[Westheim]

Raccoons (65-45) @ Indians (69-41) – August 9-12, 2055

Games 8 through 11 of the 14-day road trip got the Raccoons to Indiana for a perhaps critical 4-game set, which we could ill afford to lose if we still wanted to make an attack on the division title. The Indians had won four straight in sweeping the Titans and were sitting a modest fifth in runs scored, but were conceding the second-fewest runs in the CL for a +86 run differential, so the Critters’ lame-duck offense would be extra challenged. Their rotation ranked second, as was their defense. Their one real weakness was an utter lack of home run power, a category in which they ranked 11th in the CL, and besides the two Big B’s in the middle of their lineup, Bill Quinteros (.286, 14 HR, 74 RBI) and Bobby Anderson (.278, 10 HR, 54 RBI) had nobody with more than five dingers. We had a 7-4 lead over Indy for the year.

Projected matchups:
Kyle Brobeck (4-5, 4.92 ERA) vs. Enrique Ortiz (13-4, 2.66 ERA)
Cameron Argenziano (2-1, 3.57 ERA) vs. Chris Edwards (8-7, 3.42 ERA)
Kennedy Adkins (13-3, 1.62 ERA) vs. Tan Brink (12-7, 2.51 ERA)
He Shui (14-5, 3.01 ERA) vs. Bill McDermott (8-6, 3.04 ERA)

A dearth of southpaws had broken out – this was the second 4-game set in a row without a left-handed opponent for the Critters.

Game 1
POR: LF Brassfield – SS Lavorano – CF Puckeridge – RF Munn – C Gowin – P Brobeck – 1B Rojas – 2B Waters – 3B Venegas
IND: 2B Ewers – SS A. Rios – 1B B. Quinteros – 3B B. Anderson – C Poindexter – CF M. Ceballos – RF J. Garza – LF Kokel – P En. Ortiz

Brobeck wasted no time in getting under the wheels with a leadoff walk to Kevin Ewers, a long double hit by Antonio Rios, and then a sac fly and an RBI single for the two Big B’s in the Indians’ order. They found another single clipped by Jose Garza, after Brobeck nailed Mario Ceballos, for a third first-inning run. Chaz Kokel finally grounded out to Venegas to end the dismal inning. From there, Brobeck added six scoreless innings on just three more hits, including a single each for Quinteros and Anderson, but the damage was done, and the Raccoons’ lineup remained decidedly lackluster. They pooled only three hits together through the seven innings that Brobeck pitched, and none of this amounted for a run. It didn’t get any better post-Brobeck, who went a real pitcher’s 0-3, 3K at the plate, with the bottom of the order disappearing in order in the eighth inning as Ortiz kept churning and spitting them out. Bobby Anderson doubled off Eloy Sencion in the bottom 8th, but that didn’t amount to a run, nor did Lonzo hitting a 1-out single in the ninth, getting forced out by Pucks, and Munn grounding out to Ewers to end the game… 3-0 Indians. Lavorano 2-4; Brobeck 7.0 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 3 K, L (4-6);

Well, that’s not the way to rally to the front of the division. The Indians were on the strength of Ortiz’ 4-hitter already assured to maintain 100% of first place by Thursday night. Tying them had always been the best possible outcome for the Coons in this series.

Game 2
POR: LF Brassfield – SS Lavorano – CF Puckeridge – RF Munn – C Gowin – 3B Venegas – 1B Rojas – 2B Waters – P Argenziano
IND: 2B Ewers – LF Kokel – 3B B. Anderson – RF B. Quinteros – SS A. Rios – CF M. Ceballos – C M. Gilmore – 1B N. Fernandez – P C. Edwards

Tuesday got off much better, as two pitches into the contest Trent Brassfield cranked a home run to left for a quickie 1-0 lead. Pitch #3 was powered to left-center by Lonzo for another home run! That wasn’t the last blast off Edwards, who allowed a double to Gowin in the first, but had a clean second, before Lonzo hit a 1-out single in the top 3rd. Pucks drove him in with a wallbanger double in left-center, and while Munn struck out, Chris Gowin peppered the Raccoons’ third home run of the game, extending the lead to 5-0.

