Trey Mancini remembers the 2015 Bowie Baysox champs

As Double-A Bowie and Single-A Delmarva began the minor league playoffs this week, the Orioles' Trey Mancini remembered one of the best years of his baseball life.

Mancini was on the 2015 Bowie team that won the Eastern League championship. It remains to present day the only title in Baysox history and the last title won by an Orioles' affiliate.

In the opening round, Bowie lost Game 1 to Altoona but won three straight to advance to face a prospect-laden Reading team for the title. Reading took a 2-1 lead in the series, but then Bowie won a must-win Game 4 by a 9-1 score behind David Hess and then the Baysox won Game 5 at home 7-2 to win it all.

It touched off a wild celebration on the field at Prince George's Stadium that carried over into the clubhhouse. Click here for the story we had on MASN the next day.

That Bowie team included Mancini, Chance Sisco, Mike Yastrzemski, Corban Joseph and some minor league vets that came up big like Quincy Latimore and Garabez Rosa.

"It was one of the best few months of my baseball life," said Mancini. "Getting to play on that team with that group of guys. It was so special. Having guys like Brandon Snyder, Terry Doyle, guys like that that had been around and Brandon had some significant major league time. Those guys were in Double-A and just had the best attitude and were great mentors. Great guys to be around and you don't see that every day.

"That team had such a good mix of some younger guys coming up and the older guys on that team did such a good job. We just had really good chamaraderie and we really wanted to win that championship. It was a really good final series. Honestly, maybe talent on paper Reading was probably more talented than us but we kind of willed our way to the championship."

Mancini recalled how the Baysox won the final two games at home.

"We came from 1-2 down. Two must wins at home. We did it in Bowie and we really showed out and played well. It was so much fun and something I'll always look back on and treasure," he said.

Mancini said the young players on the current rosters of Delmarva and Bowie will gain a lot with the experience of taking part in the playoffs.

"Once you get a taste of the playoffs, it's really fun. Usually the atmosphere is great. You get butterflies and feel a little pressure and that's a good thing for when you come to this level. To be in those competitive environments with a lot on the line is really important and that helps in player development," he said.

Baysox fall in Game 2: Harrisburg and Bowie are now tied 1-1 in games in their current series after the Senators won 5-4 last night in 12 innings. Down 4-0, Bowie got a three-run homer in the sixth from Carlos Pérez. When Ryan Ripken homered in the eighth off Greg Holland, Bowie had tied it up. But Harrisburg went on to win to even the series. Lefty Zac Lowther pitches the third game in the best-of-five tonight at Harrisburg, which hosts the remaining games in the series.

Delmarva hosts Hickory tonight, needing to win to even a best-of-three South Atlantic League series after Hickory won Wednesday's series opener. Right-hander Gray Fenter (8-2, 1.81 ERA) gets the start for the Shorebirds. A Delmarva win forces a decisive Game 3 Saturday while a loss will end their season.

O's fall in series opener: The Orioles lost 3-1 to Texas last night to start a four-game series and seven-game homestand. Nick Solak of the Rangers hit a two-run homer in the seventh off John Means to give the Rangers a 2-1 lead.

Means falls to 10-10 with an ERA of 3.50. He has an ERA of 2.45 over his last four starts and has not walked a batter over 20 2/3 in his past three starts.

O's starting pitchers have recorded six quality starts the last 11 games with an ERA of 3.64. Means has three of the quality starts with one each from Aaron Brooks, Dylan Bundy and Gabriel Ynoa.

O's pitching has allowed just seven runs the last three games. The bullpen has allowed two earned runs in 10 2/3 the past four games.

The Orioles have scored one run on 15 hits the last two games, going 1-for-20 with runners in scoring position.

Anthony Santander went 1-for-4 to extend his career-high hitting streak to 10 games. He is averaging .415 (17-for-41) with three doubles, five home runs, six runs and 12 RBIs during this stretch.