d'Arnaud Leads Lynchburg to Carolina League Championship
9/25/2009 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
MALIBU, Calif. - Following a midseason promotion from West Virginia to Lynchburg (Va.), former Waves infielder Chase d'Arnaud helped lead the Hillcats on an improbable postseason run that culminated in a three-game sweep of the Winston-Salem Red Sox for the Carolina League Championship.
Lynchburg finished the second half of the South Atlantic League's season tied with Myrtle Beach for the worst record at 28-42 (.400), but qualified for the playoffs as a result of being the league's best first-half team at 45-24 (.652).
d'Arnaud got off to a slow postseason start, registering just one hit through his first 16 at-bats as Wilmington (Del.) took a 2-1 in lead in their best-of-five series in the Carolina League semifinals. However, after clubbing a solo shot in the ninth inning of game four's 5-2 win over the Blue Rocks, d'Arnaud went 6-for-17 (.353) the rest of the way with three doubles, a homer, nine RBI, five runs, two walks and two steals.
Incredibly, Lynchburg came from behind to win their last five games in the postseason and d'Arnaud was named MVP of the Mills Cup Championship after batting .308 (4-for-13) with three doubles and seven RBI.
d'Arnaud was drafted by Pittsburgh in the fourth round of the 2008 MLB First-Year Players Draft (114th overall) and over the course of one and a half seasons has steadily progressed through the Pirates' minor league system. He batted .286 with 21 RBI and 14 stolen bases through 43 games at State College (Pa.) in 2008 and was named to the New-York Penn League's Midseason All-Star Team.
d'Arnaud was promoted to Class A West Virginia out of Spring Training and hit .291 with 31 RBI, 17 steals and 32 runs scored in the first half of 2009, stats which earned him a spot on the South Atlantic League's Midseason All-Star Team. Combined with his Lynchburg statistics, d'Arnaud final 2009 totals include a .293 batting average, seven home runs, 57 RBI, 31 stolen bases, 33 doubles and 77 runs scored.
d'Arnaud will continue playing baseball in the offseason for the Scottsdale Scorpions of the Arizona Fall League. The Scorpions begin their schedule on Tuesday, October 13.
In three seasons (2006-08) of playing third base for Pepperdine, d'Arnaud was a two-time All-West Coast Conference selection who batted .309 with 16 home runs and 100 RBI. He led the Waves with 17 doubles during his final season.
