Bustamante named Bomber MVP

As the World Series is under way between Las Vegas and Nottinghamshire we will take this moment to review our season.  Granted, it's not as glamorous as being on the National Stage, but we feel as if we're moving in the right direction here in South Carolina.

Earlier today, GM Gary Altman announced that the 2014 Team MVP was Orlando Bustamante.

Bustamante had a career season in 2014.

For his third season in a row, Bustamante saw his battering average remain over 300 (.305 career) by hitting .301 in 2014 (.312 in '12, ..303 in '13)

Bustamante was also the first Bomber to play in all 162 games in a season this year. Last year he played in 161 games. He's become quite the iron man!  All in all, Bustamante sits at 462 games played as a Bomber and leads Gunner Smart by 29 games played.

Orlando could also be called the Hit Man as he lead the team with 195 hits, 2nd all time on the Bombers single season list behind his own 197 hits in 2013.  All told, Bustamante has 560 Career hits with SC and Stephen "Action" Jackson is second with 492.

This season, 2014, saw our first 100 RBI player. Orlando Bustamante finished with 101 RBI's playing an entire season with South Carolina.  This needs mentioning because in 2012, SC acquired Jayson O'Neill from Kansas City and between both teams he landed exactly on 100 RBI's..  The 101 RBI's surpassed Bustamante's own personal record of 96 set in 2013.

The final record that Bustamante wishes he didn't set would be for strikeouts in a season.  He broke his own record of 141 set in '13 with 147 this past season.  He is the SC all time strikeout guy with 415, 98 more than the #2 Gunner Smart

In other categories:
Gunner Smart set the all time Bomber record for Run Scored in a season with 97.  The previous record was 91 set in '13 by Jackson.  Smart sits in 3rd place with 242 for his career behind Jackson's 255 and Bustamante's 254.

Rookie Martin Evans  burst onto the scene and "stole" the show.  Evans shattered the single season SB record of 17 (set by Kirby Andrews and Dave Collins in 2012) with a whopping 39!  Projections showed him pushing 50 but he was sidelined with a hamstring issue for the last 6 weeks of the season.  Oddly enough, Evans single season production also sets him first on the All Time Bomber SB List.  Smart sits in 2nd place now with 26.

When you lead a life of crime, sometimes you get caught.  Sometimes you get caught so much that you set the single season record for being caught.  Evans owns this record now with 13 as well.

Dave Nicholson set the Bomber record for Wins in a season with 14.  This topped Jeremy Rogers 13 set in 2013, and Nicholson is now the All Time Leading Bomber in Wins with 28 for his career.

Nicholson also tied the franchise single season record for losses with 16 (Cecil Gibbons, in 2012).  Nicholson leads in the All Time category as well, with 36, ahead of Gibbons who has 30.

Nicholson now owns the Single Season and Franchise records for:
Games Started (34 & 78), Complete Games (5 & 5), Shutouts (2 & 2), Innings Pitched (224 & 499),
as well as Hits Allowed (213 & 485), Strikeouts (135 & 306)

Free Agent acquisition, in his first year with the Bombers, Charlie Arnold set the Single Season Saves record with 23.  Arnold now sits in 2nd place for the Bomber Franchise record, just 12 behind Bob Robinson's 35 Bomber saves.