#500

H'ville,Tn (AP) - July 15th, 2014 seems like just another random Tuesday.  The All-Star game just finished, the 2nd half was under way and teams are digging in for the dog days of summer.  Just another game that makes up the 162, but history was made this day!

As the Niagara Falls Frenzy game to town, the Hitmen franchise and Owner/GM Travis Hays sat at win #499, with the historic #500 just 1 win away.  Up  9-4 heading to the top of the 9th setup man Oliver "Muscles" Donahue took the mound with the crowd on it's feet.

A first pitch fastball got Frenzy 2B Eddie Miller to ground out to SS Cash.  One pitch, one out!

Next up was RF Kentaro Aoki who worked the count full before being rung up on a 3-2 backdoor splitter that froze him in his tracks.  The sellout crowd of 42,303 all on their feet cheered in screamed as the giant LED wall in CF flashed "1 out away from #500".

"Muscles" stares in as the last batter that stands in the way of win #500, C Shannon Gentry steps into the batters box. "Muscles" falls behind quickly 2-0 but battles back with 2 called strikes to even the count at 2-2.
......The crowd on it's feet with a playoff type electricity rolling through the air......"Muscles" with his intimidating 6'7, 215LB frame looks in to "Dirty" for the sign....splitter low and inside.....Gentry flails at it to no avail......STRIKE THREE!!!!......huge fireworks shoot off from atop the scoreboard as a banner drops in LF pavilion area reading "#500"

The celebration on the field and in the owner's box was much milder as the teams simply shook hands with the Frenzy players and congratulated each other while Hays and other front office guys did the same.

"500 wins in 4 and half seasons is a special feat," Hays told reports in post game interviews. "It's a wonderful 'Franchise' accomplishment, but it's only mid July and we still have a lot of baseball to play this season. We got to stay focus on our goals for this season."  Hays added a nice parting shot to good buddy Aaron Blank, "One of the best things about being the first to 500 wins is it's just one more thing that we in H'ville do better than Baffin does.  We know how much he loves playing 2nd fiddle to us" (Hays walks away with a huge smile on his face).

Top 5 All-Time in Wins
1. Travis Hays (532)
2. Aaron Blank (469)
3. Mike Brouillette (449)
4. Josh Swain (418)
5. Alan Jengehino (412)

Top 5 All-Time in Win %
1. Travis Hays - .681 (532-249)
2. Joe Geoghegan - .644 (190-105)
3. Jason Goldberg - .635 (129-74)
4. John Bosma - .602 (275-182)
5. Aaron Blank - .601 (469-311)

Top 5 All-Time in W > .500
1. Travis Hays 283 - (532-249)
2. Aaron Blank - 158 (469-311)
3. Mike Brouillette - 117 (449-332)
4. John Bosam - 93 (275-182)
5. Joe Geogehgan - 85 (190-105)