This sounded all nice and dandy, but we still had Argenziano, basically a replacement pitcher on a non-aspirant team, on the hill. He spent a lot of time behind in the count the first time through, scattered three singles, but didn’t walk anybody, nor concede a run. Well, he didn’t concede a run until Kevin Ewers hit a solo jack in the fifth inning to put a small dent into the 5-0 lead. Gowin led off the sixth with a single to left, ticking off all the cycle boxes except for the triple (career triples for Chris Gowin: 7), and Venegas and Pedro Rojas added two more singles against Ralph Needham to load the bases with nobody out. Waters popped out in foul ground next to third base, which didn’t help, and Argenziano flew out to Kokel in shallow left, except that Kokel flubbed the catch and the ball dropped for an error – the Raccoons then actually had to hustle to not still make an out on the play, but all paws were safe as a run scored on the error, 6-1. Brassfield added a run with a groundout, but Lonzo found the shortstop to end the inning.

It started to rain a bit soon after the Raccoons took a 7-1 lead, but only briefly and not long enough to warrant an interruption or abandonment of the game. Argenziano completed seven innings, and Matt Walters had a trouble-free eighth. The Coons put Lonzo on base in the ninth inning and he stole second base before Pucks singled him home for a tack-on run. We also hung around long enough to get Gowin back to the dish a fifth time; he had grounded out last time around, but this time got a fourth hit… albeit only a single to center, and the cycle had to wait for another day. Charles kept bleeding as Gowin and Crispin reached to fill the bases. Prospero Tenazes hit an RBI single, but Matt Knight flew out to centerfielder Mario Ceballos to end the inning. The 8-run lead went to Hyun-soo Bak in the bottom 9th… and he couldn’t get it over the line. Rios, Ceballos, and Mike Gilmore filled the bases on a single and two walks, and Nick Fernandez drove in a pair with a 2-out single. Eloy Sencion had to get the final out of the game. 9-3 Critters. Lavorano 2-4, BB, HR, RBI; Puckeridge 3-5, 2B, 2 RBI; Gowin 4-5, HR, 2B, 2 RBI; Argenziano 7.0 IP, 5 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 6 K, W (3-1);

1B Pedro Rojas (.226, 0 HR, 6 RBI) was returned to AAA after this game, having batted 2-for-22 with nothing worth tooting your horn about since being recalled in late July. At this stage Harry Ramsay was hitting .351 with 4 homers in AAA, and the Raccoons would try him again. He still had no homers in 183 PA for the Raccoons this year. In fact, the Raccoons didn’t have a home run from a proper first baseman (not: Pucks, Brassfield, Philipps) this season.

But first – another rainout on Wednesday, not the first one for these two teams this year. A double header was scheduled for Thursday.

Game 3
POR: LF Brassfield – SS Lavorano – CF Puckeridge – RF Munn – C Gowin – 3B Brobeck – 1B Ramsay – 2B Waters – P Adkins
IND: 2B Ewers – C M. Gilmore – 3B B. Anderson – RF B. Quinteros – SS A. Rios – CF M. Ceballos – LF J. Garza – 1B D. Sandoval – P Brink

Through four innings in the opener on Thursday there was remaining moisture resulting in occasional drippings from the sky, and a total of one base hit in the game, but that one was a second-inning solo homer by Kyle Brobeck to give Adkins a skinny lead. The top 5th had 1-out singles from Rams and Waters, who were bunted over by Adkins. Brassfield walked in a full count, and Lonzo grounded to short to end the inning, ostensibly, but Antonio Rios fumbled the ball for a run-scoring error. Pucks flew out to Quinteros, stranding three. Rios made up for his sins with an infield single in the bottom 5th, the first Indians runner against Adkins, but was doubled up by Ceballos with a grounder to Waters, ending the inning. Gowin and Brobeck hit another pair of singles in the sixth inning, but were left on base by Rams and Waters, while Dan Sandoval hit another infield single off Adkins the same inning, but would be stranded on second by Ewers eventually.

