Wichita finish road trip 4-3 (2044-19)

[Fat Nige]

Week 7: May 12th-May 18th
Series wins are obviously like buses, wait for one and two come along together as Wichita follow up the series win against Charlotte with one against Charm City. Aviators also follow their first non-losing sim with their first winning sim. Are things on the up? Doubtful, but at least they’re not quite as bad.




Game 39 @ Charm City Jimmies


5/12 @ Charm City W 4-3

Twice Wichita took the lead in the final game of the Charm City series and twice the Jimmies were able to pull Aviators back. A solo homer by Jason Bowen in the eighth innings finally sealed the game and Wichita’s second successive series win. Bowen has really come on this year, he finished 4-4, scoring once and picking up two RBI while Jose Montoya collected his fourth win, beating his 2043 total of three. He pitched seven innings, allowing six hits, three walks and three runs while Tony Alomar took the game the rest of the way, earning his fourth save in a poor season for him.





Games 40, 41, 42 & 43 @ Las Vegas Hustlers

5/13 @ Las Vegas W 5-3
5/14 @ Las Vegas L 1-6
5/15 @ Las Vegas L 4-7
5/16 @ Las Vegas W 9-4

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Moving on to Las Vegas the Aviators picked up a second consecutive win, showing a resilient side. Down 3-1 after six innings Wichita were able to score two in the eighth and two in the ninth to sweep in for the late win. Lead-off man Mario Rodriguez went 2-5, scoring once and driving two runs in while Tony Alomar squared his win loss record at 1-1 after pitching the last two innings allowing just one walk and one K. The Hustlers hit back though in game two, four runs in the fourth innings for Las Vegas as good as sealing the win, Aviators outhit 11-4. Jim Gouzzie went 2-3 including a solo homer. Takanori Goto back to losing, managing to go just one out in the fifth as he surrendered eight hits and five runs. Four more runs in the sixth innings of game three by Hustlers gave them a commanding 5-0 lead. Wichita again tried a late, late show scoring two in the seventh and two in the eighth, but it wasn’t enough this time, leaving Aviators fighting to save the series. They didn't manage a homer in this game snapping a streak of 17 games where they they scored at least one homer, a solid record given their overall performance. Las Vegas scored twice in the bottom of the first innings of the final series game, but Aviators scored in each of the first five innings to rack up a 7-2 lead. Again, Wichita scored two in the ninth to put the exclamation mark on the win that tied the series. Aviators hit three homers including one by Gouzzie, his 10th, in a 5-5 blitz on the Hustlers pitchers. Ramon Guerrero improved his record to 2-4 pitching another six innings. In nine starts in his rookie season he has only once failed to pitch into the sixth despite a low pitch count, this time he allowed seven hits, one walk and three runs.





Games 44 & 45 vs Boise Spuds


5/17 vs Boise L 0-9 (33,843)
5/18 vs Boise W 5-4 (F/12) (33,585)


Back home to face Boise a 4-3 road trip counted for nothing as the Spuds well and truly sautéed them to the tune of 9-0. Boise scored two runs in four different innings as they outhit Aviators 13-4 and blanked the home side. Juan Hernandez & Jorge Reyes shared the four hits between them. In the second game Wichita returned to winning ways, collecting their second win in extras from three attempts during 2044. After Wichita led twice Boise pegged them back to 4-4 in the eighth and both sides shut it down until the bottom of the 12th when a walk, an error and a single got Jason Bowen to third before a single by Jim Gouzzie past the third baseman into left field drove Bowen in for the walk-off. Bowen led the way offensively with 2-4 alongside two walks, scoring twice and picking up his 18th RBI of 2044.

Regular Season Standings (May 18th)




2044 Record v Johnson League

Frontier	HW	HL	AW	AL	Atlantic	HW	HL	AW	AL
Boise	2	3	0	0	Atlantic City	0	0	0	0
Calgary	0	0	0	3	Brooklyn	0	0	0	0
Edmonton	0	3	0	0	Charlotte	2	1	0	0
Las Vegas	0	3	2	2	Charm City	0	0	2	1
Mexico City	2	2	2	2	Jacksonville	0	0	0	0
Phoenix	0	0	0	4	Montreal	0	0	0	0
San Antonio	1	2	0	0	New Orleans	1	2	0	0
Wichita	X	X	X	X	Rockville	1	2	0	0
TOTALS	5	13	4	11	TOTALS	4	5	2	1

With eight wins in the bank for May already Wichita have 12 games left in the month to beat ( or equal ) the 11 wins in May that Aviators achieved in ’42 & ’43.