Lafayette Aviators

{{Infobox baseball team

| name = Lafayette Aviators

| logo = 200px

| league = Prospect League

| division = Eastern Conference – Northeast Division

| location = Lafayette, Indiana

| stadium = Loeb Stadium

| founded = 2015

| league_champs = 1 (2017)

| division_champs = 2 (2017, 2021)

| former_names = Jamestown Jammers (2015)

| former_leagues =

| former_ballparks = Russell Diethrick Park (2015)
Loeb Stadium (1940) (2016–2019)

| colors = Navy & Yellow

| owner = National Sports Services{{Cite news |first=Jeong |last=Park |url=https://www.jconline.com/story/news/2018/04/23/lafayette-aviators-getting-new-ownership/543622002/ |title=Lafayette Aviators getting new ownership |work=Journal & Courier |access-date=June 21, 2018 |date=April 23, 2018 |language=en}}

| general_manager = Danny Shingleton

| manager = Jamie Sailors

| media =

| website = {{url|https://lafayettebaseball.com/}}

}}

The Lafayette Aviators are a summer collegiate baseball team based in Lafayette, Indiana. They are a member of the Eastern Conference of the summer collegiate Prospect League. The Aviators play at Loeb Stadium in Columbian Park in Lafayette, which opened in May 2021.

The Aviators won their first Prospect League championship in 2017, defeating the Butler BlueSox in a best-of-3 series.{{Cite web|url=https://www.lafayettebaseball.com/news/Aviators-Win-Prospect-League-Championship|title=Aviators Win Prospect League Championship |website=Aviators Baseball |access-date=June 21, 2018}}

The Aviators play in the Prospect League's Eastern Conference – Northeast Division along with the Champion City Kings, Chillicothe Paints, and Johnstown Mill Rats.{{Cite web|url= https://www.prospectleague.com/sports/bsb/2024-25/season-standings |title=2025 Prospect League Standings – Prospect League Baseball|website=www.prospectleague.com|access-date=2025-04-23}}

History

The Aviators franchise was originally based in Jamestown, New York, where it operated as the Jamestown Jammers during the 2015 season.{{Cite web|url=http://www.jamestownbaseball.com/news/Check-out-the-New-Jamestown-Jammers-logo-uniforms-and-ownership-for-2015|title=Check out the New Jamestown Jammers logo, uniforms, and ownership for 2015 |website=www.jamestownbaseball.com|access-date=June 21, 2018}} The Jammers' owners, Milwaukee, Wisconsin-based MKE Sports & Entertainment, opted to move its Prospect League team to Lafayette and establish a new Jammers team in the Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball League in 2016,{{Cite web|url=http://www.pgcbl.com/news/?article_id=1966|title=Jamestown Jammers Join PGCBL|website=www.pgcbl.com|language=en|access-date=June 21, 2018}} with distance (Jamestown was well outside the Prospect League's Midwestern footprint while the PCPBL's footprint was much closer, in Central New York) being cited as the primary reason for the move.

Prior to the 2018 season, the team was sold to National Sports Services, through its subsidiary, Lafayette Family Entertainment LLC.{{Cite news|url=http://www.wlfi.com/content/news/-Lafayette-Aviators-will-change-ownership-480598941.html|title=Lafayette Aviators have a new owner|work=WLFI News|access-date=June 21, 2018|language=en}}

The Aviators were supposed to play their 2020 season at Purdue University's Alexander Field while the original Loeb Stadium was torn down and replaced by a new ballpark;{{cite news |first=Nathan |last=Baird |url=https://www.jconline.com/story/sports/college/purdue/2019/08/06/lafayette-aviators-play-purdues-alexander-field-2020/1938642001/ |title=Lafayette Aviators to play at Purdue's Alexander Field in 2020 |newspaper=Journal & Courier |date=August 6, 2019 |location=Lafayette, Indiana |language=en |access-date=August 7, 2019}} however, the season was suspended when Purdue closed their athletic facilities due to the COVID-19 pandemic.{{cite press release |title=Aviators Announce Suspension of 2020 Season |url=https://lafayettebaseball.com/2020/05/18/new-for-2021-johnstown-mill-rats/ |website=Aviators Baseball |publisher=Lafayette Aviators |access-date=April 22, 2021 |date=May 18, 2020}}

The team was finally able to welcome spectators to their season opener at their new stadium on June 1, 2021.{{Cite news |first=Marvin |last=Bills |title=Lafayette Aviators prepping special events in the run up to opening night |url=https://www.wlfi.com/content/news/Lots-of-cool-events-in-the--574446351.html |access-date=July 21, 2021 |date=May 18, 2021 |work=WLFI-TV |language=en}}

Seasons

class="wikitable sortable" style="font-size: 95%; text-align:center;" ! Season !! Manager !! Record !! Win % !! Division !! GB !! Post-season record !! Post-season win % !! Post-season result !! Notes
2015	Anthony Barone	27–33	.450	4th	11.0	0–0	.000	Did not qualify	as the Jamestown Jammers
2016	Brent McNeil{{Cite web\|url=https://www.lafayettebaseball.com/news/2016CoachingStaffAdditions\|title={{!}} Lafayette Aviators Baseball Loeb Stadium Lafayette, Indiana 47904\|website=Aviators Baseball \|access-date=June 21, 2018}}	30–30	.500	3rd	5.0	0–0	.000	Did not qualify
2017	Brent McNeil	36–24	.600	1st	–	4–2	.667	Won West Division Championship (Terre Haute) Won Prospect League Championship (Butler)	Moved to West Division
2018	Will Arnold{{Cite news\|url=https://www.jconline.com/story/sports/2017/11/07/lafayette-aviators-hire-arnold-new-manager/840507001/\|title=Lafayette Aviators hire Will Arnold as new manager\|work=Journal & Courier\|access-date=June 21, 2018\|language=en}}	22–38	.367	6th	14.0	0–0	.000	Did not qualify
2019	Brent McNeil	34–26	.567	6th	6.0	0–0	.000	Did not qualify
2020	Bailey Montgomery{{Cite web \|url=http://www.prospectleague.com/view/prospectleague/prospect-league-news/news_525058 \|title=Aviators Promote Montgomery to Field Manager \|website=Prospect Collegiate Baseball LLC \|access-date=September 4, 2019}}	colspan="8"\|Season cancelled (COVID-19 pandemic)
2021	Michael Keeran{{Cite web \|title=Coaches \|website=Aviators Baseball \|url=https://lafayettebaseball.com/team/coaches/ \|access-date=June 2, 2021 \|language=en-US}}	41–18	.695	1st	–	3–2	.600	Won Wabash River Division Championship (Danville) Won East Conference Championship (Champion City) Lost Prospect League Championship (Cape)
2022	Chris Willsey	25–34	.424	4th	16.0	0–0	.000	Did not qualify
2023	Jamie Sailors	28–29	.491	3rd	12.5	0–0	.000	Did not qualify
2024	Jamie Sailors	26–30	.464	2nd	10.0	0–0	.000	Did not qualify
Totals		269–262	.507			7–4	.636