Chihuahuas 7, Las Vegas Aviators 0
Will Wagner unloads on one for the Chihuahuas. (Photo: Jorge Salgado)
Key Stats: 1B Nick Solak 3-for-4, 2B; RF Carlos Rodriguez 2-for-4, 3B; 2B Will Wagner 2-for-4, HR (6), 3 RBI; RHP Evan Fitterer 4 IP, 3 K, BB; RHP Logan Gillaspie 2 IP
Prospect Watch: The El Paso pitching staff carried a no-hitter into the seventh inning and the offense put together a six-run fifth inning to cruise to a Sunday afternoon victory. Evan Fitterer tossed four scoreless frames as he turned in his longest start since leaving his outing on July 31 and spending three weeks on the IL. The 26-year-old righty only walked one, though he also hit a pair of batters. Signed as a minor league free agent after six years in the Marlins organization, Fitterer has worked to a 4.38 ERA over 88.1 innings for the Chihuahuas, though his FIP has hovered about a run higher most of the year. The Orange County native has had below-average walk and strikeout rates throughout his career, but has seen some improved results this season as he’s added more than a mile per hour to his fastball. … Will Wagner‘s two-out, three-run homer was the big blast as El Paso sent 10 batters to the plate in the fifth inning. The left-handed hitting infielder, who was acquired at last year’s deadline, spent most of June with the big league club, but has otherwise had an uninspired year in the PCL, hitting .252/.369/.378. He will go into 2027 with one more option year if he remains on the 40-player roster all winter. … Nick Solak had three hits to extend his hitting streak to seven games. He’s 16-for-31 with five doubles and a pair of homers in that stretch, enough to raise his OPS on the year 42 points to .884.
Midland RockHounds 5, Missions 1
Braedon Karpathios has been dominant over the last month of the season. (Photo: Vashaun Newman)
Key Stats: RF Braedon Karpathios 2-for-3, BB, 2B, CS (6); DH Albert Fabian 2-for-4, 2B; LHP Jamie Hitt 5 IP, 5 H, 3 ER, 6 K, 4 BB; RHP Francis Peña IP, 2 K
Prospect Watch: San Antonio dropped their final home game of the year, falling 5-1 to Midland to settle for a series split. They’ll head to Amarillo to finish their season. … Braedon Karpathios extended his stretch of torrid hitting, going 2-for-3 with a double and a walk. He has now collected multiple hits in seven straight games, with at least one extra-base hit in six of them. While he has been hot since the start of August, his final week in San Antonio took it to another level as he went .636/.667/1.045 and struck out only three times in 24 plate appearances. He heads into the final series of the year, which will be in one of professional baseball’s most friendly hitting environments, with a .268/.353/.444 line, production that has trended 15% above league average. … System veteran Albert Fabian, who has been almost as hot as Karpathios over the last seven weeks, had a single and a double in four trips to the plate. Since July 25, the 24-year-old is hitting .333 with a .563 slugging percentage. The late-season surge has pushed his OPS on the year to .758, a bit below the league average. Adjusted for his home park, he has a 101 wRC+ on the year. … Missions pitchers punched out 14 batters on the day, with starter Jamie Hitt setting the tone with six strikeouts over his five innings of work. Despite that, it was only Francis Peña, the fourth and final pitcher to take the mound, who truly shut down the RockHounds. Peña punched out two of the three batters he faced in a perfect ninth inning. He’s given up just one run over his last 9.2 innings, striking out 12 with three walks. The 25-year-old has seen a rebound in both his velocity and pitch movement this year after a disappointing 2025 campaign. After issuing 21 walks in his first 20.1 innings of the year, he’s cut his walk rate to just 7.4% since the start of July. The 2023 international free agent signee has likely pitched his way onto the 40-player roster for this winter to protect him from the Rule 5 draft.
TinCaps 10, Lansing Lugnuts 3 (11 innings)
Rosman Verdugo squares one up for the TinCaps. (Photo: Jeff Nycz)
Key Stats: LF Ryan Gerety 2-for-4, 2 BB, SB (3); 1B Yoiber Ocopio 3-for-5, 3 R; SS Yimy Tovar 3-for-4, 2B, HR (1), 3 RBI, BB; DH Rosman Verdugo 1-for-6, HR (15), 4 RBI
Prospect Watch: The TinCaps rallied for a run in the ninth to send their final game of the year to extra innings, before exploding for seven runs in the 11th to win their third straight and claim a series split. Yimy Tovar put the club ahead with his first High-A homer, a three-run blast that just got over the wall in left field. The 20-year-old, who spent most of the year with Lake Elsinore after starting his second season in the ACL, finishes with a .272/.371/.392 line in 301 plate appearances. After experimenting behind the plate during instructional league work last year, the right-handed hitter logged time at all four infield spots this season. …. Rosman Verdugo capped the rally and his season with a monster grand slam to push his career-high count of home runs to 15. The 21-year-old cut his strikeout rate from nearly one third of his plate appearances in 2025 to just over 25% this season. Verdugo, who skipped the DSL after signing at the start of the 2022 international free agency period, has now amassed 2,100 plate appearances, putting up slightly higher-than-average offensive numbers along the way. … Carson Montgomery got one final inning of work in to cap the 2026 season, striking out one in a perfect frame. The 24-year-old righty finished the year with a 4.65 ERA, but did take the ball every turn in the rotation all year and finished with 93 innings pitched. That was encouraging for the 2023 11th-rounder who had Tommy John surgery in May, 2024 and missed the entirety of the 2025 regular season. The Florida State product occasionally flashed intriguing stuff, but finished the campaign with only a 20.2% strikeout rate while walking 12.6% of the batters he faced.
Storm Cancelled
The final game of the regular season in Lake Elsinore was cancelled after a brief morning shower without the tarp on the field left conditions unplayable. The Storm finished the second half in last place at 27-38, but earned a spot in the playoffs with a league-best .591 winning percentage in the first half. They’ll play at Ontario on Tuesday, then return to the Diamond – assuming there’s no threat of rain – on Thursday and, if necessary, on Friday to fight for a spot in the Cal League championship series.