That was all for the starters. The rain got more intense, and we got a rain delay of more than an hour in the top 7th. Brink went six and two thirds, while Adkins didn’t get another turn before the skies opened and the 2-0 lead went to Umfolozi in the bottom 7th. Anderson and Rios hit singles off him, but Ceballos popped out to Waters to end the inning. Lillis retired three lefty batters without much fuss and under ten pitches in the eighth. Hitchcock one-upped him in the ninth inning; while he took 13 pitches to get the Indians out, he did so by striking out Ewers, Gilmore, and Anderson in 1-2-3 fashion. 2-0 Raccoons! Brobeck 2-4, HR, RBI; Monson (PH) 1-1; Adkins 6.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 4 K, W (14-3);

Quite the squeezer! …and now, boys, one more, and then a late-night, cross-country flight to L.A. and looking all crisp and shiny again tomorrow…

Game 4
POR: 1B Brassfield – SS Lavorano – RF Puckeridge – LF Venegas – 3B Crispin – CF Monson – 2B Knight – C Philipps – P Shui
IND: 2B Ewers – SS A. Rios – 1B B. Quinteros – 3B B. Anderson – C Poindexter – CF M. Ceballos – RF J. Garza – LF Kokel – P McDermott

No shutout in the second leg of the day’s double-header, as Shui walked Rios and then got slapped around a bit for three singles by the Big B’s and Ceballos, giving up two runs in the first inning. The Indians invited the Raccoons back into the game, though. After turning away the Raccoons on the minimum in the first two innings, McDermott saw the brown battery reach on a pair of errors with one out in the third inning. Philipps got on with a single after Quinteros dropped a foul pop of his, while Shui dropped to 0-2, then swung away and reached on a Rios error. Unfortunately Brassfield flew out and Lonzo whiffed as the Raccoons turned down that invitation…

The error-assisted Philipps single was still the only Coons hit on the board when the Indians clipped another three hits for a third run off Shui in the bottom 6th. The next invitation was mailed right away to begin the seventh inning. McDermott walked Venegas, then nicked Crispin. Jason Monson appeared as the tying run, but flew out to Ceballos. Matt Knight singled up the middle, however, and Venegas scored from second. Ceballos threw home late, and the tying runs reached scoring position with one down. McDermott walked Philipps, and with the bases loaded, the Raccoons had to bat for Shui. Danny Munn took ball four inside in a full count, which forced in the Critters’ second run, and which was the end of the road for McDermott, too. Orlando Altreche replaced him, struck out Brassfield, but Lonzo snuck a single up the middle, and the game was tied! Pucks slapped home two go-ahead runs with a single to left-center before Ramsay batted for Venegas, but flew out to center to end the 5-run seventh!

This was also the point where Ryan Harmer tried his very utmost to return into the bad apple category. He got the bottom 7th with the 8-9-1 hitters, but shuffled the bags full while retiring only one batter. Edwin Ortiz, Kevin Ewers, and Antonio Rios were all on base with the Big B’s coming up. The Raccoons plucked Matt Walters as replacement for Harmer before the righty could seriously harm himself. Walters sparkled – he rung up Quinteros, and got a casual pop to shallow left from Anderson, starving all the runners! Walters also batted with Knight (reached on error) and Philipps (got nailed) on base and two outs in the eighth – we were already ahead, and the pitching resources left were limited. He struck out, but got another three outs in the bottom 8th, which made it totally worth it.

Lonzo was on 49 each of RBI’s and stolen bases as the ninth inning began. Brassfield singled ahead of him, stole second (his own 13th bag), and reached third base on a bad throw by Poindexter. If your money was on 50 stolen bases ahead of 50 RBI for Lonzo, you’d be disappointed, because Lonzo brought in the tuck-on run with a sac fly to Chaz Kokel, 6-3. The ball for the save then went to Bak, who had nearly choked on the ninth inning on Tuesday, but it was between him and Sencion now, and there were right-handed batters up, starting with Kokel. Sencion would only get involved if the Indians kept batting long enough to bring Quinteros to the plate. He did not – Bak retired the Indians in order, and the Raccoons grabbed the series to cut their deficit in half! 6-3 Raccoons! Philipps 1-2, BB; Munn (PH) 0-0, BB, RBI; Walters 1.2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 2 K;

The real mind boggler here was that the Raccoons scored six runs on four hits, all singles. The Indians made just as many errors – and *yet* … all the runs were earned…!?

Raccoons (68-46) @ Pacifics (58-58) – August 13-15, 2055

The players looked tired on Friday, and I was tired enough to pour some coffee into my morning booze. But the schedule was relentless, and the next off day still wasn’t until *after* this series in L.A. The Pacifics ranked second in runs scored and tenth in runs allowed, but with a +61 run differential which didn’t really mesh with their .500 record. They had the third-worst rotation by ERA, but a steady pen, so you had to get them early. Maybe the second-worst D in the league would help. These teams had not played each other the last two seasons, but the Raccoons had won the last four sets played, all by two games to one.

