GWINNETT
By Michael Leboff, MiLB.com contributor
Sean Kazmar's first four-hit night since 2010 has sent Gwinnett to the Governors' Cup Finals for the first time in franchise history.
The Braves shortstop went 4-for-4 with a homer and two RBIs to lead the Braves to a series-clinching 5-4 win over Columbus on Saturday night at Coolray Field.
"I'm just glad I could go out there and help the team get a win," Kazmar said. "I know how bad everyone wanted this and it felt great to celebrate with [manager] John Moses. To be able to celebrate with him was pretty neat."
The win continued an improbable run for Gwinnett, which won the International League South Division title with a 65-78 record -- 16 1/2 games worse than Columbus. Despite the regular-season record, Kazmar said the club knew that anything could happen if it got into the playoffs.
"Once we saw how the division was unfolding and that everyone was in the race, we started to think, 'Why not us?'" he said. "We knew that if we could get into the playoffs and got hot that we could go on a run. We've been able to get wins when we needed to. I've been doing this since 2004 and anytime as a competitor you can go out there and win in the playoffs, it means a lot."
Giovanny Urshela put the Clippers ahead with an RBI single in the first and the visitors added two runs in the second.
Blake Lalli and Kazmar got the Braves back in the game with back-to-back run-scoring singles in the third and Mel Rojas Jr. knotted it with an RBI single in the fourth.
Kazmar, who's been with the Braves since 2013, gave Gwinnett its first lead with a solo homer in the fifth.
"[Columbus starter Toru Murata] got ahead of me, 0-2, real quick and I knew I was leading off the inning, so I just wanted to get on base any way I could," the 32-year-old said. "He threw a couple of pitches out of the zone that I was able to lay off and then I got a fastball down and in and put a good swing on it."
The lead lasted until the eighth when Columbus' Michael Choice knocked in Urshela with a double, but a sacrifice fly by Lalli put Gwinnett ahead for good in the bottom of the inning. Bradley Roney worked a 1-2-3 ninth inning to get the save.
Gwinnett will meet Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, which finished with the league's best record and swept Lehigh Valley in the other semifinal series, in the Governors' Cup Finals. Game 1 of the best-of-5 series is Tuesday in Moosic, Pennsylvania.
"It's great, especially for the fans that I've met over the years and the workers here. I'm just excited for everyone," Kazmar said. "Everyone's excited. This was our goal that we set out for early in the year. We've been able to do some good things in this series and we're looking forward to getting to Scranton and playing against them. The Braves assembled a bunch of veteran guys here and we've been able to gel together as the year went on. It's a testament to the guys here that we were able to keep everything together."
MISSISSIPPI
By Miranda Black, Mississippi Braves
PEARL, MS -- The Mississippi Braves defeated the Pensacola Blue Wahoos 4-2 Saturday night at Trustmark Park to take the Southern League South Divisional Series three-games-to-one and advance to the Southern League Championship Series for the first time since 2008.
The Braves will take a day off Sunday and travel to Jackson, Tenn., for games one and two of the SL Championship Series Monday and Tuesday at 6:05 PM CST. The two teams will take another off day Wednesday before returning to Trustmark Park for games three, four (if necessary) and five (if necessary) Thursday through Saturday.
The M-Braves jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first. Levi Hyams and Dustin Peterson reached on back-to-back singled and Joey Meneses walked. Connor Lien then delivered a two-run single to right to put the Braves out front early.
In the third, Peterson reached on an errant throw by the second baseman with two outs. Carlos Franco then ripped a double to right field, driving home Peterson and extending the M-Braves lead to 3-0.
Pensacola responded in the fourth. Alex Blandino walked and Phillip Ervin doubled to start the inning. Sebastian Elizalde then drove home both runners with a base hit up the middle, making it a one-run game.
Johan Camargo and Kade Scivicque reached on back-to-back one-out singles to start the Braves half of the fourth. Both runners moved up on Lucas Sims' sacrifice. Mallex Smith then singled home Camargo to extend the Braves lead to 4-2.
Storms rolled through after the fifth inning and delayed the game for one hour and 12 minutes. Play resumed and the M-Braves bullpen shut down the Wahoos to secure advancement into the championship round of playoffs.
Lucas Sims (1-0) held Pensacola to two earned runs on two hits and two walks. He struck out six batters in five innings pitched to pick up the win. Relievers Evans Phillips, Caleb Dirks and AJ Minter (S, 1) tossed the final four innings to close out the game.
Tyler Mahle (0-1) started and worked just 3.2 frames for the Blue Wahoos. He gave up four runs, three earned, on seven hits and a walk while striking out one.
ROME
By Michael Peng, MiLB.com
Getting the start in the decisive game of a playoff series can be a nerve-wracking experience for some pitchers, but Max Fried had a strong support system to help calm his nerves on Saturday.
"I get butterflies before I pitch every time, it's just part of my thing," Fried said. "I love the game and playing so much, I'm always going to get nervous going out there. But seeing the confidence of my teammates, seeing how confident they were in me in going out there tonight, it eased everything."
The Braves' No. 11 prospect recorded a career-high 11 strikeouts over 7 2/3 innings as Rome beat Charleston, 4-1, in Game 3 of the South Atlantic League semifinals. Fried gave up a run on three hits and a walk to help his team advance to the Championship Series for the first time since 2003.
"We're overjoyed," the 22-year-old left-hander said. "We've been working extremely hard for this all year. We kind of had a little bit of a rough time in the first half, trying to getting our feet wet with a bunch of guys playing their first year in pro ball, but second half came around and everything started to click in. Everyone has been on the same wavelength since."
Fried, who missed all of last season following Tommy John surgery, went 8-7 with a 3.93 ERA and capped the regular season with back-to-back 10-strikeout efforts. Saturday marked his first postseason start as a professional.
"I couldn't be more happy," the 2012 first-round pick said. "After two years of just watching everything from the sidelines from rehab and now to come back and actually be on the field and compete, do what we set out to do in the beginning of the year, I couldn't ask for anything more."
Fried said he had "everything" working against the RiverDogs and yielded his lone run in the second when Yankees No. 22 prospect Hoy Jun Park reached him for an RBI double.
Rome answered quickly as Braves No. 13 prospect Austin Riley singled in the tying run in the third and delivered a go-ahead two-run double in the fifth.
"He's been extremely huge for us the whole second half," Fried said. "Talk about a guy who's been putting in the hard work every day, he came in the second half kind of a new person. Just went out there and started literally smashing baseballs every day. He's been a huge catalyst to our offense and we know that if we have guys in scoring position and he's up, there's a good chance he's going to get them in."
The Braves will play Lakewood in the best-of-5 Championship Series, beginning Monday in Rome.
"We expect a hard-fought series, but we are confident in what we have," Fried said. "We are expecting to take it all. We think we have enough as a team to be able to do that. We are just excited to go out there on Monday and get it all started."
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