THE ALL-TIME RECORD IS SAFE AS COASTAL WINS IN ITS 27TH TRY.

The Continental League must be breathing a little easier knowing that one of its road-only teams, the Coastal Kingfish, will not be breaking the all-time record for consecutive losses in a minor league season.

Coastal had dropped 26 games in a row until Saturday night when it edged first place Alexandria, LA, 4-3. This left the Kingfish six losses short of tying the 32-game loss streak of the 1914 Austin Senators of the Texas League, who hold the minor league record for futility. If you are old enough to remember, the minors had AA, A, B, C and D levels at that time. The Texas League was a "B" league, and Austin finished an agonizing 67 1/2 games behind first place Houston. The Senators were 31-114, then, perhaps out of pity, Austin did not have a professional team again until 1947.

CEO TURNS IN FOUR SHUTOUT INNINGS

It was a newsmaking weekend in Alexandria. Chief Executive Officer Eric Moran, who had not pitched in seven years, worked four scoreless innings of one-hit baseball Friday when the Aces stretched Coastal's losing streak to 26 in an 11-0 whitewash in the second game of a doubleheader.

STUNNING RESULTS

Every week when we write our subscriber-only Independent Baseball Insider it is agonizing to realize there is not enough opportunity to mention all of the outstanding performances being turned in at the Independent Baseball level. Consider these feats from recent days:

***Affiliated baseball would no doubt scoff for fear of ruining a career, but Florence, KY allowed Preston Vancil to stay on the mound for 149 pitches. The Sacramento, CA native, making only his second professional start, hurled a 5-0 no-hitter against Traverse City, MI. Vancil walked seven and hit a batter, but also picked up eight strikeouts. "Adrenaline carried me through," Vancil explained. It was the 14th no-hit game in the 17 seasons of the Frontier League.

***Former major league catcher Pete LaForest, who has been guiding Eric Gagne through his comeback on the mound for Quebec, hit for the cycle and went 5-for-6 in a 14-5 romp on the road in Augusta, NJ against the Sussex Skyhawks. LaForest's three-run homer broke the game open during a seven-run seventh. LaForest drove in four runs for the game and scored three times.

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