Asheville Tourists go from worst to first, clinch second-half title in South Atlantic League’s Southern Division

Jason Sandford

Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.

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Jason Sandford

Story here from MinorLeagueBaseball.com:

Manager Joe Mikulik has experienced a worst-to-first climb before, but that did nothing to dampen his enthusiasm Friday after the Asheville Tourists clinched the South Atlantic League Southern Division second-half title.

“It’s like the Miracle Mets,” he said from a raucous locker room after the Tourists completed their unlikely turnaround with a 4-0 blanking of the Greenville Drive. “We were in the doldrums of baseball, the depths of everything and we came back.”

Asheville finished last in the division in the first half with a 26-43 mark. Friday’s win gave the Tourists a 41-24 second-half record.

“When we left Spring Training, we thought we had a good group of guys, but we lost so many one-run games, a lot of close games in the first half,” Mikulik said. “We knew we had a bunch of character guys, we just didn’t get it done in the first half.

“In the second half, we learned from our mistakes.”

It didn’t hurt that the Tourists boast the top three hitters in the league in first baseman Kiel Roling (.332), catcher Jonel Pacheco (.325) and outfielder Scott Robinson (.306). Asheville ranks 15th in the 16-team circuit with a 4.07 ERA, but Juan Nicasio — the likely Game 1 playoff starter — is 9-3 with a league-leading 2.41 ERA and Adam Jorgenson has an SAL-best 27 saves.