North Carolina State University Athletics
Buchanan's Gem Sends `Cats to Championship
9/10/2010 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Sept. 10, 2010
Former Wolfpack righthander Jake Buchanan combined on a three-hit shutout Thursday night to lift the Tri-City ValleyCats past the Batavia Muckdogs and into the championship series of the New York-Penn Leage playoffs.
Buchanan, chosen by the Houston Astros in the eighth round of the 2010 MLB draft, worked seven innings and allowed just three hits while striking out six and walking just one in the final of a three-game league semifinal series.
The Muckdogs were swinging some hot bats heading into the series finale. Batavia had posted a collective 41 hits in their first two postseason games and had established a league high 410 runs during the NYP regular season. However, Jake Buchanan left the Muckdogs in disbelief with his exceptional performance.
Buchanan, who went 4-5 with a 4.28 ERA during the NYP regular season, started out strong against Batavia and remained that way, allowing only two hits in the first three innings, another in the fourth, and nothing after that.
“His two-seamer and changeup were giving them fits,” TriCity catcher Chris Wallace told the minorleaguebaseball.com website. “He did a great job of locating his pitches tonight.”
After giving way to closer Mike Ness in the eighth, Buchanan’s seven shutout innings proved to be just enough to earn him the win, as the ValleyCats managed just one run in a 1-0 shutout.
“I can’t say enough about Jake Buchanan,” manager Jim Pankovits told MiLB.com. “He had command of all three pitches, and they didn’t hit many balls hard all night long. We had some pretty good defense behind him, and he just rose to the occasion.”
The win advances Tri-City to the New York-Penn League championship against the Brooklyn Cyclones. This is the ValleyCats’ third appearance in the league finals in seven years.
