To accomplish something not done in nearly a century is, truly, remarkable. With their 4-1 win over the Northwest Arkansas Naturals, the RockHounds became the first team in 91 years to capture three consecutive Texas League championships.

Weather pushed the first pitch back by slightly more than three hours (see "Stat of the Day," below), meaning the game began on Friday night and ended on Saturday morning.

The RockHounds got in the board in the second inning on a solo home run to right field off the bat of Viosergy Rosa. With two out, Richie Martin doubled to right-center and Brett Vertigan followed with what might have been the game's biggest swing of the bat, taking Glenn Sparkman's 0-2 pitch to left field (virtually on the line) driving in Martin. Vertigan then scored on Max Schrock's single to right center, pushing the score to 3-0. Tyler Marincov's solo home run in the last of the fifth built the lead to 4-0. The RockHounds right fielder finished the Championship Series 8-for-16 (.500) with a home run and two RBI.

In every playoff series, there seems to be an "unlikely hero." On Friday night, that was James Naile. Making just his fourth start at the Double-A level, the right-hander was brilliant, tossing six scoreless innings, allowing two hits and two walks while striking out four, a performance that must certainly be regarded as being among the best in franchise playoff history.

After the Naturals loaded the bases with no outs (on an infield single and a pair of walks) in the top of the seventh, Trey Cochran-Gill relieved Kyle Finnegan. On a sharp ground ball toward the hole at shortstop, Martin made a tremendous play, ranging to his right to start a 6-4-3 double play (with Schrock making an outstanding pivot). A run scored, but Vertigan then tracked down Humberto Arteaga's line drive to left-center to end the inning. Cochran-Gill followed with a 1-2-3 eight, striking out two batters.

Jake Sanchez came on in the ninth, with the crowd (see "Amazing," below) standing to greet him. Martin, again, was spectacular at shortstop, again ranging well to his right to rob Mauricio Ramos of a leadoff single. Sanchez did the rest, striking out clean-up hitter Ryan O'Hearn and Frank Schwindel (the Naturals' top power hitter in the regular season), with the final out making Texas League history at 12:38 a.m.

STAT OF THE DAY This game made history long before the final out. Texas League President Tom Kayser noted that, with a first pitch thrown at 10:03 p.m., this was the latest start to a Championship Series game in Texas League history.

PERFECT ENDING Tom is retiring as league president after 25 years, making this his final game as chief executive. Since is passion for the league's history is unrivaled, it seemed fitting that he would present the championship trophy to a team that won the crown in historic fashion. We congratulate Tom ... and thank him ... for his 25 years of service and dedication.

AMAZING The game was played before a paid attendance of 3,301. The "actual" was less than that figure, but their impact was greater. By the

time the final out (and on-field celebration) had been completed, many had been at Security Bank Ballpark for six hours (or more).