June 26, 2007

The Senior Sunbelt tournament was shortened by torrential rains in Texas and Oklahoma, but the Arizona contingent had an impressive trip nevertheless.

The Arizona team went 3-1 in the Lone Star Classic in Texas after the final games were rained out.

In the Sunbelt tournament, Arizona went 5-2 and was scheduled to play Georgia (also 5-2) in the final when mother nature intervened again. First place was awarded to Georgia due to their victory over AZ earlier in the event.

Brett Nicholas (Pinnacle) was awarded the Tournament MVP. Jimmy Patterson (McClintock), Landis Ware (Chandler), Rick Patton (Canyon Del Oro) and Rafael Neda (Amphitheater) were named to the All Tournament team.

June 25, 2007

The Dallas Tigers ran the gauntlet of talent at the 2007 Arizona National Connie Mack World Series Qualifier to claim the championship and a berth in the 2007 World Series in Farmington NM. The Tigers dropped the Southern California Renegades in the final, and went 8-0 the tournament.

The Dallas Tigers

Big time kudos to the Chandler Wolves, who entered the CM qualifying tournament as a replacement. The Wolves, comprised of most of Coach Jon Watson's 2008 high school roster, went 3-1 in pool play to advance to the final ten team bracket. In championship bracket play, the Wolves eliminated the Angels Scout Team White, and got a second round bye. Their third game was against Dallas DBAT 17, a talented group who had handed the Wolves their only loss in pool play. Behind an impressive outing on the mound by Ryan Davis, Chandler came out and handled the Texans pretty easily. The Wolves followed that up by giving the So Cal Renegades a big scare in the semi finals. I was extremely impressed with the defensive play, clutch hitting and all around scrappiness they showed all week. Great job guys.

Ryan Davis on the hill for Chandler

The Junior Olympics West tourney is in full swing and the first two days have been a little rough on most of the Arizona contingent.

The 11 AZ squads are a combined 11-22 after 2 days of play.

FIT baseball, a team from Tucson, is the only undefeated AZ team at 3-0.

June 22, 2007

The Connie Mack World series Qualifier has advanced to 10 team double elimination bracket play. A it turned out, 5 out of stet teams and 5 Arizona teams comprised the championship bracket. If you want to see some of the nation's top 18U players in action head out to ASU this weekend.

A couple of notes regarding USA Baseball events:

The Junior Olympics West tournament will kick off Saturday at Peoria and Surprise Sports Complexes. The 72 team field includes the following 11 teams from Arizona:

The Tournament of Stars, which has moved from Joplin, Mo. to Cary , NC this year, is in full swing with the following Arizona players in attendance:

Kyle Lobstein tossed 6 innings of 2 hit ball yesterday with 12 Ks.

Danny Coulombe struck out 8 in 3 1/3 innings of work on Wednesday.

June 21, 2007

I've been a tad out of pocket this week in helping the run the Connie Mack World Series Qualifier around town, but wanted to mention a couple of things.

For starters, big congrats to Doyle Wilson, who is leaving Chandler Gilbert CC to take a position as an assistant with the USC Trojans.

In addition, Chandler Gilbert is promoting a quality guy from within the program. Shane Luce will assume the head coaching duties at CGCC. He's a great baseball man with longtime ties in the area.

A hearty attaboy from the AZDR to both of these men.

The rumors were flying fast and furious regarding ASU coach Pat Murphy and the Univ of Tennessee job, both on the local airwaves and last night at Packard at the Connie Mack qualifier.

This time, the rumor mill was inaccurate as Todd Raleigh from Western Carolina was introduced as the Vols new head man at a press conference this morning.

June 18, 2007

At the Junior Sunbelt, Arizona tied with California for 2nd place in seeding but was beat out when they went head-to-head.
We played Tennessee for 3rd place on Wednesday at 5pm.

