With the Major League Baseball All-Star game taking place last night – which signifies the halfway point of the professional baseball season – Virginia Tech will peak into where and what its current and former players have done so far this summer. Below is a listing of their efforts and follow them on your own by clicking here.
Playing in the Cape Cod League for the Harwich Mariners, Andrew Rash has 10 hits and six RBI in 13 games, while Joe Mantiply has thrown 12.2 innings in three starts with 16 strikeouts and Devin Burke struck out 15 in 17.2 innings.
Playing in the Coastal Plain League is five Tech players, which includes Charlie McCann, who has thrown five innings in three relief appearances and has allowed just one run for the Outer Banks Daredevils.
In the same league, playing for the Peninsula Pilots, Zac MacAneney has 23 hits, 13 runs and 10 RBI in 24 starts and has stolen a team-high 14 bases. Chad Pinder has 20 hits, including three triples and a home run, 20 runs, nine RBI and has 14 walks in 21 starts. Jake Atwell has 15 starts, 14 hits and 10 runs scored.
On the mound, Patrick Scoggin is 1-1 with 29 innings pitched in 14 appearances (three starts) with a team-high 35 strikeouts. MacAneney has thrown two scoreless innings with two strikeouts, while Atwell has 13 strikeouts in 12 innings pitched.
In the New England League, six Hokies are spread across three teams, with Tyler Horan blasting a team-high six home runs for the Danbury Westerners, which is also tied for the league lead. He is batting .299 with 20 hits, 19 RBI and 11 runs. Also on the team, Chad Morgan is hitting .333 with 18 hits and 10 RBI with one home run. Click here for a recap of a game from the other night featuring the two Hokies.
Playing for the Mystic Schooners, Ricky Hodges has 13 strikeouts in 15.2 innings all out of the pen (11 appearances) and has five saves. Colin O’Keefe has 15.1 innings pitched in four starts with eight strikeouts. Both are 0-1 and have allowed just six earned runs. At the plate, Gabe Ortiz has 16 hits in 20 games, is second on the team with 14 RBI and three home runs and is third in runs scored with nine.
Lastly, Eddie Campbell has been lights-out for the Newport Gulls, posting a miniscule 0.55 ERA in 16.1 innings pitched. He is 2-1 in seven games (one start) and has 13 strikeouts.
In the Valley League, Jake Joyce has tossed 26.1 innings for the Covington Lumberjacks in five appearances (four starts) and has 23 strikeouts and a 2-1 record. Clark Labitan has appeared in just three games for the ‘Jacks.
Kyle Wernicki is batting .309 for Jersey Pilots in the Atlantic League and is among his team’s leaders in hits (21) and runs (11).
Johnny Morales has struck out just five times in 99 at-bats for the Orange County Pioneers of the California Collegiate League. He has 20 hits, 14 runs and has stolen five bases.
Morales will play in the CCL’s 2011 All-Star Game, which will be played tonight, the first Hokie named to a team this summer. Three leagues, the Coastal Plain (July 18), New England (July 27) and Cape Cod (July 29), have yet to play their leagues’ All-Star games.
On the professional front:
Joe Parsons picked up his first win last night after two relief innings and is now 1-0 with two saves in seven games for the GCL Pirates. He has struck out five batters in eight innings.
Tim Smalling has batted .458 over his last five games to raise his batting average to .318 for the Tri-City Dust Devils. In 19 games played, he has team-highs in runs scored (20) and doubles (8) and has 27 hits and 11 RBI.
Also playing for the Dust Devils, Rhett Ballard is 2-0 with a 3.60 ERA in 15.0 innings pitched (nine appearances) and has six strikeouts.
Ben Rowen is 1-2 with a 3.33 ERA for the Hickory Crawdads. In 14 games, he has thrown 27.0 innings and struck out 23 batters.
Leading the Great Lakes Loons with a .330 batting average is Steve Domecus, who has 33 hits in 30 games with 17 runs, three home runs and 11 RBI. He also leads the team with a .490 slugging percentage.
Justin Wright was 5-1 with a 1.26 ERA in 17 games out of the pen for Quad Cities River Bandits. He had 54 strikeouts in 35.2 innings pitched and was named a Midwest League All-Star before being promoted to the Florida State League.
Austin Wates is batting .588 over his last four games raising his average to .314 with a team-high 111 hits in 87 games for the Lancaster JetHawks. His 59 runs, 52 RBI, 152 total bases and five triples are second on the team, while he is third in doubles and stolen bases (15 each).
Steven Bumbry started the season in the South Atlantic League, but after nine games moved on to the Frederick Keys of the Carolina League. He has 48 hits in 64 games, with 38 runs and 17 RBI. He was named the Carolina League Player of the Week on June 13.
Warren Schaeffer spent 40 games in Double-A before just last week being promoted to the Colorado Springs Sky Sox of the Triple-A Pacific Coast League and has made the most of it so far. In just four games, he has five hits, including a 3-for-4 effort with two doubles and an RBI in a July 9 game.
Kevin Barker is still going strong in his 13th year in professional baseball. He was recently named a Mexican League All-Star and is among the team’s leaders with a .353 batting average with 98 hits, 54 runs and 11 home runs, and leads the team with 65 RBI and 30 doubles.
It has been an interesting summer for Wyatt Toregas, who started the season with the Indianapolis Indians, was called up for a week by the Pittsburgh Pirates and played in three games, but has been back with the Triple-A club since June 16.
Lastly, Joe Saunders has improved his numbers since the first month of the season (0-3, 5.93 ERA) to post a 6-7 mark at the break with a 3.86 ERA in 112 innings of work (18 starts) and 64 strikeouts. In his last five games for the Diamondbacks, he had four quality starts and won his last three decisions. He is 2-0 in July with a 1.50 ERA.
For updates on Virginia Tech baseball, follow the Hokies on Twitter (@VT_Baseball).