The Peoria Javelinas won the 2012 Arizona Fall League championship with Saturday’s 4-3 victory over the Salt River Rafters in the title game at Scottsdale.

Peoria won the league’s West Division with a 19-13-0 record, while Salt River was the East Division pennant winner at 17-13-2.

Salt River was in the same division with the Mesa Solar Sox, whose roster included farmhands of the Detroit Tigers and former Erie SeaWolves. Mesa had the league’s worst record at 10-20-2.

– Mike Copper

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Relief pitcher Tyler Clark, who competed for the Erie SeaWolves during their 2012 season, saved the Mesa Solar Sox’s 4-3 victory over Phoenix as part of Thursday’s Arizona Fall League action.

Clark came in for Mesa with two outs and runners at first and third in the top of the ninth inning. The right-hander came through by retiring the Desert Dogs’ Joc Pederson on a line out to left field.

Former SeaWolves catcher Brian McCann was 0-for-3 for Mesa, now 8-16 overall in the league’s East Division.

– Mike Copper

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The World Series over, but baseball fans still have the Arizona Fall League to tide them over for another three weeks.

The Mesa Solar Sox, whose roster includes former Erie SeaWolves, are one of its six teams. The Solar Sox dropped to a league-worst 4-13 after the Surprise Saguaros beat them 7-2 Monday.

Nick Castellanos continued his transformation from third base to the outfield as Mesa’s left fielder. The Tigers’ first draft pick in 2010 went 2-for-5 in Monday’s loss.

Aaron Westlake, a first base prospect in Detroit’s system, also scored one of Mesa’s runs.

– Mike Copper

Tuesday’s Arizona Fall League game between the Mesa Solar Sox and the Phoenix Desert Dogs was officially called at 7-7 after 11 innings.

The tie won’t count against Mesa’s overall record, but still left the team 3-9 in the league’s three-team East Division.

Former Erie SeaWolves pitchers Matt Hoffman and Michael Morrison each appeared in relief for the Solar Sox. Aaron Westlake, who played first base in 2012 for the Detroit Tigers’ Single-A affiliate in West Michigan, drove in three of their runs and scored twice.

– Mike Copper

Former Erie SeaWolves pitcher Drew Smyly was the winner in relief for the Detroit Tigers, who squandered a four-run, ninth-inning lead before recovering for a 6-4 extra-inning win over the New York Yankees in game one of the American League Championship Series at Yankee Stadium.

Other former SeaWolves who contributed to Detroit’s emotional victory were outfielders Andy Dirks and Avisail Garcia (single, RBI each) and pinch-runner Don Kelly, who scored one of the Tigers’ two decisive runs in the top of the 12th inning.

Yankees outfielder Curtis Granderson, another former Erie player, went hitless with a walk for New York.

– Mike Copper

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The Arizona Fall League begins Tuesday, with four players from the 2012 Erie SeaWolves scheduled to compete for the Mesa Solar Sox.

Mesa, one of six teams in the league, will debut with a game at the Salt River Rafters. Mesa’s roster consists of minor league prospects from the Detroit Tigers, Baltimore Orioles, Chicago Cubs, Houston Astros and Los Angeles Dodgers.

Outfielder Nick Castellanos, catcher James McCann and relief pitchers Tyler Clark and Michael Morrison are players for the Solar Sox who appeared in all or portions of Erie’s recently completed Eastern League season. Other former SeaWolves on Mesa’s roster are pitchers Luke Putkonen and Matt Hoffman.

Aaron Westlake, a first base prospect with Single-A West Michigan, rounds out Detroit’s representatives.

– Mike Copper

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Four current players for the Erie SeaWolves, including star prospect Nick Castellanos, will remain on baseball diamonds even after the Eastern League franchise ends its regular season Monday.

Castellanos will join catcher James McCann and relief pitchers Michael Morrison and Tyler Clark on the roster of the Mesa Solar Sox for the 2012 Arizona Fall League. The league released its rosters and schedule Wednesday.

The six-team league will start Oct. 9 and conclude with its Nov. 17 championship game at Scottsdale, Ariz.

– Mike Copper

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