Bowie beats Reading in Game 5 to win Eastern League championship (with photos)

BOWIE, Md. - With two big swings from Garabez Rosa, one from Quincy Latimore and some clutch pitching, the Double-A Bowie Baysox won the Eastern League championship tonight.

Rosa homered twice, driving in three runs, and Latimore knocked in two as Bowie beat Reading 7-2 in the fifth and deciding game of the Eastern League Championship Series.

The Baysox won the last two games of this series and their pitchers held the league's highest-scoring team to three runs combined in those games.

In the top of the fourth, Reading moved ahead 1-0 when Cameron Perkins hit the first pitch of the inning over the left-field fence for his first postseason home run.

The 25-year-old Rosa, a veteran of three seasons with Bowie, hit a two-run homer to left in the last of the fourth to give Bowie a 2-1 lead. It was his second playoff homer and came on an 0-1 pitch from Reading starter Reinier Roibal. Trey Mancini led off the frame and drew a walk to score ahead of the homer.

Rosa's second homer came on a 2-0 pitch in the sixth to make it 3-1. He hit just four homers in 368 at-bats in the regular season and one in 34 playoff at-bats before tonight. Reading pulled within one run at 3-2 on a homer by No. 9 hitter Rene Garcia in the top of the seventh.

But Latimore, who led all Eastern League hitters with 12 playoff RBIs before tonight, delivered two more in the seventh. His booming two-run double to left scored Mike Yastrzemski and Mancini to add two big insurance runs in the seventh for the 5-2 lead. The Baysox added two more in the eighth on Yastrzemski's sac fly and an error.

Bowie starter Joe Gunkel, pitching on three days' rest, allowed five hits and one run over four innings on 72 pitches. Gunkel pitched out of huge jam in the third. He stranded the bases loaded when he got Eastern League MVP Brock Stassi to pop out on a 3-2 pitch.

Baysox Game 2 start Nick Additon then pitched the next four innings. He gave up the Garcia homer but no other hits on just 50 pitches on two day's rest. It was a very impressive performance by the lefty.

After 79 regular-season wins, a division championship and two playoff series wins, Bowie can now claim a league championship for the first time. This is the first O's minor league title since Single-A Frederick won the Carolina League in 2011. It is the first by an Orioles Double-A team since Charlotte in 1984.

And the MVP is ...: Rosa was named the series MVP.