Keuchel, Cain power Falcons to sweep

A rematch of last year's five-game DMBL final ended a game sooner as Arkansas swept San Francisco with a 4-0 win in Game 4 at San Francisco.

The Golden Falcons got another big performance out of Dallas Keuchel and Lorenzo Cain.

Keuchel, who went 8 strong innings in Game 1, tossed 6 1/3 innings, allowing just 3 hits and striking out 7 to get the win. Brandon Belt's first-inning double was about as close as The Experience got to scoring off him. Keuchel was lifted after a one-out single in the 7th.

Kelvin Herrera, Carson Smith and Zach Britton shut down San Francisco the rest of the way though it got a little hairy in the 8th. With two out, Herrera walked Alex Gordon and pinch-hitter Seth Smith, loading the bases, before pinch-hitter Scott Van Slyke grounded out to end the threat.

The Falcons knocked around Scott Kazmir for 10 hits and and 4 runs in 5 innings. The Experience bullpen was admirable, with a combination of Keone Kela, Francisco Rodriguez and Kenley Jansen combining for 2 his and 3 strikeouts over the final 3 innings.

Billy Burns drove in Jordy Mercer with the first run of the game on a 2nd-inning single, after Brock Holt was thrown out at the plate. In the 3rd, Cain led off with a single before Buster Posey homered deep to left center for a 3-0 margin. The Falcons added another run in the 5th with Cain again starting things with a lead-off double. A wild pitch put him at 3rd and Cain scored on a simple ground out to second by Posey.

Cain had 3 hits and 2 runs in Game 4. For the series, he led all batters with 8 hits and 6 runs, slashing .421/.421/.842. Arkansas yielded just 4 runs in the 4 games (37 innings) with the bullpen giving up just 1 run over 28 1/3 innings. Keuchel went 2-0 with a 0.63 ERA/WHIP and 15 strikeouts against 2 walks in 14 1/3 innings.

Second-seeded Arkansas could find out their finals opponent as early as Thursday, with top-seeded Tucson in a position to also dispatch of No. 5 Allentown in four games. That would set up a rematch of last year's epic seven-game semifinal in which the Golden Falcons, as a No. 5 seed, upset No. 1 Tucson, before knocking off No. 2 San Francisco for the title.

Arkansas will have a chance to be the first back-to-back champion since 2006-07 when Newark achieved the feat.