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ByAlexPavlovic BayAreaNewsGroup SAN FRANCISCO It'sthemost basic part of the game, the first skill baseball players are taught as toddlers too young to even know what's at stake this time of year. It's the first thing they do every day from spring training until the last gasp of October. Ballplayers throw. Except Matt Adams couldn't in the big moments Wednes- day, allowing the Giants to race away with another thrill- ing victory. Adams twice failed to get accurate throws off in the sixth inning and the San Francisco Giants snatched the lead and never looked back, beating the St. Louis Cardi- nals 6-4 to take a command- ing three games to one advan- tage in the National League Championship Series. The Giants scored the tying and go-ahead runs on ground- ers to first, continuing their unconventional ways. Over the last six games, the Giants have scored 22 runs, 12 com- ing on something other than a base hit. The ground attack got them a win on a night that was surprisingly short for Ryan Vo- gelsong. The right-hander took the ball as the owner of one of the best postseason resumes in MLB history. Vogelsong allowed one run of fewer in each of his first five postsea- son starts, including Game 4 of the NLDS, when he came out firing 95 mph heaters at the Washington Nationals. It was clear from the start Wednesday that Vogelsong didn't feature the same rep- ertoire on this night, and the Cardinals instantly took ad- vantage. Matt Carpenter led NATIONAL LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES GiantsbeatCardinals, get1winfromSeries Poseydrivesinthreeruns,SanFrancisco takes advantage of St. Louis' mistakes MARCIOJOSESANCHEZ—THEASSOCIATEDPRESS The San Francisco Giants' Juan Perez (right) scores past St. Louis Cardinals catcher A.J. Pierzynski on a hit by Gregor Blanco during the sixth inning of Game 4of the National League championship series Wednesday in San Francisco. JEFF ROBERSON — THE ASSOCIATED PRESS San Francisco Giants relief pitcher Santiago Casilla throws against the St. Louis Cardinals during the ninth inning of Game 4of the National League championship series Wednesday in San Francisco. Staff Reports RED BLUFF The Lady Spartans picked up their first league win in nearly three years Tuesday, beating visiting Paradise 25-15, 17-25, 25-21, 25-20. Red Bluff had dropped 22 straight league matches dating back to a Nov. 1, 2011 victory over Paradise. "The team really came to- gether, supported each other and played their hearts out tonight," coach Josh Frantz said. Katie Gallagher battled through injury to lead Red Bluff with 25 assists and three service aces. Hailey Reineman was flawless with her net play, racking up six kills and three solo blocks with no errors. Bailey Frantz had 11 kills and nine assists. Christina Zumalt had three solo blocks. Alex Funk provided 13 digs and Maddy Eicholtz had 10 of her own. Red Bluff (7-14, 1-5) is at Shasta at 7 p.m. today. MERCY3,CHESTER2 Mercy won a tough five-game match against visiting Chester on Tuesday 20- 25, 25-20, 25-16, 21-25, 15-7. C.J. Johnson led Mercy with 17 kills, four aces and 22 digs. Tasha Pimentel provided 36 assists and had 13 digs. Marissa Starman had 12 kills and 26 digs. Madeline Flynn had 10 kills and four blocks. Mercy (16-10, 2-1) is at Liberty Christian on Oct. 21. LASSEN 3, CORNING 0 Lassen swept visiting Corning 25-11, 25-20, 25-22 Tuesday. Corning (9-13, 0-3) hosts Cen- tral Valley at 7 p.m. tonight. PREP VOLLEYBALL Lady Spartans snap winless league skid Red Bluff beats Paradise for first victory in league play in 22 matches since win in 2011 GIANTS6,CARDINALS4 Series: San Francisco leads series 3-1. Today: St. Louis Cardinals at San Francisco Giants, 5:07 p.m., TV on FS1. THESCORE Sometimes great ideas are born out of neces- sity. The Red Bluff Spartan Booster Club certainly falls into that cat- egory. It may sur- prise some to know that Red Bluff High School didn't have a booster club until the 2008 re- cession hit. Some concerned, and for- ward-seeing, parents at the time saw the disruption the econ- omy was beginning to have on other local high school sports programs and moved to prevent that from happening in Red Bluff. In a Daily News article in No- vember 2008 announcing the founding of the club, Ken Robi- son said the group already had several members and $650 in the bank. Fast forward to this past Sat- urday at the boosters' third an- nual Spartan Hall of Fame Din- ner. Booster Club President Steph- anie Dodero announced since November 2008 the Booster Club has donated more than $80,000 to Spartans athletics. That's a remarkable effort, es- pecially when you factor in how many nonprofits were needing a boost of their own these past six years. It shows just how much the community cares for its high school and student-athletes. However the Booster Club is in need again. This time it's not so much money, but new blood. Many of the original founders have seen their kids graduate or about to. While their love for Red Bluff High School athletics isn't go- ing to fade away, they believe it's time for new leaders to step up and lead the club. Basically they've written a rather successful playbook, but it's time for a new quarter- back and point guard to run the game plan. On to the previews: LASSEN (4-2, 1-0) AT CORNING (4- 2, 1-0), 7:30 P.M. FRIDAY There's pretty much consensus that un- defeated Sutter and Orland are the top two teams in Division III this year. Who's the third-best team? This game probably decides that question until playoffs begins. Not only does the winner take a huge leap toward the North- ern Athletic League champion- ship, they pretty much cement themselves in for a home play- off game. Seems as if I say this every week, but it's another big game for Corning. On paper Lassen held with Pleasant Valley (a 25-20 loss), a lot better than the Cardinals did (a 56-14 loss). But as Corning coach John Studer told his team after last week's dramatic overtime win — on paper his team had no busi- ness beating West Vallley. They don't play games on pa- per and perhaps no Northern Section team in recent years better defines that saying than the Corning Cardinals. PARADISE (4-2, 0-2) AT RED BLUFF (2-5, 1-2), 7:30 P.M. FRIDAY Are the Spartans content just play- ing out the rest of the regular season and backpedaling into the playoffs as Oroville and Las Plumas keep losing? Or do they want to punch that ticket themselves by replicat- ing the program's 2012 home up- set of Paradise on Homecoming no less? The answers to those ques- WEEK 7 PREVIEWS Time to give Booster Club its own boost Crown these Royals the American League champions. A er nearly three decades spent trying to return to the playoffs, Kansas City is taking its perfect postseason ride all the way to the World Series. ALCS RoyalsholdoffOrioles to finish series sweep FULL STORY ON PAGE B2 A spring camp for players grades 1-12will be held Jan. 18through Feb. 22in Redding. For more information visit usbaseballacademy.com. Last year's camps sold out, regis- tration is recommended. YOUTH BASEBALL US Baseball Academy Spring Training 2015 Corning hosts Central Valley at 7p.m., while Los Molinos volleyball hosts Redding Christian. Red Bluff is at Shasta. The Lady Spartans golf team is at Bidwell Park Golf Course this a ernoon. TODAY'S SCHEDULE Corning, LM volleyball host league matches The Ebola crisis took another alarming turn Wednesday with word that a second Dallas nurse caught the disease from a patient and flew across the Midwest aboard an airliner the day before she fell ill. DALLAS NURSE Second health worker tests positive for Ebola FULL STORY ON PAGE B3 Rich Greene GREENE PAGE 2 GIANTS PAGE 2 SPORTS » redbluffdailynews.com Thursday, October 16, 2014 MORE AT FACEBOOK.COM/RBDAILYNEWS AND TWITTER.COM/REDBLUFFNEWS B1