08/31/2026
BLACK SOX ANSWER EARLY DEFICIT, PULL AWAY FOR 15-5 WIN OVER AEROS
Saturday, August 29, 2026
Hibbs-Hooten Baseball Field — Wellington, Kansas
The Wichita Black Sox fell behind almost immediately Saturday afternoon, but the deficit did not last long.
After the Wichita Aeros scored twice in the top of the first inning, the Black Sox answered with eight runs in the bottom half and never surrendered the lead, eventually defeating the Aeros, 15-5, at Hibbs-Hooten Baseball Field in Wellington.
The game ended in the bottom of the seventh when the Black Sox pushed their advantage to 10 runs.
Wichita Aeros came out swinging.
A. Blanco reached on an error to begin the game and F. Leal followed with a single. J. Morales was hit by a pitch, loading the bases and putting immediate pressure on the Black Sox.
C. Portuondo then delivered the first big hit of the afternoon.
Portuondo lined a single to left field, scoring Blanco and Leal and giving the Aeros a 2-0 advantage before the Black Sox had even come to the plate.
The Black Sox defense prevented the inning from becoming worse.
C. Sogard grounded into a 6-4-3 double play, and the Black Sox escaped the inning trailing by only two.
That proved important because the bottom of the first completely changed the game.
D. Chartrand started the comeback with one swing, driving a line-drive home run to left field and cutting the Aeros lead to 2-1.
From there, the inning became increasingly difficult for the Aeros pitching and defense.
J. Easter was hit by a pitch and J. Tointigh walked. After M. McDonald moved the runners with a groundout, J. Hall walked and C. Pate was hit by a pitch.
A balk brought Easter home with the tying run.
The Black Sox then took advantage of a series of defensive mistakes.
J. Garcia reached on a ground ball during a play that included multiple Aeros errors, allowing Hall and Tointigh to score and putting the Black Sox ahead, 4-2.
C. Harper followed by reaching on another error, bringing Pate home.
The inning continued.
M. Loucks walked.
J. Harper walked with the bases loaded, forcing Garcia home.
T. Carpenter followed with another bases-loaded walk that scored C. Harper.
Chartrand, batting for the second time in the inning, was then hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, forcing home another run.
By the time the Aeros finally recorded the third out, the Black Sox had scored eight times and turned an early 2-0 deficit into an 8-2 lead.
Unlike the first inning, the Black Sox did much of their damage with hits in the second.
Tointigh walked and McDonald singled before Hall lined an RBI single that scored Tointigh.
Pate followed with another single.
Garcia then delivered one of the biggest hits of the inning, driving a double to left field that scored McDonald and Hall.
The Black Sox had added three more runs and suddenly led, 11-2.
The Aeros refused to disappear.
They mounted their best comeback attempt in the top of the third.
Blanco, Leal and Morales all drew walks, loading the bases.
Portuondo was hit by a pitch, forcing Blanco home.
Later in the inning, J. Pedra was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, bringing Leal home.
A passed ball allowed Morales to score another run.
In a matter of minutes, the Aeros had cut the deficit from nine runs to six at 11-5.
That was when B. Grant entered the game for the Black Sox.
Grant immediately stopped the rally by striking out C. Junior to end the third.
That strikeout became the beginning of the best pitching performance of the afternoon.
The Aeros would not score again.
The Black Sox immediately got one of those runs back in the bottom of the third.
Chartrand walked and Easter brought him home with a single, extending the lead to 12-5.
The Black Sox added another run in the fourth.
Hall singled and Pate reached on a dropped third strike. After the runners advanced, C. Harper lifted a sacrifice fly to left field that brought Hall home.
The lead was now 13-5.
From there, Grant took control.
He kept the Aeros scoreless through the fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh innings.
Grant allowed only two hits during his relief appearance, both singles by Morales, and did not issue a walk.
He struck out four while working 4 1/3 scoreless innings.
The Black Sox defense also helped him.
Aeros hitters repeatedly put balls on the ground, but the Black Sox converted them into outs and prevented Wichita from creating another big inning.
The score remained 13-5 through the fifth and sixth.
Then the Black Sox ended it in the seventh.
Hall opened the inning with another single.
Pate was hit by a pitch and Garcia walked, loading the bases.
That brought C. Harper to the plate.
Harper lined a single to center field.
Hall scored.
Pate also came around to score on the play.
Those two runs pushed the Black Sox lead to 15-5 and ended the game.
Hall quietly put together one of the best offensive performances of the afternoon.
He reached base every time he came to the plate, collecting three singles and a walk. He scored four times and also drove in a run during the Black Sox's three-run second inning.
Harper provided the final blow and finished with three runs driven in, including the sacrifice fly in the fourth and the two-run single that ended the game in the seventh.
Chartrand supplied the early power with his first-inning home run and later drew a walk and was hit by a pitch as the Black Sox continually put runners on base.
Garcia delivered the two-run double in the second inning, while Easter added an RBI single in the third.
For the Aeros, Portuondo supplied their biggest offensive hit with the two-run single in the first inning and also drove in another run when he was hit by a pitch during the third-inning rally.
Morales reached base several times and scored during that three-run third.
But the turning point came when Grant entered with the Aeros threatening to climb back into the game.
From that point forward, Wichita did not score again.
The Black Sox had fallen behind 2-0 before recording an out at the plate.
Seven innings later, they walked off the field with a 10-run victory.
FINAL
Wichita Aeros 5
Wichita Black Sox 15
7 innings
PLAYER OF THE GAME
J. Hall — Wichita Black Sox
Hall was in the middle of the Black Sox offense throughout the afternoon. He reached base in all four of his plate appearances with three singles and a walk, scored four runs and drove in a run. Hall scored during the eight-run first inning, the three-run second, the fourth inning and again on the game-ending hit in the seventh.
PITCHER OF THE GAME
B. Grant — Wichita Black Sox
Grant entered with the Aeros having just scored three runs in the third inning and immediately stopped the rally. He then shut Wichita out the rest of the game, working 4 1/3 scoreless innings while allowing only two hits, issuing no walks and striking out four. His relief performance prevented the Aeros from mounting another comeback and allowed the Black Sox to pull away.