South Atlantic League Champions

The Asheville Tourists went to Greensboro and won two straight games, 9-0 and 10-4, to bring home the South Atlantic League Championship. This is Asheville's first championship since 1984. The Tourists hit four homeruns in the 9-0 win and Tyler Anderson threw 7 innings of shutout baseball. Jordan Ribera was the hitting star in the second game as he drive in four of the ten runs. A five run top of the seventh put the game away for the Tourists. It was quite a season for the Tourists. They had the best overall record of any team in the minor leagues. I believe this may have been Manager Joe Mikulik's last year with the Tourists. He has spent thirteen seasons with the Tourists, which is unheard of at this level of baseball, and he intimated in an article in the Asheville Citizen-Times earlier in the season that he was thinking of trying to move up in the organization or entertaining other job offers in baseball. He has developed so many players that have made the Major Leagues but he also became an important part of the Asheville community. If and when he does decide to move on, he will be greatly missed. I am glad that he was able to win his first championship.