Week of May 5th to May 11th
Albuquerque Coyotes 22-16, 2nd
@ San Jose Sharks W 6-5 (F/10)
Vs Indianapolis Downforce W 4-3, L 3-7, W 6-2
@ Winnipeg Goldeyes W 9-2, L 1-2 (F/10)
First off in the week Coyotes completed the series win over San Jose. Leading early Albuquerque had to score in the eighth to tie the game at 5-5 before Chris Jenkins led off the 10th with a solo homer that proved to be the winner. We returned home for a series against Indianapolis and Coyotes secured another series win. Game one we scored one run in each of the first three innings, but the Downforce came back to tie it at 3-3 in the eighth. Thankfully we walked it off with an Ernesto Ramirez solo homer in the bottom of the ninth. Albuquerque never really got into the second game and two of our three runs came via a 2-run homer from Ricardo Tavares in the bottom of the ninth. The final game of the series we were 6-0 up after four innings, Guillaume Martin hit two homers and Luis Ayala hit his second Triple-A homer in his 21st game at the level. Heading for Canada & Winnipeg Coyotes carried on the good form. Starting well with 2-run homers from Ayala and Paul Cash in the first innings, the Coyotes increased their lead to 6-0 after two innings with a Matt Chambers 2-run homer. Taito Kimmonen was denied his seventh win of 2043 when he had to leave after three innings with back tightness. Jesus Zapata came in and pitched 4.1 scoreless innings to claim his fourth win. The last game of the week was a disappointment when in a nine-hit total game Aloisio Prudente got us back to 1-1 with a solo homer in the top of the ninth, only for a Goldeyes triple in the bottom of the tenth to walk it off for Winnipeg.
Pitcher of week: 21-yr-old starter Ramon Guerrero improved his record to 4-1 by picking up the win on his only start. He gave up five hits and two unearned runs, but didn’t walk anybody while striking out nine batters
Batter of the week: 22-yr-old Chris Jenkins hit .421/.522/.632 in his five games this week with one homer and two RBI. He also scored five times.
Columbus Brown Sox 23-15, 1st
Vs Providence Bees W 9-5, W 5-4, L 4-6
@ St. Joseph’s Butchers W 5-3, L 4-5, W 6-0
Good week too for Columbus who also won two series to maintain their lead at the top of their division. The first game against Providence got off to a fine start when a single and three successive walks set the table for a four-run innings. Bees made it back to 4-4 but the eight batters coming to the batter’s box in the seventh for Brown Sox scored four more and sealed the win. Four was the magic number in game two as well, Bees were 4-1 up when Raul Lopez’s solo homer led off the bottom of the eighth and Columbus added three more runs to defeat Providence yet again. The Brown Sox never really recovered from going 3-1 down after two innings in the third game, Columbus whittled away at the score, but each time Bees scored more. Travelling to St Joseph’s the Brown Sox put the season back on track, the lead swapped hands three times early on in game one but the score was 3-3 after seven. A Brian Best double in the eighth helped him to come around and score the go-ahead run while a Luis Martinez solo shot in the ninth added the insurance run. In was a close-run affair in the second game too, with the score tied 3-3 again going into the ninth, another Brian Best double drove in the go-ahead run. This time though the Butchers fought back, and a 2-run homer walked off the game. St Joseph’s never got into the deciding game, a two run first followed by a run in the second gave the Brown Sox a 3-0 lead and a two, one punch again in the sixth & seventh innings finished off the Bees who only registered four hits.
Pitcher of week: 27-yr-old reliever Pedro Flores pitched six innings in three outings. He gave up eight hits and two walks, but the only run he surrendered was off a homer. He also struck out eight batters.
Batter of week: 26-yr-old Tony Johnston hit .458/.536/.500 in his seven games. He also walked three times and stole three bases, scoring five times and driving one run in.
Topeka Thunderbears 25-13, 1st
@ Boulder Crush W 2-1, L 2-4, W 6-1
@ Folsom Foxhounds W 8-4, W 8-6 (F/10), W 14-6
With six games on the roads this week Thunderbears were still dominant and won five out of the six to remain top. Topeka & Boulder had six hits each in game one, but the Crush’s lone run came in the bottom of the ninth and wasn’t enough. Three runs in the sixth innings was enough for Boulder to tie the series. Topeka comfortably took the final game though, 2-1 up at the mid-point of the eighth, Thunderbears sent 10 to the plate in the bottom of the eighth and four came around to score, winning the game & series. Going to Folsom Topeka came away with a sweep but it wasn’t as easy as it seemed. Fernando Casimiro hit a 3-run homer in the third innings of the first game of the series to give Thunderbears a 3-1 lead. Eight Topeka players batted in the sixth and scored four times to effectively seal the win. Sumitomo Takahashi gave up four walks & four hits in his 5.2 innings, but got away with only allowing one run as he collected his fourth win of 2043. Thunderbears had a comfortable 6-2 lead going into the bottom of the eighth before the Foxhounds knocked in four runs to send the game to extras. Three successive doubles to lead off the 10th gave Topeka a two-run lead which they held on to despite walking a batter in the bottom of the 10th. Six runs scored by Thunderbears in the first two innings of the decider should have made it comfortable, but a succession of 2-run innings from Foxhounds brought it back to 6-6 by the end of the sixth. It was decided in the top of the ninth though when 11 came to the plate for Topeka and six hits plus two hit batters allowed eight to score, clinching the series.
Pitcher of week: 21-yr-old starter Bartolo Deleon won his only start, pitching seven innings allowing just two hits, one of which was a solo homer. He struck out three batters while opponents hit just .087 off him.
Batter of week: 23-yr-old Norberto Acuna hit a triple, three homers and drove in seven runs in five games. He also scored seven times and hit an average of .368/,458/1.000