Potomac comes out smoking to capture first Mills Cup since 1989

By Robert Daski

Published: September 12, 2008

Seconds after first baseman Andrew Lefave secured the ball in his glove for the final out, the rest of his Potomac Nationals teammates scampered onto the field.
The players huddled together and bounced around the Pfitzner Stadium infield before opening bottles of champagne.
Their quest for a title is over. They are the Mills Cup champions.
Potomac put a punctuation mark on one of the best seasons in franchise history on Friday, winning the Mills Cup with an 8-2 win over the Myrtle Beach Pelicans and clinching the series three games to one in front of 1,314 fans at Pfitzner Stadium.
This is the franchise’s third Carolina League championship, first since 1989.
“It’s a great feeling for me, my staff, all the players, [Potomac owner] Art Silber and the Washington Nationals organization,” said manager Randy Knorr as he stood in his office and smiled. “It’s a great accomplishment.”
A year that began with some of the highly touted prospects in the Washington system on the roster ended with players who continued the success those before them started
Dee Brown, Michael Martinez and pitchers Ross Detwiler and Josh Wilkie are the four players who stayed at Potomac the entire year.
They joined 63 other players who entered the Potomac clubhouse from Low-A Hagerstown or big leaguers who made starts on rehabilitation assignments to go 79-61 during the regular season and 6-1 in the postseason.
“We were consistent all year,” Brown said. “Other teams may have talent, but we were consistent all year.”
The momentum from Thursday’s 8-7 come-from-behind win stayed with Potomac from start to finish on Friday.
Nationals starting pitcher Erik Arnesen set down the Pelicans in order in the top of the first inning.
Then Potomac’s offense began asserting itself.
Brown gave the Nationals a 2-0 lead with a two-run first inning home run.
Brown did not appear to have a home run when the ball left his bat, but the ball carried over the center field wall and Brown had his first home run of the postseason.
“I was running hard around the bases when Randy Knorr told me it was a home run,” Brown said.
Boomer Whiting followed with his own two-run blast in the bottom of the second to give Potomac a 4-1 lead.
Stephen King scored Potomac’s fifth run on a Michael Burgess groundout in the third.
Lefave doubled home Dan Lyons to put the Nationals ahead 6-1 in the fourth. Lefave then came home on King’s single.
Lyons scored the Nationals’ final run on a single by Brown.
“We came ready to play,” Arnesen said. “Everybody loves being here. It was awesome.”
Arnesen’s only mistakes were two pitches Myrtle Beach’s Ernesto Mejia sent over the left field wall.
Otherwise, Arnesen did not allow the Pelicans to generate much offense. He pitched six and two-thirds innings, surrendered six hits, walked two and struck out four.
“The team played great defensively,” Arnesen said. “They got me some runs early and I got a chance to pitch a real aggressive game and got it done.”
And with that, Arnesen returned to the clubhouse celebration before leaving to eat dinner with his wife and family.