Sacramento Photo Gallery: PCL Title Clincher

On Friday evening, the Sacramento River Cats captured their third PCL title in five years. We have the photos from Sacramento's 4-3, title-clinching win over New Orleans inside...

All photos by Chris Lockard/Scout.com

The managers and umpires meet before the game to discuss groundrules.

Starter Brad Knox completes his warm-ups before the game.

Knox struck out the first two batters of the game.

Fernando Tatis strikes out for the second out in the first inning.

Nick Blasi batted lead-off for the River Cats.

Jason Vargas was the starting pitcher for New Orleans.

Gregorio Petit gets underneath a pop-up.

Nick Blasi takes a lead off of first base in the third inning. He went 1-4 in the game.

Danny Putnam makes a nice running catch in foul territory.

Jeremy Brown follows through on a single to right field in the fourth inning. That single moved Jorge Piedra, who led-off the inning with a walk, to third base.

Brant Colamarino followed Brown with this RBI double.

Brown watches Colamarino’s double bang off of the glove of a diving Jesus Feliciano.

Feliciano got the ball back into the infield quickly, forcing Colamarino to hustle into second base.

Colamarino used a tumbling slide to sneak his hand under the tag of Anderson Hernandez.

With Brown on third and Colamarino on second, Brian Stavisky followed with a grounder to short. Hernandez booted the ball, allowing Stavisky to reach safely. Brown scored on the play to give Sacramento a 2-0 lead.

Gregorio Petit followed Stavisky with an RBI single to left to bring the lead to 3-0.

With Stavisky at second and Petit at first, Kevin Melillo lays down a sacrifice bunt.

Vargas fielded Melillo’s bunt, but hesitated before throwing to first. His rushed throw landed at Melillo’s feet and skidded past first baseman Andy Tracy. Stavisky scored on the play to give the River Cats a 4-0 lead.

Sacramento manager Tony DeFrancesco cheers on his team.

Knox made the four runs stand-up. He took a one-hitter into the eighth inning and finished by allowing three runs on three hits in 7.2 innings.

Colamarino readies to take a throw at first.

New Orleans reliever Joe Smith helped keep the game close by striking out the River Cats’ side in the seventh inning.

Feliciano leaves the field after being ejected for arguing balls and strikes in the eighth inning.

Tatis connects on a three-run homerun that cut the River Cats’ lead to one run with two outs in the eighth inning.

Tatis celebrates his big hit.

Jerry Blevins came into the game with two outs in the eighth and he made quick work of New Orleans. In 1.1 perfect innings, Blevins struck out three of the four batters he faced.

Home plate umpire Peter Durfee calls out Chad Hermansen to end the game.

The celebration begins.

The celebration continues.

The River Cats are presented with the PCL trophy.

River Cats owner Art Savage holds the trophy. It is his third since bringing the team to Sacramento.

Veteran Lou Merloni was a key member of the team.

Nick Blasi accepts the MVP trophy.

Sacramento poses for a team photo.