The Las Vegas Aviators won the Pacific Coast League Championships! The Aviators beat the Tacoma Rainiers in the best-of-three game series 7-1 on Tuesday, Sept. 23, and 7-3 on Wednesday, Sept. 24. Ryan Lasko and Luke Mann each blasted a home run in Wednesday’s victory at the Las Vegas Ballpark. The Aviators will play in the Triple-A National Championships starting Saturday.
Aaron Brooks started on the mound for the Aviators. In his 18 games played so far this season, he’s had three wins. Blas Castaño took the mound for the Rainiers. Nick Martini was the first Aviator to make it on base. Bryan Lavastida hit an RBI double to right field, putting Las Vegas on the board 1-0. Junior Perez made it to second on a line drive to left field, scoring Lavastida, and the Aviators had a 2-0 lead.
Brooks tallied his first strikeout of the night in the second inning. The Rainiers then scored a run after Blake Hunt hit an RBI double. Brooks answered back with another strikeout to end the inning. Las Vegas took the plate and Daniel Susac lined to center field. Lasko brought him home with a homer to center field, adding two runs for the Aviators, 4-1.
The Rainiers had a spark at the plate to start the third inning. The team hit back-to-back singles. After a flyout, Ben Williamson hit an RBI single, and Leody Taveras hit an RBI double. The Rainiers came within one run of the Aviators. Las Vegas switched it up on the mound and put Tyler Baum in with one out. Baum got the last two outs, leaving three runners stranded on base. The Aviators went cold at the plate with a quick three-up three-down.
Baum struck out two batters, and Mann tallied a hit, but no runs were scored for either team in the fourth.
David Leal took the mound to start the fifth inning for the Aviators and didn’t allow a single hit. Tacoma swapped out its starting pitcher for Domingo Gonzalez, but quickly made another change after he allowed a single and walked a batter. Troy Taylor ended the inning, causing the Aviators to ground out.
The first two batters made it on base for the Aviators in the bottom of the sixth. Perez walked, and Cooper Bowman had his first hit of the game. Mann blasted a home run to right field, taking the Aviators to a 7-3 lead. Tacoma made a pitching change to Nick Anderson, who didn’t allow the Aviators to score. Neither team got a hit in the seventh inning, even off the new pitcher for the Rainiers, Tayler Saucedo.
Jake Walkinshaw replaced Leal on the mound for Las Vegas in the top of the eighth and didn’t allow Tacoma a hit. Michael Fulmer took the mound for Tacoma. Bowman hit a line drive single for the only hit of the inning.
The Aviators closed the game with a walk, two strikeouts and a flyout to win the game 7-3.
Baum earned the win, pitching 1.2 innings, striking out three batters, walking one and not allowing a single run. Bowman, Mann and Lasko led the team with two hits each. Mann had three RBIs and a home run, while Lasko had two RBIs and a homer.
Next up, the Aviators will play the winner of the International League Championships. The Jacksonville Jumbo Shrimp and the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre RailRiders play the deciding game on Thursday, Sept. 25, at 4:05pm PT. The first game of the Triple-A National Championship is on Saturday at 7:05pm PT.
