Weeks sends RockHounds to Finals

Jemile Weeks believes that every day presents an opportunity to do something special. Those beliefs were confirmed Saturday night.

The former first-round Draft pick homered and drove in four runs to lead the Midland RockHounds to a 5-2 triumph over the San Antonio Missions and a spot in the Texas League Championship Series.

Tyson Ross (1-0) struck out eight over 6 1/3 strong innings for Midland, which will face Northwest Arkansas in the best-of-5 Finals, beginning Tuesday. The RockHounds are seeking their first championship since 2005.

Weeks was 2-for-9 in the first three games of the series but singled in a run with two outs in the second inning to put Midland in front to stay.

"I look forward to times like this. This is why you play, to do something special," he said. "That was one of those situations, a 0-0 ballgame. The first team to score, that's where the momentum's going to go. I got a pretty good swing and started the momentum for us."

With Ross cruising, the RockHounds padded the lead in the fourth. Shane Peterson doubled home Matt Spencer with one out and Archie Gilbert walked before Weeks hammered a 1-0 pitch from San Antonio starter Corey Kluber over the right-center field fence for his first postseason homer.

"I knew they walked the guy in front of me and pretty much had to throw something in the zone," said Weeks, the 12th overall selection in 2008. "I was just sitting there, waiting on my pitch."

Ross, a 2008 second-rounder, limited the Missions to one hit before Eric Sogard led off the sixth with a triple and scored on Logan Forsythe's groundout. Seth Johnston ended Ross' night with a one-out RBI single in the seventh.
The Missions threatened in the ninth as Johnston led off with a double and Mitch Canham walked with one out. But Jon Hunton retired Sogard and Cedric Hunter to record his second save of the series and set off a celebration at Citibank Ballpark.

"This is championship ball and we feel we're a championship team," Weeks said. "It's a party atmosphere and everyone's pretty much acting like a fool right now. It's a good feeling.”



(web.minorleaguebaseball.com)