Records Fall, Community News: Ten Things to Know in the American Association This Week

The American Association of Professional Baseball (@AA_Baseball) season edges towards the playoffs, beginning Sept. 4. All AAPB games are available for free live viewing at aabaseball.tv.

Here are 10 (or so) Things to Know about the AAPB this week:

• There are 19 dates left on the AAPB schedule and the playoffs, in which the top four clubs in each division will vie for the Miles Wolff Cup starting September 4. The regular season East and West Division champions will pick their first-round Division Series opponent among the other three playoff teams in their division. The Wolff Cup Final will begin September 14. In the East, the Cleburne Railroaders hold a three-game lead over Kane County for the top spot, while the fourth-place Lake Country Dockhounds are 1 ½ games ahead of the local rival Milwaukee Milkmen for the fourth and final playoff spot, a season-ending four-game series in Oconomowoc probably determining the berth. In the West, seven games separate first place Sioux Falls/Winnipeg and fourth place Kansas City, with Sioux City trying to keep pace, now just three games back of the Monarchs.
• The Fargo-Moorhead RedHawks held “DUI Enforcement All-Stars Night” on Tuesday at Newman Outdoor Field, partnering with the North Dakota Association of Counties/Vision Zero. The team honored 21 law enforcement officers from across eastern North Dakota for their outstanding efforts in 2023 in pulling impaired drivers off the state’s roads. It drew a big crowd of more than 3,100, with many family and friends in attendance.
• The RedHawks were also busy in other community endeavors, teaming with The Blue Cross Blue Shield of North Dakota (BCBSND) Caring Foundation alongside the Bismarck Larks, Minot Hot Tots and Badlands Big Sticks on a $22,900 donation to Nexus-PATH Family Healing, a nonprofit serving North Dakota families and youth struggling with emotional and behavioral health challenges. The donation was based on strikeouts accumulated by the teams’ pitchers over 62 games.
• The Kansas City Star posted this piece on the Monarchs duo of Ross Adolph and Connor Curlis, natives of Findlay and Lima, Ohio, respectively, who reunited on the team after having competed against each other since their preteen years. Their unlikely and surprising reunion is chronicled in the piece.
• Adopt A Minor Leaguer, a grassroots program that helps support players chasing their big league dreams, is running a fundraiser in support of the Sioux City Explorers for equipment they lost in the bus fire on August 2. At press time, they have raised more than $1700, with a goal of $2000 by Friday.
• Kane County entertained their largest crowd of the season last Thursday, rallying for an exciting 9-7 win over Milwaukee in front of an announced attendance of 8,786 at Northwestern Medicine Field. “Outer Banks Night” made it an even more festive evening for fans.
• The Cougars proved to be a road draw the next night when they visited the Gary SouthShore RailCats. A sellout crowd of 6,244 watched the home team take an exciting 3-2 win in what Gary SouthShore Assistant Coach Jason Carbonneau appropriately termed a “playoff-like atmosphere” while Manager Lamarr Rogers noted that “[t]he fans were electric, and the stadium was jumping with excitement and energy all game long.”
• The career record for the most stolen bases in Sioux Falls Canaries history now belongs to Wyatt Ulrich (Baudette, Minn.). The outfielder now has 77 thefts after swiping his 15^th of the season on Saturday vs. Milwaukee, earning a spot on the local Dakota News Now Plays of the Week. In 301 games over four years with the Canaries, Ulrich is batting .301 with 229 runs scored and 53 doubles.
• On Monday, the Chicago Dogs’ Joey Marciano (Carbondale, Ill.) set the team single season saves mark with his 19th in a 6-4 win over Kane County. His baseball journey was chronicled in the Chicago Sun Times, highlighting the fact that he ddn’t play baseball at all until joining the Clemente High School squad and going on to play at SIU Carbondale.
• On August 7, three members of the Lake Country DockHounds didn’t just save a baseball game-they potentially saved a man’s life as well. Players Marek Chlup (Turnuv, Czech Republic) and Demetrius Sims (Ann Arbor, Mich.) and broadcaster Dominic Stearn were sightseeing in Sioux Falls, S.D. when they came upon the scene of a horrific accident between a bicyclist and pedestrian. They sprung into action, each taking a task to assist the stricken victims. Read more here.
• A Sioux Falls area native got a call to the Majors, in a way, as Janice Gilbert, a teacher at Tea Area HS, just southwest of the city, sang “God Bless America” on Sunday at Minnesota’s Target Field. Gilbert, a country artist, has sung the National Anthem at Canaries games as well as other area and national arenas. ESPN Sioux Falls had the story.
• Last week we reported that Taylor Swift fans had another reason to cheer on the Kansas City Monarchs in Style, with a theme night on Saturday rebranding the club the Kansas Swiftie Monarchs. Let’s just say fans know All Too Well that it was a Love Story, and though the Lincoln Saltdogs played the Anti-Hero, beating the home team, 5-4, Kansas City was able to Shake it Off and win, 2-1, on Sunday.
• A hearty welcome home to Winnipeg to pitcher Mitchell Lambson (Tualatin, Ore.), who this week returned to the team for which the lefty saw some of his biggest professional success. Acquired from the Saraperos de Saltillo of the Mexican Baseball League, Lambson won an AAPB championship with the Goldeyes in 2017 and was named the league’s Pitcher of the Year following the 2019 season, during which he went 13-4 with a 3.11 earned run average.
• Some fun theme nights coming up:
  • Thursday, Pickleball Paddle Giveaway, Fargo-Moorhead
  • Friday, Backpack Giveaway, Chicago
  • Friday, American Girl Night, Kane County
  • Friday, Blues Brothers Night, Gary SouthShore
  • Saturday, Scout Night, Kansas City
  • Sunday, Clean Air Day, Gary SouthShore