Projected matchups:
Seisaku Taki (8-7, 3.25 ERA) vs. Pat Birkemeier (0-1, 10.00 ERA)
Kyle Brobeck (4-6, 4.86 ERA) vs. Roberto Oyola (9-4, 3.80 ERA)
Cameron Argenziano (3-1, 3.19 ERA) vs. Jim Reynolds (6-6, 4.64 ERA)

Still no southpaw in sight, but at least we’d start the series against a 36-year-old quad-A journeyman spot starter.

Game 1
POR: LF Brassfield – SS Lavorano – C Gowin – RF Munn – 3B Venegas – 1B Ramsay – 2B Waters – CF Monson – P Taki
LAP: 1B C. Rice – 2B Lindauer – LF Rodrigues – RF Diskin – C Kissler – SS R. Price – CF K. Fisher – 3B Miguel – P Birkemeier

The Coons looked dead from the waist up the first time through, getting only a walk drawn by Waters against Birkemeier. Lonzo’s leadoff double in the fourth was their first base hit, and marked the go-ahead run in scoring position, since Taki, who had been sent ahead after the rainout on Wednesday to not fly on the Red Eye Special in the dead of night on Thursday, was stingy with base runners and had held the Pacifics to one hit the first time through. Gowin grounded out, moving Lonzo to third base, but Danny Munn ran into one and barged the hanger over the fence for his 20th homer of the year and a 2-0 lead. The Pacifics answered with leadoff singles from Chris Rice and Jeremy Lindauer, and Matt Diskin and Rick Price each singled home a run to re-tie the game right away in the bottom 4th before Kyle Fisher struck out to leave the go-ahead runs on the corners.

Through seven, the Coons still had only the Lonzo double and Munn bomb against Birkemeier and the second-hand scaffolding that held him together. They were just not in shape to play a ballgame that night, having reached their hotel after 4 AM. Taki then had another collapsetastical inning in the seventh, loading the bags with singles by Fisher, Gustavo Miguel, and Rice. Miguel Medina batted for Lindauer with two outs, the count ran full, and Medina singled through between Lonzo and Venegas for a 2-run single. Sencion struck out Salvatore Rodrigues after that, but it was too late for Taki. The best the Raccoons could do was to scratch out a no-decision for him – which they miraculously did in the eighth. Ed Crispin had entered in a double switch with Sencion, and batted with Waters on first after a leadoff single. Birkemeier offered another *terrible* hanger, and Crispin mashed it no softer than Munn had dunn four innings prior. This 2-run homer tied the game, got rid of the awfully dominating and dominatingly awful quad-A scrub Birkemeier, but the Pacifics pen then didn’t allow another runner in regulation.

Sencion put on a pair, but was bailed out by Bak in the bottom 8th, and Lillis had a 1-2-3 ninth to send the game to overtime, which was *just* what the doctor ordered for the Portland Walking Dead, who nevertheless opened the bonus baseball rounds with a jack Ramsay hit off Jason Posey in the righty’s second inning of work. Waters singled, but was picked off, and it remained 5-4 for the inning. The Pacifics brought up all left-handers in the bottom 10th, all hitting .332 or better, and all with 11 homers or more; Diskin even had 25 bombs for the year. The Raccoons stuck to Lillis. Rodrigues fanned. Diskin flew out to Pucks in rather deep right but still short of the track. Aaron Kissler popped out to Crispin to end the game. 5-4 Rac-snoozers! Waters 2-3, BB; Crispin 1-2, HR, 2 RBI; Lillis 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, W (4-2);

The boys went to bed without the usual midnight buffet that day, and slept nine straight hours, snoring so loud that we got complaints from the neighbors.

Don’t care. A win’s a win’s a win!

