Giants Win 16th Division Championship
Regular Season Summary
The 2015 Giants completed a remarkable comeback from a horrible 0-5 start to the season in winning their 16th division championship. After losing their first five games the Giants entered the month of June in last place. Then the team won 14 of their final 15 games to finish the regular season 14-6 to match the upstart Royals for best division record.
Then the Giants went undefeated in four playoff games to sweep their way to their 16th division title and finish the season with wins in 18 of their final 19 games leaving no doubt as to who was the best team was in the Dunn division.
Unlike last season, the Giant's pitching and defense struggled in the first 5 games of the regular season giving up 58 runs (the Giants only allowed 52 runs in the entire 2014 season). After that stretch, the Giants pitching staff and defense returned to form allowing only 34 earned runs in the final 15 games.
Don Chambers, Matt Zuvella, Jared Aochi, and several others made incredible plays all year as the defense was outstanding in the final 19 games of the season and playoffs. And you can't talk about the Giants season without mentioning the toughest member of the team — Nate Harbarger. Nate caught every inning of every game for the entire regular season and the playoffs!
Veterans Mike Denevi, Rich Zuvella, Jon Cannon, Mike Boesch, Huck Hibberd, Don Chambers, Nick Caravelli, Jr, Chris Denevi, Noah Sweeters, Nick Caravelli Sr, Erick Raich, Spencer Maltbie, Jared Aochi, Dave Evans, Mark Sarpa, Matt Zuvella, Chris Chambers, Nate Harbarger, Sheldon Perry, Mike Oliverio and Paul Tomini were joined by a talented 2015 rookie class of Scottie Grimm, Brandon Diamond, Matt Bigge, and Joe McDonald.
The battle for the regular season Dunn division top spot came down to the final weekend of the regular season with the top four teams separated by one game. The Giants delivered with a doubleheader sweep of the Astros at Willow Glen. In game 1, Mike Denevi threw a complete game for the win. Jared Aochi drove in 4 runs on 3 hits to lead the Giants to a 6-2 win. In game 2, Erick Raich threw his second complete game shutout in back to back weeks. Once again, Jared Aochi came through by driving in Matt Zuvella for the only run of the game in the 7th to give the Giants a 1-0 win.
With the sweep, the Giants and the Royals finished with identical 14-6 records but the Royals took the tiebreaker by beating the Giants two of three times during the season and finished with the top seed entering the playoffs.
Playoff Summary
Semi-Final Series - Game 1
The #2 seed Giants took on the #3 seed Astros in a rematch of the final day of the regular season. Once again, the Giants came out on top in Game 1. Mike Denevi, the heart and soul of the Giants, threw a complete game to earn the 10-3 win and give the Giants a 1-0 lead in the series. Nick Caravelli Jr went 3-for-4 with a Home Run, Double, 2 Runs and 4 RBIs to lead the Giant's offense. Matt Zuvella and Jared Aochi both went 3-for-4 at the top of the order.
Semi-Final Series - Game 2
In the second game of the series the Giants jumped out to a 4-0 lead after 3 innings. The Astros came back with an unearned run in the 4th to cut into the Giant lead. In the 5th the Giants responded with a huge three run homer by Nick Caravelli Jr to stretch the lead to 7-1.
Jon Cannon had a no-hitter through 5 1/3 innings before giving up a single in the 6th when the Astros finally got rolling in the 6th when they scored five runs to bring the score to 7-6.
In the bottom of the 7th, Jared Aochi drove a double into the gap to bring home Sheldon Perry to give the Giants a 10-6 lead. Sheldon Perry pitched the final two innings and the Giants escaped with a series sweeping 10-8 victory.
Championship Series - Game 1
The Giants would meet the Indians in the finals after the Tribe upset the top seeded Royals in a tight three game semi-final series.
In the bottom of the first the Giants opened the game by scoring 7 runs on 5 hits to create a deficit the Indians could not overcome despite battling though the entire game. The Tribe scored two runs in the second inning on a Ryan DeQuin homer which the Giants countered on a solo homer by Chris Chambers in the third inning to stretch the lead to 8-2. But the Indians came right back in the fourth and scored three times with the help of an Alex Garcia home run to trim the lead to 8-5.
Giants starter Erick Raich shut out the Indians the rest of the way allowing only three hits over the final five innings to get the win in the 8-5 victory.
The Giant offense was led by Chris Chambers who went 2-for-4 with a HR, Jon Cannon 2-for-3 plus an RBI, Don Chambers 2-for-3 with an RBI and Sheldon Perry 2-for-2.
Championship Series - Game 2
In Game two the Giants jumped out to another big lead scoring 7 runs on 6 hits in the 2nd inning and providing starter Jon Cannon all the runs he would need. Cannon scattered eight hits in his complete game effort allowing only three runs (two earned) as the Giants coasted to a 14-3 win and their 16th division championship.
The Giant offense was led by Chris Denevi (2-2, 2B, 2 Runs, 2 RBI), Jared Aochi (3-5, 2B, 2 Runs, 2 RBI), Mike Oliverio (2-4, 2 Runs, RBI), Sheldon Perry (2-4, SB, 2 Runs), and Nick Caravelli Jr (1-2, 2B).
The Giants went a perfect 4-0 in the playoffs and scored 42 runs in the four playoff games.
Nick Caravelli Jr Playoff MVP
Nick Caravelli Jr was the Giants playoff MVP batting .500 while slamming 2 homers, 3 doubles, 10 RBI's and scoring 6 runs over the 4 playoff games.
Giants Dynasty
The championship is the Giants second straight — their third in four years — and fifth in last eight seasons.