Blake Lalli drove in Mel Rojas Jr. with a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the eighth inning as the Gwinnett Braves beat the Columbus Clippers 5-4 on Saturday night at Coolray Field in Lawrenceville to win the best-of-five Governors’ Cup semifinal series 3-1.
Sean Kazmar Jr. went 4-for-4 with a home run and two RBIs for the G-Braves, who won Games 3 and 4 at home to clinch the club’s first appearance in the Governors’ Cup Championship Series since moving to Gwinnett in 2009.
The best-of-five final begins Tuesday night in Moosic, Pa., against the International League North Division champion Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders. Game 3 of the series will be at Coolray Field on Thursday and Games 4 and 5 would be on Friday and Saturday, each at 7:05 p.m.
The Clippers jumped on G-Braves’ starter Tyrell Jenkins for three runs over the first two innings, but the right-hander settled down and didn’t yield another Clipper to touch home after that.
Jenkins allowed six hits in five innings. He struck out three and walked four. One of the three runs he allowed was unearned.
Madison Younginer (2-0) got the win.