Game 10 AZ vs Tennessee

Starting pitcher was Rudy Jaramillo who went 1 inning; 3 runs, 4 hits, 1K, 1BB Next was Andy Hunter who went 1 inning; 1 run, 3 hits
Next was Ryan Carpenter who went l inning; 0 runs, 0 hits Next was Marcus Vigil who went 2 innings; 0 runs, 2 hits
Next was Chris Jensen who went 2 innings; 0 runs, 1 hit, 2 K's, 2 BB's
Winning pitcher was Andy Hunter

Kyle Stiner was 2 for 4 with a double
Ty Forney was 2 for 4
Nick Carrillo was 3 for 3 with a double and a homerun and 4 rbi's
Brad Douthit was 1 for 2
Chris Jensen was 1 for 1
Carlos Figueroa had a walk
Kyle Lobstein was 1 for 2
Matt Summers had one rbi

6 Runs
10 Hits
0 Errors

FINAL SCORE: AZ 6 vs Tennessee 4
Arizona finished in 3rd place with a record of 7 - 3

Arizona had 13 homeruns for the tournament.

In Connie Mack play last week: The Scottsdale Heat's Brad Douthit pitched 4 innings and hit a home run while Tommy Rowland went 4-4 with two doubles as the Heat defeated the BBC 14-2 in 5 innings.

In game 2 Riley Welch of the Heat pitched all 7 innings, allowing only two infield hits while striking out 14 to defeat BBC 3-0. Jeremy New hit a home run in the third to break scoreless tie and Wes Kipley drove in two with a double.

June 15, 2007

The Arizona Junior Sunbelt Team finished in 3rd place at the tournament in Oklahoma with a 7-3 overall record. Named to the All Tournament team wre (pictured below from left) Danny Coulombe (Chaparral) , Nick Carrillo (Sandra Day O'Connor) and Ty Forney (Mesquite).

Mesquite beat brophy 11-0 in a run rule shorten game. Rocky High pitched a complete game no hitter striking out 12 and walking 1.High went 2 for 3 at the plate. Earlier in the week
Mesquite beat Tollasen 10-4,
lost to Greenway 7-8, lost to Desert Ridge 4-14, lost to Pinnacle 6-8, beat mesa 4-2, beat mesa 14-2, tied mtn view 8-8, tied chaparral 7-7

From the "economics makes strange bedfellows" department: The Cal State Fullerton baseball team grabbed a flight out of Orange County on Wednesday headed to the College World Series. En route, they made a pit stop in Phoenix and picked up some hitchhikers, their Arizona State Sun Devil rivals, for the trip to Omaha.

June 14, 2007

Here are the game scores for Tuesday:

Game 8: AZ vs Georgia

Starting pitcher was Ryan Carpenter who went 3 innings; 6 runs, 3 hits, 1 K, 1 BB, 1 HP in relief was Nick Carrillo who went 2.1 innings; 3 runs, 3 hits, 2 K's, 2 BB's, 2 HP Next was Travis Jones who went 1.2 innings; O runs, 0 hits, 1 walk

6 Hits
5 Runs
9 LOB
3 Errors

Ty Forney was 2 for 3, Chris Jensen was 2 for 2 with 2 walks, Carlos Figueroa had 2 walks and was hit by a pitch

Final Score: AZ 5 vs Georgia 9

Game 9: AZ vs Tennessee

Starting pitcher was Kyle Lobstein who went 5 innings; 3 runs, 3 hits, 4 K's, 4 BB's , In relief was Matt Summers who went 2/3 inning; 2 runs, 2 hits, 1 K, 1 BB,  Next was Brad Douthit who went 1 inning; 1 run, 4 hits, 1 BB Andy Hunter went 1/3 inning; 0 runs, 0 hits, threw 2 pitches to get the win

Ty Forney 1 for 4 with a homerun, 1 rbi Matt Summers for 2 for 3 with 2 rbi's Nick Carrillo was 3 for 4 with 4 rbi's and 2 homeruns Kyle Stiner had 2 walks

Game Highlights:
In the bottom of the 5th inning, the game was tied 3 - 3; Ty Forney lead off with a homerun over the left field fence; Matt Summers doubled to right
center, with 1 out, Nick Carrillo hit an opposite field homerun to give us a 6 to 3 lead. Tennessee battled back to score 2 in the 6th and 1 in the 7th to tie it up. With the game tied 6 - 6 going into the bottom of the 7th inning and 2 outs and no one on, Nick Carrillo with a 2-2 count launches one over the right field fence for a walk-off homerun.  Game over AZ wins!

