Week 14: July 7th – 13th
Just a short week, three games due to the All-Star game, but all three games won. The first winning week of the season.
Game 90 @ Phoenix Talons
7/7 @ Phoenix W 4-2
Aviators complete a 3-1 series win over Talons in the last game before the All-Star game. Talons scored in the first innings before three hits & a walk in the fourth innings scored two for the Aviators and turned the game around. Wichita added to the lead in the eighth with a Jason Bowen solo shot. Talons closed to within one again but an RBI double by Jorge Rincon in the ninth clinched the win. Duane Whitley Jr failed to get a hit, but walked twice and came around to score both times. Takanori Goto picked up his sixth win as an Aviator, pitching seven innings. He unusually walked four batters, but allowed only four hits and one run while striking out three batters.
Johnson League v Frick League All-Star game
7/9 Johnson League win 5-1
As usual, not much Wichita interest in this, not many (if any) ever enter the voting for it. Our one representative was Tony Alomar and he actually pitched the second innings for the Johnson League. It took him just 11 pitches to finish the innings, getting two to ground out and the final one to strike out. He also was tagged with the win.
Games 91 & 92 @ San Antonio Outlaws
7/12 @ San Antonio W 3-2
7/13 @ San Antonio W 2-0
With San Antonio leading the season series between the two 5-1, not much was expected from the visit to the Outlaws. With San Antonio leading 2-0 after five innings in the first game it looked like another loss for Aviators, but Wichita got a 2-RBI double from Jason Bowen in the sixth to tie the game up. Juan Hernandez’s double in the seventh drove in the go-ahead run and Outlaws couldn’t come back. Clive Timberlake was the only Aviator that got more than one hit, he went 2-4 and scored once while Mauro Flores picked up his third win. He gave up 10 hits and walked two in seven innings, but kept it down to two runs in. Tony Alomar took the game the rest of the way for his 14th save of 2043. In the second game Wichita took their recent record to five wins in six games with two runs in the sixth inning. A triple from Timberlake & two steals from Hernandez helped those runs home. Rule 5 pick Damon Tipping went the distance allowing just two hits and a walk for the shutout. His first BBA career complete game shutout and his 11th quality start in 2043 pushed his record to 4-7.
Regular Season Standings (July 13th)
2043 Record v Johnson League
| Frontier | HW | HL | AW | AL | Atlantic | HW | HL | AW | AL |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Boise | 1 | 5 | 0 | 4 | Atlantic City | - | - | 2 | 1 |
| Calgary | 1 | 3 | 2 | 4 | Brooklyn | 1 | 1 | - | - |
| Edmonton | 1 | 4 | 2 | 3 | Charlotte | 2 | 1 | - | - |
| Las Vegas | 1 | 3 | 4 | 3 | Charm City | - | - | 1 | 2 |
| Mexico City | 1 | 5 | 1 | 2 | Jacksonville | 2 | 1 | - | - |
| Phoenix | 1 | 2 | 5 | 3 | Montreal | 0 | 3 | - | - |
| San Antonio | 0 | 3 | 3 | 2 | New Orleans | - | - | 0 | 3 |
| Wichita | X | X | X | X | Rockville | - | - | 1 | 2 |
| TOTALS | 6 | 25 | 17 | 21 | TOTALS | 5 | 6 | 4 | 8 |
Pleased that Tipping finally got the reward for some good efforts