Game 2
POR: LF Brassfield – SS Lavorano – CF Puckeridge – RF Munn – C Gowin – P Brobeck – 1B Ramsay – 2B Waters – 3B Venegas
LAP: 1B C. Rice – 2B Lindauer – LF Rodrigues – RF Diskin – C Kissler – SS R. Price – CF K. Fisher – 3B Miguel – P Oyola

Portland took the early lead on Saturday, getting a single from Gowin and a double up the rightfield line from Brobeck to put a pair in scoring position in the second inning. Ramsay’s sac fly made it 1-0, and Waters’ groundout kept it 1-0. Venegas (who was forced out by Brassfield), Lonzo, and Puckeridge all hit singles to extend the lead to 2-0 in the third, and with runners on the corners Oyola had Munn at 0-2, but then hung one and Danny Fun punched it for a 3-run homer, 5-0!

Brobeck was a mixed bag. On the plus side, he allowed no hits through five innings, but he also walked four Pacifics and escalated his pitch count rather quicky. The Coons continued to tack on just in case with a solo jack for Ramsay in the sixth inning against Omar Vargas, who also allowed a single to Waters. Sam Heisler would give up back-to-back RBI *triples* to Lonzo and Pucks in the same inning, walked Munn, conceded another run on a Gowin single, and then was yanked for another right-hander in Jose Reyes, who had Brobeck at 0-2, but then gave up an RBI single to center anyway. Another run scored on a wild pitch before Ramsay lined out to Chris Rice to end the inning. Up 11-0, Brobeck could go as long as he pleased, but he gave up a leadoff single to Rodrigues in the bottom 6th immediately. Diskin hit into a 4-6-3, Kissler drew a fifth walk, but Rick Price struck out. Fisher, Gustavo Miguel, and Adam DeRosia filled the bases to begin the bottom 7th, but the Pacifics fell apart for a Rice sac fly and Lindauer jabbing into a double play. That was the only run off Brobeck, who needed 104 pitches through seven, offering six walks. Walters had a scoreless eighth, and the Raccoons got another run in the ninth on a groundout by Ramsay, the run being scored against ex-Coon Joy-shan Kuo. Gustavo Miguel answered with a homer off Ryan Harmer in the bottom 9th, but that was all there was to the Pacifics’ rally. 12-2 Critters. Lavorano 3-5, 3B, 2B, RBI; Puckeridge 2-4, 3B, 2 RBI; Gowin 3-4, BB, 2B, RBI; Knight (PH) 1-1;

With a second straight loss in Denver, the Indians fell into a tie for first place with the Raccoons ahead of Sunday.

Game 3
POR: LF Brassfield – SS Lavorano – CF Puckeridge – RF Munn – 1B Ramsay – 3B Crispin – 2B Knight – C Philipps – P Argenziano
LAP: SS DeRosia – CF Caswell – 1B M. Medina – C Maresh – 2B L. Harrison – RF Diskin – LF K. Fisher – 3B R. Price – P Reynolds

Both teams brought up most of their bench, at least until Noah Caswell hurt his knee plunging into third base in the first inning and had to be replaced with Lindauer again. To add insult to injury, he was also thrown out trying to go first-to-third on a Medina single. Chris Maresh drew a 2-out walk, but Argenziano wiggled out of the inning against Lance Harrison, keeping ahead 1-0 after the Raccoons had gotten a first-inning marker on the board with singles from Brassfield, Munn, and Ramsay; the RBI went to Danny Munn. Top 3rd, Lonzo and Pucks had base hits with one down, but Munn popped out to Medina. Rams was on spot though, driving a double over Lindauer’s head to plate both runners for a 3-0 lead, then scored on a double Crispin zinged up the leftfield line! Knight was drilled, but Lindauer caught Philipps’ fly to center to end the inning.

The Pacifics continued to unravel. Argenziano pressed his ERA under three with as many scoreless innings to begin the game, then hit a single to knock out Reynolds at the start of the fourth inning. Sam Heisler got hit by another bus, conceding hits to Brassfield and Pucks – 5-0 – before walking the bags full with a free pass to Danny Munn. Rams singled home a run, Crispin added another one with a groundout, and Heisler was disposed of for Jose Reyes again, who grounded out to Adam DeRosia to end the inning. 7-0 lead, though.

