Prior to Wednesday’s Game 5 of the South Division Championship Series, Quakes manager Keith Johnson said, “We’d like to keep it low-scoring. That’s to our advantage.”

The Quakes weren’t able to rely on big power bats to put up runs in bunches, really all season long. No Quake hit more regular-season home runs than outfielder Jeremy Moore’s 11.

They hit a franchise record-low 82 home runs in the regular season. That didn’t really hurt them most of the playoffs. Their pitching was good enough to keep the game close enough for the offense to pull it out.

But on Wednesday, the Mavericks had the power advantage by hitting four home runs, including a three-run shot by Travis Scott, two-run shots by Joe Dunigan and Carlos Peguero and a solo shot by Juan Diaz. The Mavericks only out-hit the Quakes 13-11, but had seven extra-base hits, while the Quakes had only four. Diaz’s home run appeared to be the only one that was aided by the hitter-friendly confines of Stater Bros. Stadium.

Jay Brossman did homer for the Quakes, but they came up short of qualifying for their first championship series since 1998. The Mavericks qualified for the first time since 1997, when they had their last league championship.