Final Score: AZ 7 - Tennessee 6

Final Standing:
Arizona 6 - 3
California 6 - 3
Canada 2 - 6
Georgia 5 - 4
Mississippi 3 - 5
Missouri 6 - 2
OK-Blue 1 - 8
OK-Gold 4 - 5
Tennessee 5 - 3
Texas 5 - 4

June 12, 2007

Here is the game report for Monday's Junior Sunbelt game:

Game 7: AZ vs Mississippi

Starting pitcher was Daniel Coulombe who went 6 innings;3 runs, 4 hits, 7K's
In relief, was Chris Jensen who faced 3 batters giving up 2 runs, 0 hits and 1 walk, the team committed 2 errors.
He was replaced by Brad Douthit who pitched to 5 batters, struck out 2, gave up 2 hits and ended the game with a fly out to center.

Jake Hanson was 2 for 4 with a lead-off homerun and a double
Kyle Stiner was 2 for 4 with 2 rbi's
Matt Summers was 3 for 5 with 1 rbi
Travis Jones was 1 for 2 with a homerun and 2 rbi's
Ty Forney was 2 for 2
David Roney was 3 for 4 with a homerun and 3 rbi's
Mike Planeta, Harlyn Griffiths & Nick Carrillo were 1 for 2

Hits - 16
Errors - 4
LOB - 9

Final Score: AZ 9 vs Mississippi 5

AZ's next games are on Tuesday at 9:00am and 11:30am.
Teams will be seeded on Tuesday evening. Medal games will be played on Wednesday.

June 11, 2007

Junior Sunbelt report from Sunday's games:

Sunday's games were delayed by 2 hours due to rain during the night. Our first game was at 4pm and second game was at 9:00pm, finishing at 11:40pm.

Game 5 AZ vs Missouri

Starting pitcher was Andy Hunter going 5.1 innings; 2 runs, 4 hits, 8 K's He was relieved by Marcus Vigil who pitched to one batter striking him out;
Nick Carrillo relieved Marcus, who pitched to one batter and got him to ground out.

Arizona had only 4 hits. Kyle Stiner was 2 for 3; Matt Summers was 1 for 3 and Nick Carrillo was 1 -3 with the only rbi.

Final Score: AZ 1 vs Missouri 2


Game 6 AZ vs Oklahoma Blue

Starting pitcher was Harlyn Griffiths going 5.1 innings; 6 runs, 10 hits, 6 K's, 3 BB, 2 hit batters. Nick Carrillo pitched 1/3 of an inning; first batter
lined out to shortstop/second batter reached first base on a dropped fly ball by the right fielder; Nick was relieved by Brad Douthit who struck out the last batter. Travis Jones pitched the 7th inning, walking 1 and striking out one to get the win.

Kyle Stiner was 1 for 3 with 1 rbi
Ty Forney was 1 for 4 with 1 rbi
Matt Summers was 2 for 3
Carlos Figueroa was 2 for 3 with 1 rbi
Mike Planeta was 1 for 3
Chris Jensen was 1 for 1 with 1 rbi
Jake Hanson had a sac fly for 1 rbi
Nick Carrillo had 3 base on balls

Game highlights:

Going into the bottom of the 7th inning, AZ was down 6 to 5. Mike Planeta lead off with a grounder to the shortstop, who threw wide to first, allowing Mike to reach on error. Jake Hanson then walked. Travis Jones reached on a field's choice forcing Hanson out at 2nd. With runners on first and third, Kyle Stiner laced one into the right field corner, scoring Mike Planeta to tie the game. AZ now had runners at first and third, with one out. Ty Forney was now at the plate. With a 1 and 0 count, Forney executed a perfect suicide bunt to score the winning run.

Final Score: AZ 7 vs Oklahoma Blue 6 BIG WIN!


Arizona's record after Sunday's play is now 4 - 2

Arizona plays only one game on Monday. Game time is 2:00pm against Mississippi (who's record is 3-2)

That was former Brophy Centerfielder Braden Wells pinch running andscoring the only run in Oregon State's 1-0 win over Michigan. Braden has split time in center for the Beavers this year.

