Mathewson McCarthy 'Major West' Red Sox win championship

McGowan, Ryan Johnson, Matt Macomber; third row - coach Jim Honsberger, Drew Sember, Eric Jacobs, Erik Kiwetniewski, Stephen Taraboletti, Chris Mussachio, Dante Sparcino and coach Mike Sparcino.

The Red Sox polished off an unbeaten playoff run with a 9-4 victory over the Braves on July 9 to win the Mathewson McCarthy "Major West" division championship.

Red Sox pitching was able to tame the Braves' bats in the top of the first inning, escaping with no runs allowed. The Red Sox proceeded to put a 6 on the scoreboard in their half of the first to go up 6-0 after the first inning. The Red Sox was powered by the big bat of Jimmy Honsberger, who tripled, and scored Francisco McGowan and A.J. Aqualino. Dante Sparcino walked and Matt Macomber tripled, scoring Honsberger and Sparcino. Eric Jacobs finished the scoring for the inning with a two-run single, scoring Macomber and Chris Mussachio.

The Braves chipped away at the big lead with single runs in the third, fourth, fifth and sixth. The Braves were fueled by the hitting of Jeremy Zgoda and Richard Patti, both with two hits each.

The real story of the game came from the masterful pitching of Macomber and Aqualino, who combined for six innings pitched, four runs allowed, five hits, and seven strikeouts. Their mix of fastball and change-up had the Braves off-balanced all game.

The Red Sox defense came to play with defensive gems from Stephen Tarabolletti, Drew Sember, Erik Kwietniewski, Clay Tuyn and Ryan Johnson.

The Red Sox went 4-0 in the playoffs.