Over 140,000 fans flocked to the Trail in Multnomah this past weekend to watch the Portland Lumberjacks host a 3-game series against the Sacramento Mad Popes. Those fans were not disappointed by any of the outcomes of the 3 contests as they watched the Lumberjacks squeak out three consecutive, one-run victories over the reigning Pacific Division champions. The sweep by Portland also propelled them further ahead in the standings as the Lumberjacks continue to be the surprise team in the Brewster Baseball Association.
In the opener of the series, Portland jumped out to an early 2-1 lead before breaking a 2-2 tie in the 8th with the game winning run. The Lumberjacks jumped out early in game 2 with a 7-1 lead through 7 innings before Sacramento rallied against a normally reliable Portland bullpen. Three runs in the 8th and a pair in the 9th turned an easy Portland win into a tight contest, but a 7-6 win nonetheless. In the finale, with fans with brooms in hand, the Lumberjacks broke a 4-4 tie by scoring a run in the bottom of the 7th to take the win and the sweep.
"This place had a playoff type atmosphere this weekend" commented Alaric Wullenweber who picked up his 6th win of the season in the finale. "Seeing the fans this fired up for an early May series was awesome. I pitched here a few years back when I wore the other team's jersey and you can tell by the size of the crowd the team was in a downward spiral. But to see the fans come out this weekend and support this club that's playing some pretty special baseball right now makes you excited to come out and pitch on this mound and play for this club."
The sweep of Sacramento marks the 4th time this season that the Lumberjacks have swept a divisional opponent in a 3-game series. It moves the club to 5-1 on the season versus Mad Popes. Of the 12 series the Lumberjacks have played in this season, they've won the 3-game series in 10 of the 12.
"I'm not sure how many times we swept a team last year" commented manager Mons Raider, "but I'm sure it wasn't many. I'm not sure we had 4 series wins a year ago, let alone sweeps of teams. But I think one way to make yourself a post-season contender and a divisional contender is to win the games against the teams in your division. In this first cycle through, we've done a pretty good job of that. Hopefully we can close it out this week, take care of some business against the Heartland, but then show we are still the best in the division when we resume divisional play in late July and August."
Portland currently sits at 27-10 overall, five games ahead in the Pacific division. They'll wrap up Pacific play this week with a pair of games against Valencia and then a 3-game set to be played at "The Outhouse" in Vancouver.
