Week of May 26th to June 1st
Albuquerque Coyotes 32-26, 2nd
@ Los Cabos Corsairs L 5-9, L 2-8, L 3-4
Vs Black Hills Rally W 3-0, L 6-7, W 1-0
@ Victoria Canucks L 1-9
Albuquerque still remain level at the top of the division despite a poor week. Game one in Los Cabos got away early on, a 2-run homer capping a six-run second innings. Coyotes sent eight to the plate in the fourth, but they could only get four to score. Luis Ayla went 0-2, but walked twice and came around to score both times, Kinara Cobley became the first Coyotes player to be ejected when in the seventh inning he argued a strikeout. It was no better in game two when Corsairs scored two runs in the first and four more in the second. The final game of the series was closer, a 3-run homer by Ricardo Tavares in the top of the sixth gave Coyotes a 3-2 lead. Unfortunately, Los Cabos levelled in the bottom of the sixth and finished off the sweep with a walk-off run in the ninth. Coyotes returned home to face Black Hills and scored in the bottom of the first. They added a run in the sixth and the eighth to take the shutout win. Duane Coutts went five innings, giving up just two hits and striking out two batters to take his second win since being demoted from Wichita, Guillaume Martin went 3-3 including his 16th homer of 2043 while scoring two of the three runs. After sprinkling single runs around, it was 3-3 in the second game after seven before the game went wild in the eighth innings. Rally burst out in the top of the innings with eight batters scoring four runs, but the Albuquerque response in the bottom half fell short. Kinara Cobley hit a 2-run homer in a three run innings that fell a run short. Albuquerque took the series with a 1-0 win in the final game. Guillaume Martin doubled in the seventh to drive Chris Jenkinsin for the game’s only run. Jesus Zapata laid the foundation for the shutout, pitching the first four innings, but by walking four batters it ended up with three bullpen arms finishing off the game. The final game of the week really hurt, a 3-run homer in the fourth innings by Victoria contributed to a 6-run innings which put the home side 9-0 up. Coyotes will have to step up in the rest of the series against one of their main rivals to maintain the push for the playoffs.
Pitcher of week: 29-yr-old reliever Alfonso Archuleta pitched in three games, pitching 7.1 innings. He posted one win while giving up seven hits and one run, he also struck out four batters.
Batter of the week: 24-yr-old Ernesto Ramirez played six games getting 11 hits from 22 AB’s, scoring three times and driving in two runs.
Columbus Brown Sox 33-25, 2nd
@ Duluth Dragons L 2-5, L 9-10
Vs Frederick Travellers W 1-0, W 8-2, W 11-5
@Burlington Big Eyed Fish W 3-2, L 1-6
Columbus have slipped to second, three games behind Beloit after some less than stellar form. Two defeats at Duluth to start the week wasn’t ideal. Three early Dragons runs won the week’s first game while it was runs galore in the final game of the series. The lead swung back and fore before it was tied at 7-7 after six innings, a three run seventh inning sealed the sweep for Duluth. #9 hitter Charlie Lamont went 2-3, driving in two runs and scoring one. Returning home to face the Travellers the Brown Sox completed a sweep of their own. In game one, Jose Flores drove in Elmer Lomond in the second innings for the game’s only run. Juan Jose Moran pitched six innings allowing just four hits with three arms out of the bullpen finishing the shutout. Five runs in the first two innings of game two sorted the second win, Bill Burke going 3-5, driving in two runs & scoring twice. Four runs in the first innings set Columbus up for the sweep and eleven Brown Sox’s batting in the eighth made the score 11-1. Raul Lopez went 4-5 with two runs scored and two driven in. Chris Sackett’s record improved to 2-2, he pitched into the sixth innings allowing two hits and three walks. He gave up just one run while striking out nine batters. The first game in Burlington saw Columbus bat around in the sixth innings and score three runs, turning a 0-1 deficit into a winning 3-1 lead. Carlos Rocha pitched two clean innings at the end to claim his fifth save of the season.
Pitcher of week: 22-yr-old reliever Carlos Rocha pitched in four games, a total of five innings, giving up just one walk and no runs. He collected one save.
Batter of week: 22-yr-old Raul Lopez hit .458/.519/.667 in seven appearances including five doubles. He drove six runs in and scored twice.
Topeka Thunderbears 36-22, 1st
@ Council Bluffs Express L 0-1, W 2-1 (F/13)
Vs Grand Junction Gold Sox L 3-11, W 6-3, W 3-2
@ Lancaster Cactus W 14-12 (F/15), W 9-1
The Expresses second innings homer off Hector Fuentes proved to be the only run of the game. Fuentes record dropped to 3-3 as he pitched into the seventh innings, giving up three hits and two walks while striking out six. In the second innings of the final game in Council Bluffs Fernando Casimiro hit his seventh homer of the season before the home side tied the game up in the eighth innings. We then went all the way to the 13th innings where with the bases loaded Roger Price drew the walk that forced Mike Sears in with the winning run. The series against close rivals Grand Junction didn’t start well, Thunderbears scored the games first run in the first innings but were 5-1 down by the end of the third innings. Five more Gold Sox runs in the final two innings made it a convincing win for the second-place side. A 3-run homer by Dalton Hensley in the third innings of the second game gave Topeka a 4-1 lead and two errors plated the fourth run that innings. Walton Gomez went 3-4, scoring one and driving in one run. Bartolo Deleon improved his record to 6-0, pitching into the seventh innings allowing seven hits and just one run. Topeka snatched the series win when after being 2-0 up early in the final game, they were pegged back to 2-2 before Fernando Casimiro led off the bottom of the ninth with the walk-off homer. Just as good at Lancaster afterwards, a flurry of runs including a 2-run homer from Fred Snyder & a 3-run shot from Norberto Acuna saw the game tied at 12-12 after six innings. The runs dried up then and we went scoreless all the way to the 15th when Topeka finally used two doubles & a single to get the two runs that finally won the game. Acuna went 3-8 with four RBI and two runs scored. Both sides used seven pitchers and Thunderbears starter Fuentes only lasted four innings after walking seven batters. It was a more convincing win in the week’s last game when Topeka were 4-0 up before the Cactus got on the board with a run. Batting around in the ninth innings Topeka flattered themselves by adding five runs including a another 3-run homer from Acuna.
Pitcher of week: 21-yr-old reliever Augusto Macias made five appearances, pitching 5.1 innings. He only allowed two hits and two walks while striking out four on the way to picking up just one win.
Batter of week: 23-yr-old Norberto Acuna hit two homers, driving in seven runs during the week, scoring seven times whilst drawing four walks.