And just like that ... minor league action is over for 2013.

But not without one league championship.

Appalachian League Championship Series

Pulaski 6, Greeneville 5 -- Box

-- Pulaski Wins Series --

Edwin Diaz (Talk40 #36) didn't quite have it (though only one of his five runs allowed was earned) but the Mariners of Pulaski fought on to win the Appalachian League title anyway.

Diaz left after facing two batters in the 3rd and with Pulaski down, 4-0.  It would soon be 5-0 as Gabe Saquilon (Watch List) allowed one of the inherited runners to score.

But Pulaski came marching back, and the bullpen managed to squelch the Astros the rest of the way.

Toby DeMello provided a key double in the 3rd, and Luke Guarnaccia started off the season-capping rally in the 9th with a ground-rule double.  Isaiah Yates (Talk40 #39) singled to move Guarnaccia to third, and (after an intentional walk of DeMello) Gabrial Franca (Talk40 #30) provided the walk-off championship single.

***

Pulaski's offensive talent was a bit spotty, with one-dimensional sluggers Wilton Martinez (12 HR) and Kristian Brito (Watch List) (10 HR) leading the way, and one-dimensional walker Franca (.367 OBP despite .213 BA) also on board.

But late-arriving Aaron Barbosa provided a fun speed-and-patience combo (36 hits, 19 walks and 19 steals in just 30 games) to jolt the offense down the stretch.

***

The P-M's had some serious talent on the mound, though.  The entire team had 9.0 K/9.

The team!

Diaz was a revelation, and started to look like "Taijuan Two."  And 16-year-old Brazilian behemoth Luiz Gohara (Talk40 #21) lived up to all his hype and more (striking out 27 of the 98 batters he faced and allowing only two extra-base hits).

Then, of course, the Strikeout King of Southwestern Virginia -- Eddie Campbell, who went to college up the road at Virginia Tech -- racked up 66 whiffs in 48.1 IP.

And, before he was promoted, Emilio Pagan was pretty much downright perfect: 15 appearances for Pulaski, zero runs allowed, just nine hits, just five walks ... and 27 strikeouts.

All told, a very interesting and fun group, and well-deserving of their league crown.

Midwest League Playoffs: Beloit 6, Clinton 2 -- Box

-- Clinton eliminated --

It was a bad sign right off the bat, when Dylan "Sharkie" Unsworth (26intheMix), who had only allowed two walks all season (in 72.0 IP), allowed three walks in 4.0 IP on Thursday.

The Sharkmeister also allowed four hits and three runs (only one earned) before leaving with the LumberKings down 3-1.  Then the bullpen coughed up three more runs in the 5th, and Clinton was looking at a steep climb to avoid elimination, and it didn't make it.

As it happened, the LumberKings got into the playoff field with a losing record ... and Beloit finished 10 games ahead of them overall ... and they were without slugger D.J. Peterson (broken jaw).  So they were underdogs.

The offense never really got going in the elimination game, with a pair of doubles and four singles.

Looking Ahead

We have to look all the way ahead to fall and winter ball.

An interesting group of seven will play in the Arizona Fall League (details here), and various guys will play in the assorted winter leagues.  The stats don't mean much, but we did note some very strong numbers last winter from a reliever named Danny Farquhar, who was coming off a very impressive minor-league season ... so sometimes there's some foreshadowing there.