[luckymann]

As per usual, a flurry of trade proposals flies in on the eve of the deadline. I’m not really looking to make any moves but it would be foolish of me not to at least take a look. The Aurora Suns are one team soliciting us. They want Blaine Luecke and Joe Douglass for a guy I have no interest in. But one of their players does catch my eye: Dustin White, an absolute gun CF who also acquits himself well at every other position except catcher and third, is fast as a heart attack on a fat man and hits a ton. He’s not pricey, either, just $12k with years of team control ahead. Just for fun – a guy can dream, right? – I see what they’d want for him. They throw Shane McBride into the mix along with the two in the original package. Now this would be a serious upgrade at the position but it would also be throwing away the farm to a certain degree. In the end my short-term desires win out and I make the deal. Tomorrow never knows.

Roster expansion sees squads increase to 28 from 25. After the trade we’re at 23, so I call up pitchers Phillips and Gaiser, infielder Rick Clayton and the two able-bodied outfielders named Jonathan – Paulsen and Parsons. Arcila will move to LF to accommodate White’s arrival and Hackett will come off the bench.

Both Hilo and ourselves drop the first two games of the month. 20 games to play, 4½ in front, magic number 17. Plenty of baseball left in this season. Kahului are 8 back, the rest are at the travel agent booking their end of season trips.

July 4th sees us win at Lanai City 5-3 with Malone going deep twice and driving in 4 to give Jase Edwards his 10th win, while Hilo loses. Eric Edwards gets us a shutout win the next day for his 10th of the season, while Hilo drops another one. Suddenly we are 6½ clear and out MN is 13.

White has hit the ground running and knocks out his first dinger for us the next game as we beat the Juice back in Honolulu. The Volcanoes win their first in 5, so it’s a wash. The following day we score 5 in the first en route to a 10-3 win as Hilo loses 12-10 in 10 at home to Lanai City. Then we squeeze by Kahului 6-5 with both Malone and Strickland homering as Hilo smashes Lanai City 11-3. Malone, coming good just at the ideal juncture, wins PotW honors for his .409 / 4 HR / 13 RBI effort.

Next we have a three-game homestand against our nearest rivals. A sweep would really put us in the box seat. 2-1 would be acceptable. Anything less, not so. An 8-4 win in the opener bodes well for us, with White, Taylor and Strickland all homering. In Game 2 they take an early lead as Erik Edwards struggles and go into the bottom 9th trailing 4-3. Arcila ties it with a leadoff homer, which takes the pressure off. Chris Blair, next up, doubles, and after Hackett singles and Williams is HBP we have the sacks full with none out and White due up. He calmly cracks a base hit into center and we walk it off 5-4. But we drop the final game as Jason Spurgeon gives up his first earned runs since joining us.

13 games left, magic number is a paltry 5.

We travel to Kapaa for three and open with a hard-fought 5-4 win as White goes 4-for-5 with a trip and two ribsters and Junior Hoffman, who – given the porous state our pen was in when we acquired him – might well be the most important acquisition we have made (1.23 ERA over 51+ IP), gives us a 3-inning save. Hilo wins both games of a doubleheader at home to the Juice. Another tight win the next day behind Tyler Canty and then a 12-5 cakewalk as Vazquez bombs out his first 2 HR for us and drives in 5, while Jase Edwards breaks the club strikeout record with 15, leaves our MN at just 2 with 9 to play. White deservedly wins the PotW Award, going .583 / 1 HR / 9 RBI over that period.

We travel to Kahului next, winning the first game thanks mainly to Fidel Vasquez’s 4-hit night and posting a 5-spot in the 6th. Just one to go, as Hilo beat Kapaa 7-2. The lads take no chances, bashing out 16 hits with Malone driving in 4 runs to win 13-5 and clinch the pennant.

We go 4-3 over the final week to finish at 72-33, 8 games clear of Hilo, with the Sugar Cane a further 3 games back. Kahului shortstop Scott Pierce breaks Brian Malone’s HR mark of the previous season, ending up with 36. Brian just pips Jonno Moulton with 28 to lead our club, while Marcus Strickland has our highest BA at .342 and batting WAR with 3.9. Erik Edwards’ 2.79 ERA and 5.2 pitcher WAR are both the best for our squad, while Tyler Canty leads the way with 14 wins.

We’re off to the Lincoln Cup!

The seedings are released the next day and we end up at #16, which means our first-round opponents will be #49 Overland Park (KS). The big news is that last season’s winners Brunswick failed to repeat in the Maine League, finishing 5 adrift of Sanford, and therefore won’t be back to defend their Championship. They’re not alone; in fact, just 13 teams managed to do so (another 4 will be returning for the second time, but via the WC route either this season or the prior one). This is perhaps to be expected with such a new competition. Interestingly, we won’t be the only Seahawks making an appearance, as the Yonkers side of the same name also won their New York League with a 68-37 record. There was only one tiebreaker needed, in the Arizona League with Gilbert getting past Tucson to take their place at the Big Dance. And Bethlehem can consider themselves extremely unlucky, missing out on a countback when they finished equal with Chester for the Pennsylvania WC spot.