Wells, Tilghman, Cooper Receive Weekly Honors from CBL

(right: photo of Kevin Wells, courtesy of Bay Area Toros)


By Olivia Dodson
Copyright 2008 TexSport Publications

Bay Area Toros catcher Kyle Wells and pitchers Jack Tilghman (Texarkana Gunslingers) and Kevin Cooper (Bay Area Toros) were named the Continental Baseball League’s Player and Pitchers of the Week for the week ending July 20.

Wells led all CBL batters with a .417 average, going 15-for-36 while driving in a league-best 11 runs since the All-Star break. For the season, Wells is among the leaders in batting average (second, .328), on-base percentage (third, .407), and slugging percentage (.406).

Tilghman, the Texarkana relief ace, has appeared in seven games for the Gunslingers since the All-Star break, picking up two victories and two saves. In eight innings of work, he has allowed no earned runs and only 5 hits, striking out 13. Tilghman is far and away the CBL leader in games pitched (31) and saves (11), and has struck out 48 batters in 36.1 innings, posting a 1.49 ERA.

Cooper threw 8 innings of shutout ball against Texarkana on Saturday, July 11, striking out 11 Gunslingers while garnering his third win of the season. For the week, Cooper posted a 0.60 ERA in 15 innings with 14 strikeouts. Cooper is the CBL ERA leader at 1.42, and also leads the league in strikeouts (60) and fewest hits (5.54) and runners (9.81) per nine innings.

Both Cooper and Tilghman are second-time winners of the Pitcher of the Week award (Cooper previously shared the award on June 1, and Tilghman on June 22).