Jackets get 10th title with sweep

CHARLESTON, W.Va. --- Augusta GreenJackets manager Andy Skeels quieted down his team long enough to get in one quick word of congratulations in Thursday night.

"You're the best team in all of minor league baseball, and you proved it tonight."

That's all he could get out before the sounds of pure victory drowned him out in the visitors' locker room at Appalachian Power Park.

The GreenJackets earned the South Atlantic League Championship with a 4-3 win over the West Virginia Power. The victory completed a three-game sweep and gave Augusta an undefeated postseason and its 10th SAL Championship.

"Yeah, we expected that. We weren't here to lose," closer Andrew De La Garza said. "It's a long year, and we were going to win it. For me, to be out there for that last pitch and have it put in your hands -- wow. That was such an honor."

De La Garza struck out Zelous Wheeler on three pitches in the final at-bat to seal the win. His performance completed the season for the best pitching staff in the minors. The GreenJackets entered the playoffs with the lowest ERA in professional affiliated baseball and rode that momentum to a 5-0 postseason.

"Our pitching is the best there is," outfielder Shane Jordan said. "We knew when (Craig) Clark won Game 1, we had it."

Madison Bumgarner got the win in Game 2, and Scott Barnes finished it off in Game 3.

Barnes held West Virginia, the top-hitting team in the league in the league's most hitter-friendly park, to two runs on five hits through six innings. David Mixon threw a perfect seventh, and De La Garza pitched the final two innings to pick up the save.

GreenJackets second baseman Nick Noonan proved to be the difference offensively. The 19-year-old slugger went 2-for-5 with a pair of RBI on a bases-loaded, two-out single in the fourth inning to take a 4-1 lead.

"For a kid his age, he's a tremendous professional hitter," Skeels said. "He came through again when we needed him most."

Noonan also got a hit in the first inning, when he and Shane Jordan started the game with back-to-back singles. Thomas Neal drove in Jordan with a two-out, bases-loaded walk, and Noonan scored on an error on the next at-bat.

The GreenJackets sent eight batters to the plate in the first inning and forced starter Evans Anundsen out of the game after only two outs.

Reach Billy Byler at (706) 823-3216 or billy.byler@augustachronicle.com.