Sunday afternoon, I had the privilege to call a very entertaining minor league playoff game. The Lancaster JetHawks(Red Sox), the #1 seed in the California League’s Southern Division, entered the game down 1-0 in the best-of-five series to the Lake Elsinore Storm (Padres). With the first two at home, and games 3 and 4 on the road, if the upper seed had fallen behind 0-2, they’d be in big trouble.

So the JetHawks raced out to a 5-0 lead with a five-run first. The Storm chipped away to trail 5-4 going to the ninth and then scored twice to take a 6-5 lead. Lancaster used a two-base wild pitch and bouncing ball single (off a rock hard and very fast infield baked under the California sun all summer) over a drawn-in infield to tie the game in the bottom of the ninth.

Then the real fun started. With one out in the top of the tenth, the Storm right fielder hit a ball that would have been a two run homer but for a fantastic leaping catch by the league’s batting champion, Daniel Nava.

Here’s Nava’s Robbery:

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I can’t remember the last time I’ve seen a minor league outfielder take away a homer at the wall as Nava did.

Then in the bottom of the inning, Kris Negron, who failed to get a bunt down in the ninth, atoned by drilling a three run homer.

And the Game winning jack:

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