Seventh Heaven! Indians sweep Vikings for MSBL title

On October 9 the Indians clinched the seventh championship in team history and fourth in the MSBL with a two-game sweep of the Vikings.

Earlier in the week the Indians advanced to the championship round for the sixth consecutive year and tenth time in the club’s 16 seasons.  The playoffs began with a 17-1 demolition of the Reds as Austin Nordby and Jeff Taylor combined to hold the Reds to no earned runs.  Matt Jayne belted his club-record 27^th career home run.  Ryan Weston doubled twice, Ryan Peterson doubled, and Brendan Schaefer tripled in the Indians win.

Following a rainout, the Indians next faced the defending MSBL champion Thunder.  Looking to erase the sting of losing the championship series to the Thunder in 2020, the Indians sent ace Shawn Spainhoward to the mound.  Spainhoward delivered a complete game, holding the Thunder to one run while striking out 11 batters as the Indians advanced with a 14-1 win.  Ryan Peterson had his second three-hit game of the playoffs while Spainhoward became the first Indians pitcher to strike out 100 batters in a season.

Three days later the Indians faced the upstart Vikings for the first two games of a potential best-of-three championship match.  Austin Nordby, the Minnesota native, defeated the Vikings 11-6 for his second win of the postseason.  Cie Arell homered for the Indians.

Needing only one more game to clinch the championship, the Indians, batting as the visiting team in Game 2, wasted no time.  In the top of the first, Matt Jayne belted a grand slam and two batters later, Brendan Schaefer homered as the Indians built a quick 6-0 lead.  Jayne joined Brent Buffa (2010) as Indians who hit grand slams in the championship series.  Ryan Weston and Ben Leuthauser also homered as the Indians completed the sweep with an 18-1 win.  Brooks McDowell pitched the complete game and became the 12^th pitcher in team history to strike out 100 career batters.  Weston, Justin Schaefer, Tyler Schmidt, Ryan Peterson, and Cie Arell each batted over .500 in the playoffs.

Scott Long and Matt Jayne have been part of all seven Indians championship teams.  This marked the sixth title for Justin Coliny and Matt Pomerantz and the fourth apiece for Ryan Peterson and Drew Sertich.

Other Memories of 2021

Some of the Indians highlights this season include

• Tyler Schmitt’s walkoff home run against the Thunder
• Brendan Schaefer’s walkoff home run against the Vipers
• Late rally to defeat the Express in extra innings
• Shawn Spainhoward’s 30^th career win and 300^th strikeout
• Matt Pomerantz’s 50^th career stolen base
• Ryan Peterson’s 150^th career hit
• Shawn Spainhoward's record-tying 16-strikeout game against the Vikings
• Spainhoward's record-breaking 90th strikeout at Busch Stadium
• Ryan Weston and Justin Schaefer's record-tying 46 hits
• Matt Jayne's grand slam in Game 2 of the championship series