A heart congrats to the Arizona State Sun Devils who advanced to the College World Series yesterday after downing Ole Miss for the second straight day. This year's team has that eye of the tiger look to it and has to be considered one of the favorites in Omaha.

June 10, 2007

Junior Sunbelt report from Saturday's games:

Game 3 AZ vs California

Starting pitcher Brad Douthit went 1 1/3 innings
Travis Jones pitched l inning and Kyle Peterson
pitched 1.2 innings

Kyle Lobstein was 2 for 3
David Roney was 1 for 1
Mike Planeta was 1 for 1 with 1 rbi
Kyle Stiner was 1-1 with 1 rbi

Final Score AZ 5 vs California 14


Game 4 AZ vs Canada

Starting pitcher was Rudy Jamarillo; went 5.2 innings
4 k's, 6 hits, 4 runs, 4 BB's(Winning pitcher)
Relieved by Chris Jensen who went 1 1/3 inning;
no runs, 1 hit, 1 k

Jake Hanson was 2 for 2
Ty Forney was 1 for 2
Kyle Stiner was 2 for 3
Carlos Figueroa was 2 for 3
Matt Summers was 3 for 4; 1 homerun and 3 rbi's
Travis Jones was 2 for 4; 2 homeruns and 4 rbi's

In Connie Mack play, the Angels Red team defeated BBC Baseball once and the two teams tied in game 2

Game #1 Angels 15 BBC 1

Jason Butler stuck out 9 batters in 4 innings and the offense was paced by homeruns from JJ Ethel, Mike Greco, Nolan Church, and Daniel Kozell.

Game #2 Angels 5 BBC 5

Heath Nichols pitched 6 strong innings, but that wasn't enough as BBC scored 2 runs in the 7th inning to tie the game. Kevin Hennessey homered for the Angels.

June 9, 2007

Junior Sunbelt reports: Fridays Games

Game 1 Todays games were delayed for 2 1/2 hours because
of rain during the night.

AZ vs Texas

Starting pitcher was Ryan Carpenter who went 3 innings;4 runs/6 hits/2 K's/1 walk

Next pitcher Daniel Coulmbe went 4 innings; 2 runs/6 hits/6 K's/1 walk

Jake Hanson was 2 for 4 with a homerun; 2 rbi's
Ty Forney was 1 for 2
Kyle Stiner was 1 - 2 with a homerun; 1 rbi
Andy Hunter was 1 - 3
Dean Espy was 1 - 1
Nick Carrillo was 3 -3 with a homerun; 2 rbi's
Chris Jensen was 1 -2 with a homerun; 2 rbi's
Harlyn Griffiths - sac rbi

Final score AZ 8 - Texas 6


Game 2 AZ vs Oklahoma Gold

Starting pitcher Kyle Lobstein went 4 2/3 innings;
2 runs/3 hits/3 K's/3 walks/2 hit batsmen

In relief: Nick Carrillo 1/3 inning
Marcus Vigil 2/3 inning
Matt Summers 1 1/3 innings; 1 walk/1 K/ 1 pick off (got the win)

