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Sunday |
DOUGLAS COLLEGE
ROYALS Baseball |
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NEWS ITEM
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www.douglascollegebaseball.com |
Attendance:
New Westminster
BC
Canada
| Posted Mar 20/11 - DC Baseball Has Strong Start to Season in Arizona |
The 2011 Douglas College baseball team wrapped up their six game schedule today at the Jack Howell Classic tournament in Tucson, Arizona. It was overall a great learning experience for the team as they played 6 strong NJCAA colleges from Texas and Arizona that have played almost 30 games already this Spring.
The Royals season got off to good start as they beat 4 yr NCAA div 3 school Norwich University 15-1 in a mercy rule enforced 5 innings in their opening game. They opened the top of the first inning with 10 runs off 7 hits and four walks. FR LHP Sean Callegari was dominant going all 5 innings only surrendering 1 run on 1 hit while striking out 8 and walking none. SO-OF Chandler McLaren and FR-SS Tyler Bird led the way with two hits each while KP Hlatky and Shane Kelly each had 3 RBI's. It should also be noted that Norwich swung metal bats as per NCAA regulations while Douglas hit with wood.
On day two of the tournament, the DC Royals baseball team managed to put up 15 runs and 23 hits over two games against Clarendon College and Luna College. Unfortunately, the pitching and defense wasn't as sharp and the Royals lost both games including a 10-9 walk off against Luna College. Adam Masse and Shayne Kelly were the top performers offensively and Masse hit DC's first homerun and was 5-7 over the two games. On Friday, a couple key mistakes late in the game against Western Texas to lose 5-3. Tyler Bird was strong on the mound and Adam Masse led the way again with two hits. In the second game, DC had national JC Powerhouse New Mexico 3-2 in the last inning and down to their last strike before giving up a bases loaded double to lose the lead. Clayton Franco had a gutsy performance going 6 2/3 but took the loss. Chandler McLaren had two hits and Sheldon Sinnott had two RBI's. Saturday, they finished the schedule on a high note as Douglas beat the tournament's top team 6-4. Eastern Arizona College was previously undefeated and have really dominated teams their last few games. Freshman LHP Sean Callegari had another strong outing and kept EA off the board until the 5th inning while striking out 3 and hitting 86 on the radar gun. Chris Foreman threw well in relief and recorded the team's first save of the year. Matt Wenham had 2 hits and 2 RBI's in his first college game as a Royal. Overall, the offense performed very well this week. After facing some quality arms, we are hitting .339 as a team with a OPS over .800. Our top hitters (8 ab's minimum) after the 6 games are: 1. Tyler Bird - .500 - 4 RBIs 2. KP Hlatky - .429 - 5 RBIs and 3 SB's 3. Shayne Kelly - .429 - 5 RBIs 4. Chandler McLaren - .417 5. Adam Masse - .381 - 4 RBI's - 1 HR Defensively, we made some great plays including some highlight reel catches in the outfield from Hlatky, Masse and Sakurai. In the infield, we need to become more consistent before conference begins. More repetitions on dirt will help whenever the rain stops in Vancouver and we can get out on the field everyday. Pitching also needs to become more consistent as we close in on conference. We had some quality starts but had trouble preventing and limiting the big innings. Callegari, Franco and Bird all had strong starts and Scott Piesche, Thomas Lefevbre and Chris Foreman had some success out of the pen. The next two weeks will be key for DC as they will play some important exhibition games vs. UBC (March 26th-27th at Whalley) and then our conference schedule begins vs. Olympic College on April 2nd at home. The makeup of this team so far is strong and they seem to be improving every time out on the field. The Coaching staff is looking forward to playing the top ranked JC's in the NWAACC over the next two months and making a run at a North Regional playoff appearance. |
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