship has been claimed by an Augusta team a league-record 10 times. But this Augusta team stands out because of its youth. Four regular starters were teenagers, including infielders Angel Villalona and Nick Noonan, who were 17 and 18, respectively, on Opening Day.
"I think with youth you're never quite sure what you're going to get," Skeels said. "That's why, from Day 1, we said this is going to be a year where you learn how to be professional and learn how the San Francisco Giants want you to play baseball. Fortunately for me, we had a lot of talent."
The youthful talent extended to the pitching staff. Two of the GreenJackets' three postseason starters began the year younger than 21.
Madison Bumgarner, who was 18 years old and only a year removed from high school when the season began, led a staff that finished with the best ERA in all of affiliated baseball.
Grimsley admitted such achievements weren't predicted.
"We didn't know what to expect when the season started. They were young players," he said. "We had a young pitching staff, and we just had no clue how they were going to react to playing day in and day out. ... They were better at the end than they were at the beginning, and that's the whole thing. They just did a lot better than we ever anticipated."
Reach Billy Byler at (706) 823-3216 or billy.byler@augustachronicle.com.
SEASON HIGHLIGHTS
April 3: The GreenJackets begin the season at home before Masters Week for the first time in five years. Their youth shows as the team loses three in a row . Madison Bumgarner's first professional start is his worst of the season: five earned runs in seven innings for a loss.
April 29: After losing five in a row -- including a three-game sweep by the Asheville Tourists -- the GreenJackets begin what would become a nine-game winning streak.
June 15: The first half of the season ends with the GreenJackets in third place, 4 1/2 games out of first, with a 41-28 record.
June 19: The GreenJackets open the second half and take three of five games from first-half champion Asheville to kick off a stretch of 11 wins in 12 games and take first place. They remain on top the rest of the season.
July 22: An extra-inning home game against Lake County ends with a walk-off home run by 17-year-old Angel Villalona. The blast is the longest homer of the year at Lake Olmstead Stadium and is one of a team-high 17 home runs for Villalona for the season.
Aug. 12: Nick Noonan's walk-off homer in the bottom of the ninth gives the GreenJackets a 2-1 win over West Virginia.
Aug. 15: Bumgarner turns in his top strikeout performance in a 7-0 win over Lexington, striking out 12 batters in six innings en route to a two-hit shutout.
Aug. 28: On the second-to-last home game of the regular season, the GreenJackets clinch the South Atlantic League second-half championship with a 5-1 win over Hickory.
Sept. 11: The GreenJackets wrap up the SAL championship with a 4-3 victory at West Virginia. Their five consecutive postseason victories give the team a minor-league-best 93-50 overall record.
-- Billy Byler
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