Baseball is a funny game. Just ask Kellen Sweeney.

Sweeney scuffled much of the season and got demoted, but he finished strong and got the game-winning hit as the Vancouver Canadians won the Northwest League title Sunday night.

He was up, down and sideways, but survived and feels good about his career again.

"It was good to end the season on a good night," he said Wednesday, a day after returning to his home in Cedar Rapids.

"I think coming back the way I did at the end of the season proved that I can get through a whole season," he said. "Obviously there are ups and downs in baseball, but you have to fight through that. I think I learned a lot this season."

Sweeney began the year with Lansing in the Class A Midwest League, but hit only .179 in 43 games and got shipped to Vancouver, a short-season Class A club in the Toronto organization. He was still scuffling with a batting average in the .160's at Vancouver when he caught fire in mid-July.

He finished with a .229 average at Vancouver in 67 games with a strong six-week stretch, then hit .294 in the playoffs and helped Vancouver win the league title.

He didn't do much for the first three months of the season, then proved he can play minor league ball. The hardest part was surviving the rough spots.

Toronto sent him back to Florida for extended spring training after he had trouble in Lansing, then shipped him to Vancouver a few weeks later.

"It was tough," he admitted. "There were moments during the season where I was like, 'Man, I don't know if I can do this.'

"I have a great family and friends and everything. They pushed me through it, and my agent came down to Florida. He was like, 'I don't do this for everyone. I'm down here beause I know what you're capable of and what you can do.' He helped me out a lot, too."

Kellen's older brother, Ryan, had his own problems in pro baseball this season with the Boston Red Sox. He punched a wall in frustration in late July, broke his knuckle and has been on the disabled list ever since, likely done for the year. Even so, he passed along some good advice.

"I talked to him every once in awhile," Kellen said. "He's like, 'Everyone's been in this situation, and everyone has their downs in their career. Everybody is going to have that at some point.'

"That's exactly what he said: 'You have to get through it.'"

Sweeney said his coaches were a great help as well. But ultimately, Sweeney had to figure things out for himself.

"I think it was just getting my head straight and getting my timing down," he said. "I would sometimes lunge at the ball, so I decided to just get my foot down earlier and that helped me a lot."

Sweeney drew a bases-loaded walk to help Vancouver win the first game of the Northwest League championship series last Thursday night. Boise won the second game, which led to the final game in the best-of-three series Sunday night in Boise.

Vancouver trailed in the seventh inning Sunday, but Sweeney lined a two-run single to left field to give his team the lead for good. He went 3-for-4 in that game with two runs and two RBIs to finish the season in style.

"It was the craziest three-game series that I've ever played in," he said. "We had champagne in the locker room and everything. It was late and guys were leaving the next day. Some guys went out and celebrated.

"Me being 20 in Boise didn't help me out," he said, laughing. "We just hung out and went and got something to eat after the game."

Sweeney turns 21 on Friday. If he had gone to college instead of turning pro, he'd be a junior who wouldn't be drafted until next June. Instead, he's played 135 games in the minor leagues with 465 at-bats and six homers. He was selected in the second round of the 2010 draft by Toronto and signed for $600,000.

"I don't regret not going to college, just because I've learned a lot throughout these two years," he said.

It's been a long year for Sweeney. He reported to spring training in February and played practically non-stop for about eight months. He has to report to instructional ball in Dundedin, Fla., next week, but he's got about a week to rest and relax at home before going back to work.

"It will be good to give my body a break," he said. "It needs it, and this week will help a lot. I have so many bruises and everything, just from foul balls and getting hit by balls and everything."

Sweeney doesn't know where he'll be sent next season, but he could return to Lansing for a second chance in the Midwest League. Or it could be somewhere else.

"They haven't told anybody anything," he said.

Wherever it is, he'll pack his bags and get ready to continue his career as a professsional baseball player.