One win for the championship: Bowie hosts Reading in Game 5

In the 2015 Eastern League playoffs, it seems you can get the Double-A Bowie Baysox down, but not out.

In the first game of Bowie's EL semifinal series with Altoona, the Baysox blew a 7-0 lead and lost 8-7. They then won the next three games by a combined score of 21-3 to reach the EL Championship Series.

They then again lost the series opener 3-1 before winning Game 2, 10-3. But Reading won Game 3 big by a 9-3 score and Bowie faced a must-win situation last night. The Baysox won a 9-1 blowout to force a fifth game tonight to decide the championship.

Bowie hosts Game 5 tonight at 6:05 p.m., at Prince George's Stadium. Now the Baysox franchise that had never even won a postseason series in the club's 23-year history is a win away from the Eastern League title.

Last night, 22-year-old right-hander David Hess pitched seven innings of three-hit, one-run ball while Jason Stoffel and Andrew Triggs finished up on the mound. Trey Mancini, Quincy Latimore, Chance Sisco and Garabez Rosa each had two RBIs.

More notes and quotes on the Baysox:

* Hess began this year as a 21-year-old 2014 fifth-round draft pick about to play full season ball for the first time. He went to Single-A Frederick and struggled with an ERA of 5.83 through June 20. Then, he used the Carolina League All-Star break as a chance for a mental reboot of sorts.

Since that point, he is 10-1 with an ERA of 1.58 in 16 combined starts for Frederick and Bowie. In two Baysox playoff starts, he has pitched 14 innings, allowing just five hits and one run.

How did Hess so dramatically turn around his year?

"I can't really pinpoint one thing exactly, but I think the All-Star break really helped me out," Hess said. "In the first half, there was a lot of learning so the break gave me a couple of days to catch up mentally as well as physically. I told my agent and family, 'If I can just get to the All-Star break, the second half is going to be way better and I know it.' Fortunately that has been the case."

Hess was rated as the Orioles' No. 20 prospect by Baseball America at the end of last year. He figures to be Top 15 and maybe even Top 10 after this year.

* First baseman Mancini had such an incredible year for the Baysox. He hit .359 in 84 games with 13 homers and 57 RBIs. He had been hitting some balls hard in recent games, but had struggled at times in the playoffs, batting .148 going into last night. But then Mancini went 2-for-5 and drove in two runs.

He has a lot of what Buck Showalter might call "want-to," and Bowie manager Gary Kendall said that was a small issue for him in the playoffs.

"He felt like he was letting people down, and that is just his nature. He hit some balls hard right at the shortstop the last few nights. He's getting good swings, he just needs to stop pressing and relax. He's going to be fine," Kendall said.

* There are two 20-year-old players in this series. Reading's shortstop J.P. Crawford, one of baseball's top prospects and Bowie catcher Sisco, the Orioles' No. 4 prospect according to Baseball America.

Sisco won the batting title last year at Single-A Delmarva, hitting .340. He hit .308 this year for Single-A Frederick and moved to Bowie at the end of this season. He hit .257 in 20 Bowie games.

Sisco recently spent an afternoon at Camden Yards working on his defense with O's coach John Russell in a session that included Orioles catchers Matt Wieters, Caleb Joseph and Steve Clevenger.

"We were just working on footwork and throwing to second," Sisco said of his day in Baltimore. "It was awesome going up there for a day and working with them. That was pretty cool. They were helping me out and letting me know some things to work on."

* There are eight players that were on the Bowie opening day roster that are on the roster for Game 5. They are pitchers Gene Escat, Ashur Tolliver and Triggs, catcher David Freitas, infielder Ozzie Martinez and outfielders Glynn Davis, Latimore and Mike Yastrzemski.

* Bowie was 0-5 in playoff series before this year. Twice the Baysox led best-of-five series 2-0 but then lost three straight games. Bowie was 9-15 all-time in playoff games before going 5-3 so far this year.

* In Game 5 tonight, right-hander Joe Gunkel pitches for Bowie. The 23-year-old Gunkel is a Hershey, Pa. native drafted by Boston in Round 18 in 2013 out of West Chester University. The Orioles acquired him from Boston in a June 3 trade for outfelder Alejandro De Aza. He was ranked as Boston's No. 26 prospect by Baseball America at the end of last season.

Gunkel pitched well this year for Bowie, going 8-4 with a 2.59 ERA in 17 starts. He started Game 1 of this series, allowing nine hits and three runs over six innings, and took the loss. He is working on three days' rest tonight.

Reading will start 26-year-old Cuban-born right-hander Reinier Roibel, who has been pitching out of their bullpen. In the regular season, he went 6-1 with a 1.66 ERA in 48 2/3 innings. He has pitched two scoreless innings in the playoffs including one against Bowie on Thursday night.

Hopefully some Orioles fans can make it out to Bowie to support the Baysox in this winner-take-all game later today. Go to Baysox.com for ticket info.