All looked dandy until Argenziano didn’t return after the fourth inning, collected by Luis Silva for injury concerns. Matt Walters was rushed into the game, gave up a leadoff double to Price in the fifth and balked the run across with two outs. The 7-run lead was restored in the top 6th with Pucks and Rams going to the corners and a well-placed RBI groundout by Crispin. Seven became eight an inning later with a solo jack Waters ripped off Joy-shan Kuo after entering the game in a double switch with Ryan Harmer, who threw two scoreless innings. The rest of the innings were delivered by Fujimori and Hitchcock, as the Raccoons out-spanked the Pacifics in hits, 17-4, and almost as lopsided in runs. 9-1 Furballs! Brassfield 2-5, BB, 3B; Puckeridge 3-5, 2 2B, RBI; Tenazes (PH) 1-1; Ramsay 4-4, BB, 2B, 3 RBI; Waters 2-2, HR, RBI; Argenziano 4.0 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 3 K and 1-2; Harmer 2.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K;

In other news

August 9 – Scorpions 2B/SS Chris Navarro (.306, 1 HR, 45 RBI) has put a 20-game hitting streak together. He hit three singles in the team’s 4-1 win over the Wolves on Monday.
August 10 – The Wolves get back to SAC 2B/SS Chris Navarro (.304, 1 HR, 45 RBI) on Tuesday, holding him to an 0-for-4 line and killing his 20-game hitting streak. They also beat Sacramento, 9-4.
August 11 – Every day was an event in the Scorpions-Wolves series: SAC CL Tim Moore (3-0, 2.14 ERA, 28 SV) notches his 300th career save in a 5-3 win over the Wolves, every single one of them for the Scorpions, who he has spent his entire 9-year career with.
August 11 – All of the 12 games contested on Wednesday (the Indians and Raccoons are rained out, but Titans and Crusaders played two for a rainout on Tuesday) are won by the home team; two of the games are walkoffs, and one of those takes 11 innings for the Canadiens to beat the Loggers, 6-5.
August 13 – Another 300th save is notched by DAL CL Sam Gibson (4-3, 2.94 ERA, 12 SV) in a 7-4 win over the Crusaders. The 35-year-old is 53-53 with a 2.55 ERA for his career.
August 15 – CHA RF/LF Danny Ceballos (.338, 5 HR, 59 RBI) hits for the cycle with a 5-hit day in a 4-3 win over the Buffaloes. The game goes 11 innings, and while Ceballos hits two doubles as part of the cycle, those both occur in extra innings. The second double drives in the winning run. This is the second cycle against the Buffaloes in less than three weeks after L.A.’s Salvatore Rodrigues achieved the feat on July 28.
August 15 – The Warriors’ quest for repeat FL West titles falls apart more and more with news that shoulder inflammation has ended the season of SP Shane Knox (10-7, 3.07 ERA).

FL Player of the Week: DEN 1B Bill Joyner (.333, 14 HR, 63 RBI), dishing .452 (14-31) with 1 HR, 6 RBI
CL Player of the Week: NYC INF Zach Suggs (.316, 11 HR, 60 RBI), batting .440 (11-25) with 3 HR, 9 RBI

Complaints and stuff

The Indians got swept by the Gold Sox in Denver, and so the Raccoons, after an initial hiccup on Monday, raged from four games behind on Monday morning (and five on Monday night) to a 1-game lead by winning six in a row, while the Indians dropped just as many.

This was a tough stretch, and it’s not like it gets easier from here, but at least the next two Mondays are off. We play the Miners and Crusaders next week, and finish the month with series against the Loggers, Bayhawks, and Knights, the latter series already bleeding into September.

No word on what is wrong with Argenziano, but why do they always get hurt just when they’re starting to pitch semi-competently…? If Argenziano goes down, we might go to Craig Kniep, who was acquired from the Caps last month. Kniep had a 3.35 ERA with the Alley Cats, but was still walking too many (22 in 40.1 innings, against 41 K). Ugh, decisions, decisions!

Kennedy Adkins remains dominant, dropping his ERA to 1.57. Only one pitcher (Tan Brink) is even within a full run of him in the CL, and Brink is just barely at 2.47. Brink’s teammate Enrique Ortiz leads Adkins by 28 K for the strikeout crown (nobody in between those two, however), and Adkins ties for second with 14 wins, the lead behind held by He Shui with 15.

Fun Fact: Friday’s eyes-closed, extra-inning win against the Pacifics was the 6,666th regular season victory for the Raccoons.

Brett Lillis jr. got the W for his two shutout innings in the ninth and tenth.

Only one other team has reached the mark of 6,666 wins: the Thunder with 6,680 wins. The Raccoons are only 12 wins behind.

We’re also second in rings with eight. The Titans have the lead there with ten.