The BBA All-Star Game took place on Tuesday, July 9. It was a game dominated by the Frick League 9-3. Two Flyers made appearances in the game. Dallas Dixon grounded into a fielder’s choice in his only at bat and Robert Menzies came off the bench and collected 2 hits and an RBI in the game. Both players indicated that they were excited to be part of the team and had a great time during the event.
Following the All-Star Break, the Flyers headed to Rocky Mountain to take on the Oysters for a 4 game series. Both teams are currently battling for wildcard positioning so the series came with a lot of excitement.
Game 1 was a pitcher’s duel in which Mauro Mendoza completed 7.1 scoreless innings and picked up his 8th win of the season. Three of the four runs scored by Charlotte were unearned. THey did count however, and the Flyers won 4-0.
Game 2 was a rough start for Josh Clark, as he allowed 5 runs on 7 hits and 2 walks in only 3.2 innings. The bullpen was good but the offense could only muster 3 runs and Rocky Mountain won the game 5-3.
Mick Scott hit his 1st big league home run, a 3 run blast, to help lead the Flyers to a game 3 win.Andres Gonzales earned the win with 6 shutout innings. Charlotte won the game 6-1.
Game 4 was scoreless through 10 innings. Ivan Ruiz pitched the first 7 for Charlotte but left well before the game was decided. In the top of the 11th inning, Tom Bates crushed a 2-run home run over the right field fence to give the Flyers the lead. The team felt great knowing that their newly acquired closer, Alejandro Chavez, who had pitched a 1-2-3 10th, would be coming back to the mound to close the game out. That’s when things fell apart. Chavez gave up 3 consecutive singles to start the 11th, loading the bases. He then ran the count full on Malik bin Mazin before walking him to drive in a run. Two pitches later, the game was tied on a sacrifice fly and Chavez was replaced by Joe Jackson who gave up an RBI double to the only batter he saw. Rocky Mountain pulled off the unlikely 3-2 win and Charlotte got on a flight to Phoenix.
After the game, Chavez said that he wasn’t sure what went wrong in the 11th inning. “I felt great, to be honest. I don’t know. I guess you just have those games once in a while. I don’t throw more than 1 inning very often, but I’ve done it a few times and I don’t really ever remember having two innings be so different like that. I mean, all I did in between was talk to the pitching coach and have some of that green sports drink that I found in the clubhouse.”