Sardine City finishes off Hopatcong in 6

Top-seeded Sardine City will return to the DMBL Finals for the second time in franchise history after disposing of No. 4 Hopatcong in a 3-1 victory in Game 6 of their DMBL semifinal series.

The Straphangers' 1st-round pick A-aron Civale tossed 7-plus innings to get past the Floating Fish on the road Friday night for his 2nd win of the series. Winners of 105 games in the regular season, Sardine City will face either No. 2 Allentown or No. 3 Tucson, who face off in a Game 7 on Saturday. The Straphangers' only previous finals appearance was in 2017 when they fell in 7 games to Hoboken.

Civale scattered 4 hits and 1 run over 7 2/3 innings. He walked 3 and struck out 5 while registering 61 of his 95 pitches for strikes (.642). The 25-year-old rookie led the Straphangers in the series with 2 wins, 0.66 ERA, 0.80 WHIP and 13 2/3 innings.

Civale overcame a nervous 1st inning when the Floating Fish had a chance to stake themselves a big lead. Four men reached base but thanks to a double play only plated 1 run. Bryce Harper led off the game with a double and Joey Votto walked before Brett Gardner grounded into a 5-4-3 double play to put Harper on 3rd. Mike Tauchman brought him home with a single to open the scoring. Cavan Biggio walked before Civale got out of the 1st by getting Tyler Naquin to ground out.

The Straphangers battered Stephen Strasburg for 7 hits over 4 2/3 innings but only managed 2 runs off the Hopatcong's ace. Sardine City immediately answered in the top of the 2nd with a leadoff HR by Mitchell Award contender Christian Yelich, who had a team-high 3 hits. They added another run in the top of the 4th. Aaron Judge laced a one-out single and Matt Chapman followed with a double to put two men in scoring position. Corey Seager grounded to short, plating Judge to give the Straphangers a 2-1 lead. Strasburg walked Cameron Maybin intentionally but then plunked Jacob Stallings.

With the bases loaded, Sardine City had a chance to blow the game wide open with their best postseason batter, George Springer at the plate. The CF led the Straphangers with 2 HRs, 10 hits, 5 runs and 5 RBI (.370/.393/.704) but didn't come through this time, flying out to left to end the top of the 4th.

Sardine City loaded the bases against Strasburg again in the 5th: Infield singles by David Fletcher and Yelich followed by a two-out walk to Matt Chapman. That was curtains for Strasburg. Yimi Garcia came on to face Corey Seager, inducing a pop-out to 3rd to end the inning and keep it a one-run ballgame.

Chapman would boost a solo homer with 2 out in the 7th to add a key insurance run for a 3-1 lead. Hopatcong would get a man on base in the bottom of the 8th  when Joey Votto shot a two-out single up the middle, calling it a night for Civale. Sardine City didn't play around, giving Civale the hook in favor of Aroldis Chapman. The flame-throwing lefty struck out Gardner to crush Hopatcong's hopes and after a one-out walk to Biggio in the 9th, got Naquin to ground into a game-ending, series-clinching double play. The longtime Floating Fish closer earned his 2nd save of the series.

Sardine City plated 3 runs but had 10 hits, leaving 12 men on base. Hopatcong finished with 1 run on 4 hits, stranding 5 men on.

Sardine City outscored Hopating 20-13 in the 6-game series. The Straphangers won the series behind their pitching, limiting the Floating Fish to 2 runs or less in their 4 wins, sporting a 2.21 ERA and 1.08 WHIP. Straphangers batters hit .270/.345/441 with 6 HRs during the series. Hopatcong's high-water mark was a 6-run effort in a Game 1 win, then combined for 7 runs over the last 5 games of the series.

The Straphangers bullpen was impressive, yielding just 3 runs over 14 2/3 innings (1.22 ERA, 1.02 WHIP) across 10 appearances, led by Brandon Workman and Rowan Wick, with 3 appearances each. One of the few blemishes was Lance Lynn, Sardine City's Ben McDonald Award contender, who had 2 poor outings, going 0-1 with a 5.56 ERA and 1.68 WHIP, and nary a quality start.