by Ray D. Enze, NLN baseball blogger

November 12^th, 2016: Aurora, Colorado – The Planetary Extreme Baseball Alliance has put the lid on it’s 10^th season and Northern Lights News asked fans to vote for their All-Time favorite Borealis players in an attempt to name Aurora’s 10^th Anniversary Team. Yesterday, we visited the position players. Today, we look at the pitchers:

All-Time Aurora Starters

SP: John Roach (2008-2012). “Pep” was one of the PEBAs early pitching stars, going 61-9 over a three-year span that saw him win two Golden Arm Awards before a cruel shoulder injury in 2011 ended a promising career, leaving him a shell of himself. The two-time All-Star was 74-19 with a 2.60 ERA and 810 K covering 132 GS and 11 relief appearances. He was 2-0 with 30 K in 28.1 innings during Aurora’s championship 2009 post-season.

SP: Kijuro Kojima (2007-2015). Kojima, like Roach saw his career succumb to injury. The difference is that the Japanese national never threw another pitch. At the time of the injury, Kojima was the league’s all-time wins leader with 132 (with 52 loses). The quiet leader, known for his penchant for riding his Harley, posted a 3.04 ERA with 1,296 K. His 26 CG still ranks 2^nd all-time, as do his 12 shutouts. A three-time All-Star, Kojima was in the running for the Golden Arm on a number of occasions.

SP: Bill Bradley (2011-present). “Slappy” was the benefactor of “Pep’s” injury and quickly became a fan favorite for his nickname as much as his strikeouts. He set the single-season K record in his first full season (2012) with 324. After three seasons, Bradley was looking like the next top arm in baseball, but injury cut him down. The past two seasons have been solid, leaving fans with hope that “Slappy” is back. Bradley has a career 74-28 mark with a 3.27 ERA, striking out 1,123 over 865 IP.

SP: Artie Tillman (2007-2015). “Tillerman” has long been a fan favorite for accomplishing so much with seemingly so little. In a sport in which the bottom line is “win,” Artie did just that. In fact, he did that 129 times while with Aurora, second-best all-time for the club. A 2013 All-Star selection, Tillman’s typical lefty aloofness kept the clubhouse loose. He made fans and press alike laugh with numerous off-the-cuff comments.

All-Time Aurora Relievers

RP: Ángel Lara (2008-present). No pitcher has appeared in more games (494) for Aurora than Lara. Used mostly in middle relief and as a setup guy, Ángel has 26 career saves and has even made five starts – and done a very good job in them, as well. As a testament to his stalwart effort out of the pen, no Aurora relief pitcher has more strikeouts (670), and only Suárez (134.6) and Burris (14.6) have a greater VORP than the steady and reliable Lara (108.1).

RP: Orlando Ramos (2009-2013). “Crabby” teamed up with Lara for four seasons, giving Aurora a dependable righty-lefty combo out of the bullpen that stymied hitters on most nights. Ramos’s Aurora career ERA of 2.43 is 5^th-best for relievers with more than 100 appearances behind All-Stars Suárez, Mel Kennedy, Burris, and youngster Ryan Holbrook. Orlando may have kept to himself in the clubhouse and had little to say to the press, but the fans sporting those “crab hats” loved his hard-nosed attitude on the mound.

RP: Bryant Burris (2011-present). When Burris was finally elevated to the big club, he took on the role of setup man and promptly pitched in 70 or more games four straight seasons – including a mind-bending 81 appearances in 2013! When “Vulture” began to falter in 2014, Burris took over the job and pretty much made everyone forget Juan Suárez. He has saved 88 games over the past two seasons – most in the league. Bryant is a two-time All-Star and earned the 2015 Shutdown Reliever Award for his 43 saves and 1.27 ERA.

CL: Juan “Vulture” Suárez (2009-2014). A mainstay of the Aurora pen for six seasons, “Vulture” saved 190 games for Aurora. Despite struggles the last year and a half of his time in Aurora, he still posted an Aurora career 0.86 WHIP and .186 OAVG. When “Vulture” entered the game to his customary tolling bells, fans geared up for another Aurora victory. His career VORP with Aurora is the second highest of all relievers, save Burris, who has already thrown 100+ more games. Suárez was a three-time All-Star and two-time winner of the Shutdown Reliever award.