Pepperdine Baseball Summer League Update
8/5/2009 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
MALIBU, Calif. - Here's a quick snapshot for each of the summer leagues where the Waves are playing this offseason. All statistics through games of August 4.
From the Hawai'I Collegiate Baseball League: Sophomores Ricky Villarreal (Edinburg, Texas/Edinburg HS) and Tyler Brubaker (Valencia, Calif./Saugus HS) helped the Waimea Waves post the league's best regular season record at 25-10, but were swept in two games in a best-of-three Championship Series by the Waikiki Surfers.
Brubaker batted .303 and finished the year with a league-best 14 doubles. He also was ranked among the league's top-five leaders in slugging percentage (.484), runs scored (29), RBI (27) and total bases (59).
Villarreal appeared in 13 games, including five starts and posted a 2-1 record with a 4.71 earned-run average. He struck out 20 batters in 36.1 innings pitched and combined with two other teammates on a 9-0 shut out vs. Kamuela.
From the Northwoods League: All-Star sophomore Aaron Gates (Villa Park, Calif./Orange Lutheran) continues to hit around the .300 mark and enters today with a .292 batting average to go along with six home runs and 29 RBI. His six round trippers have him tied for fifth place among league leaders.
Gates and his La Crosse Logger teammates are currently in second place in the Northwoods League's South Division with a 15-13 second-half record. La Crosse placed third during the first half with a 21-13 mark.
Junior Matt Bywater (Thousand Oaks, Calif./Thousand Oaks HS) is also doing well for the Loggers, sporting a 2-1 record and 4.79 ERA with 21 strikeouts. He has appeared in eight games, making two starts.
Sophomore Brian Humphries (El Cajon, Calif./Granite Hills HS) is hitting .258 for the St. Cloud River Bats, including 13 RBI, eight doubles and seven stolen bases. The River Bats finished eight games under .500 during the first half of the season in the Northwoods League North Division, but are off to a 16-11 second-half start and are 2.5 games behind division leader Rochester.
From the Cape Cod League: Sophomore Cole Cook (Los Angeles, Calif./Palisades Charter HS) is 1-2 with a 4.72 ERA and 25 strikeouts through six starts for the 24-17 Orleans Firebirds. Orleans will play host to the Chatham Anglers Friday night at Eldredge Park for a preliminary-round playoff game.
From the Western Baseball Association: In 21 games with the San Diego Waves, senior Ryan Heroy (Henderson, Nev./Green Valley HS) is batting .313 with eight doubles. The Waves finished the regular season with a 31-21-1 overall record and a 13-6-1 record in league play. San Diego recently dropped an 8-4 decision Tuesday night to Torrey Jacoby's Liberal Bee Jays at the NBC World Series in Wichita.
From the Southern California Collegiate Baseball Association: Sophomore Mike Hole and Casey Rhoades and senior Colin Rooney (Yorba Linda, Calif./Esperanza HS) all played for the Trombly Thunder, which tied the East L.A. Dodgers for fifth place with an overall record of 13-17. No on-line stats were provided by the Thunder.
From the New York Collegiate Baseball League: The Saratoga (N.Y.) Phillies, which featured four Waves on its 2009 roster: junior R.W. Zeller (Milwaukie, Ore./Rex Putnam HS), sophomore Brad Jesernig (Olympia, Wash./Capital HS), junior Keven Inman (Bakersfield, Calif./Garces HS) and sophomore Miles Silverstein (Calabasas, Calif./Bell Canyon HS), finished third in the East Division at 19-22. The Phillies later dropped their first-round playoff series vs. the Glen Falls Golden Eagles.
In the playoffs, Inman pitched a total of 3.2 innings of scoreless relief with three strikeouts.
Both Jesernig and Silverstein made the All-Star Team. Silverstein batted .250 this summer with 12 runs, five RBI and three stolen bases, while Jesernig converted eight saves with 10 strikeouts through 12.0 innings pitched and a 3.38 ERA. Jesernig, who led the Phillies with 14 appearances out of the bullpen, also complete four shutout victories. Inman finished second to Jesernig with 13 appearances.
From the Jayhawk League: Torrey Jacoby (Camarillo, Calif./Notre Dame Prep (Ariz.) HS) is hitting .324 this season for the Liberal (Kan.) Bee Jays with two home runs and 16 RBI. He has also scored 25 runs and clubbed nine doubles. Liberal finished the regular season at 28-18 (18-14 in the Jayhawk League) and recently defeated the San Diego Waves at the NBC World Series in Wichita.
From the Prospect League: Sophomores Nate Johnson (Camarillo, Calif./Camarillo HS), Ryan Van Amburg (Campbell, Calif./St. Francis HS) and Cody Yount (Paradise Valley, Ariz./Chaparral HS) and the rest of the Danville Dans are chasing the Quincy (Ill.) Gems for first place in the Prospect League's West Division.
As of today, the Dans (28-21) find themselves 2.5 games behind the Gems (31-19) following a recent three-game sweep of the West Division leaders and have four games left on the regular season schedule.
Johnson, a Prospect League All-Star, is hitting .270 with four home runs, 22 runs and 29 RBI through 40 games, while Van Amburg is at .257 with two home runs and 11 RBI. Van Amburg also has swiped six bases and scored 21 runs.
Yount has driven in nine runs and all 22 of his base hits have gone for singles.
Previous Pepperdine summer league headlines and links to each team can be found here.