Ty Forney 2 - 2
Dean Espy 2 - 3 , 2 RBI's
Rudy Jaramillo 1-2

Final Score AZ 3 - Oklahoma Gold 2

Cameron Schiller holds a Glendale CC runner on (L) as P.J. Mendoza delivers for the Angels Scout team Invitations to the AZDR Fall Showcase workout have begun to go out. If you receive an invite make sure to confirm with me ASAP. Riccio Torrez (Brophy) and Kyle Lobstein (Flagstaff Coconino) were selected to participate in the trials for the U.S. Junior National team. The 32 selected players will head to Joplin, Mo. on August 13 for practices and scrimmage games. A final 20 man national team roster will be announced on August 19. Sunrise Mountain's Jaff Decker was named an alternate to the 32 man squad. Gateway CC Coach Victor Solis is the Head Coach of the Junior National Team. June 8, 2007 The Angels Red team swept a pair from the Clash in Connie Mack play. In game 1 Kevin Hennessey tossed a 1-hitter and the offense was led by a balanced attack as the Angels won 17-0. In game 2 Justin Lindsey threw a 2 hitter with 10 Ks in a 5-0 complete game effort. All Star Baseball Black and the Angels White team split a double header in Connie Mack action I want to extend congratulations to Chris Reese of Gilbert High for signing a Letter of Intent with Kansas State University. Chris plays with some of the highest energy in the state, and has been a key cog for the Tigers for 3 years. In addition to being a solid player, he's also the poster child for much of what I'm preaching on this site right now. Chris is a rock star in the classroom, and his GPA and test scores have played a huge part in putting him in the position he's in today. The Academic money he's receiving to supplement the baseball scholarship is playing a big role in making college baseball a reality for Chris. Give him a hearty handshake when you see him . Chris Reese is headed to the Big 12

June 7, 2007 The 2007 Major league Baseball first year player draft starts today, and it is being televised for the first time ever by ESPN2 starting at 11:00 AM local time. This year's draft has some new wrinkles that will change the landscape quite a bit for teams and players. For starters, clubs now have a 60 day window to sign draft picks. The old system of "draft and follow", where clubs held a player's rights for one year is now a thing of the past. If a player is not signed by August 15, the club loses the rights to that player. Several scenarios could play out here. 1. A club can adopt a business as usual approach, and use the summer as the follow period to further evaluate a player before making an offer. Only the time frame will change. 2. A club, realizing that a 30th round high school pick is more than likely not going to sign, may place greater emphasis on  draft eligible college players in the latter rounds. There may now be a more active market in the draft for College seniors, who have little or no options, and would often be free agent signees in the past. 3. The draft has remained a 50 round affair, and some clubs may simply pass on their latter round picks with no draft and follow system in place. The issue of signability may now be an even bigger issue than in the past. Trying to predict a player's draft round is made quite difficult by the player's perceived value and the money demands of the family. To illustrate, consider the case of  young Tommy Fyvetewl, a very talented high school player who has good tools and is considered by most clubs as a potential pick in the area of the 10th round. The average signing bonus for a 10th round pick in the 2006 draft was $55,000. If Tommy is willing to sign for money in that area, a team will likely select him near that slot. If however, Tommy and his family decide that Tommy needs $500,000 to sign a pro contract, Tommy probably will go undrafted this year and will go play in college. $500,000 is money that goes to second round picks, and Tommy doesn't fit the bill. Now consider the case of Steve Gawtahose, a young high school pitcher who has a projectable frame and a live arm. Steve has no interest in college, he wants to play baseball. As a result, Steve and his family think $50,000 is a smoking deal. Steve, while perhaps not coveted as highly as Tommy, becomes the 10th round selection based on his signability. Draft bonuses have fallen in recent years, and this is no accident. The Commissioner's office has made a concerted effort to slow down runaway bonus escalation since the 2002 draft. Expect to see the new shorter signing period further contribute to this. Finally, clubs that are unable to sign picks in the first 2 rounds will receive a pick in roughly the same spot in the 2008 draft as compensation. So that leads us to the 2007 draft and the Arizona high school player. I won't try to sugar coat this: this is a poor year for  pro level talent in Arizona. At the top of the heap is certainly Tim Alderson of Horizon. I expect him to go in the top 60 picks, possibly as early as late 1st round, more likely in the supplemental (sandwich) round or the second. After that, Kevin Rhoderick (Alderson's Horizon teammate) and Devin Fuller of Gilbert look like guys in the 8-10 round area to me., without taking signability into account. Sammy Solis of Agua Fria is in this same mold. Merrill Kelly of Desert  Mountain may be a top 10 rounder Here's some  guys that could hear their names called, again with the caveat that signability will dictate much of the outcome. Torrey Jacoby-Notre Dame Jimmy Patterson- McClintock Manny Barreda- Sahuarita Brett Nicholas-Pinnacle Pat McCoy-Tucson Sahuaro Kevin Hennessey- Chandler Kyle Brule- Marcos de Niza Cedrick Johnson-Thatcher Chris Moon- Tucson High Mike Greco-Notre Dame