6/23/04 – Valley Baseball League

VBL NOTEBOOK – GONZALEZ, EDMUNDSON EARN HONORS ——————————————————————————– Kelly Edmundson of Woodstock/Tennessee WEEKLY HONORS: Kelly Edmundson (Tennessee) of the Woodstock River Bandits is the Valley League’s Player of the Week. Edmundson has come on to lead the league in doubles, smacking all six within the past week. The 6’0”, 200-pound catcher hit .419, crossed the plate nine times and batted in eight. Edmundson arrived after the VBL season began as his Volunteers played in the NCAA Kinston, N.C. regional. Since he’s joined the team, Woodstock has put together a league-best six-game win streak. The Pitcher of the Week goes to Woodstock right-handed starter Alexander Gonzalez (Barry University). Gonzalez pitched twice this week against the Northern Division-leading Luray Wranglers. On June 14, the 5’10” Gonzalez fanned 12, walked two and allowed only three hits in eight innings. The effort went for a no-decision as he left the game with a 4-0 lead, but the R-Bandits fell 6-4 in 10 innings. He came back to toss another eight innings against the Wranglers on June 19 and claimed a 4-1 victory. He gave up just one run on four hits and a walk while striking out eight. He is 2-0 with a 0.38 ERA. Covington: Gave Luray its first loss winning 8-3 on June 13. Matt Graziano (Florida) went 4-for-5 with four RBI in the win over Luray. Taylor McIntyre pitched six innings, giving up three runs, one earned, with six strikeouts. The Lumberjacks rank fourth in team batting average with a .255, but have hurt themselves defensively as shown by the highest ERA as a team with 5.34 and lowest fielding percentage at .934. Tom Hagan (Virginia) is batting .500 in his first five games with the Lumberjacks, which puts him at fourth in the league. Covington became a part of baseball history this past week when the Jacks played at Staunton on June 17 and both teams turned a triple play. It’s a rather rare event, as only once has it happened in the Major Leagues – Minnesota did it twice against Boston in 1990. Front Royal: Th Cardinals have won their last three games and have moved into second place in the Northern Division, only 1.5 behind the Wranglers. Derrick Lutz (George Washington), the closer for Front Royal, has come through in just 7.1 total innings to lead the league with five saves in six appearances. The Cardinals’ ace has been Avi Rosowsky (George Washington) with a 2-0 record in two starts, pitching 13 innings and allowing only five runs with eight strikeouts. Matt Hensley (Liberty) has also pitched well with a 1-1 record and three starts under his belt. He’s fanned 13 and 10 of which were in his last outing in a 5-3 victory over Waynesboro on June 19. Harrisonburg: The Turks dropped to second in the Southern Division and now hold an 8-6 record. Reggie Watson (Indiana) is 14-14 in stolen bases and leads the league. Watson’s college teammate new addition to the Turks, Joe Kemp, has come on to go 8-for-23 in his first five games. His two-run homer in the last of the ninth lifted the Turks to a 6-5 win against Winchester on June 21. He went 3-for-5 against Covington on June 19 and had the hit that tied the game in the bottom of the eighth. He hit his first home run as a Turk on June 20 against Front Royal while going 2-4 with two RBI. Right-handed pitcher Nick Pereria (San Francisco) is still tops among the league with a 2-0 record and has 14 strikeouts in just 11.1 innings pitched, and he has allowed only seven hits. Tim Gudex (Iowa) is second in the league with 29 strikeouts in just 19 innings pitched. Kevin Koski (Southern Illinois) is tied at fourth in the league with 16 hits and ninth in batting average at .390 and went 10-23 in the past week. Corby Heckman is tied for third in RBI with 12. Loudoun: Newcomer Phillip Beall (Virginia Tech) went 8-for-16 in his first five games. Derek Antelo (Florida International) has 13 strikeouts in only 10 innings pitched with an 0.90 ERA in both starting and relief appearances. He had two strikeouts in one inning to close the game in a 2-1 loss against Woodstock on June 16. Brandon Reichert (Tallahassee CC) had a respectable .313 average with the wooden bat with nine RBI, three doubles and two home runs. Reichert was the team leader with 19 total bases, followed by Parker Brooks (Georgetown) with 12. Brooks was batting .324. Luray: The Wranglers won nine of their first 10 games, but have dropped four in a row heading into games on June 23. Adam Innerst (George Mason) was leading the team with a .360 batting average after seven games. He had already four RBI and five doubles. Danny Hernandez (Florida International) has come out of the pen for one save and 15 strikeouts in his first nine innings. John Hancock (Mississippi) had a league-best five home runs, was tied for fourth in RBI with 11, and tied for second in total bases with 25 through games play Sunday, June 20. New Market: The Rebels started 1-3 and then went on to win five of their next six, but then lost three straight by 5-4 finals. New Market had the league’s top mark with a .277 team batting average. Infielder Greg Sexton (William and Mary) was second among the league in hits with 19, going 11-for-27 last week, while increasing his hitting streak to 10 games. Marion Knowles (North Florida) was second in the league with 13 runs scored. Tim Norton (Connecticut) in 20.1 innings pitched has fanned 24 to make him tied for fourth in total strikeouts. Mike Colacchio (North Alabama) has posted 17 strikeouts in only 9.1 innings pitched and a 0.00 ERA. Staunton: The Braves were ranked first in pitching and second in fielding as a team. Shane Justis (Towson) was the Player of the Week for the Southern Division in the first week and carried a .400 (16-for-40) batting average into this week. Justis was tied for fourth in hits for the league and second in stolen bases with eight. Jordan Mayer (Louisiana State) was tied for second in home runs with four and led the team with 10 RBI. Pitcher Rowdy Hardy (Austin Peay), in 23.2 innings pitched, was third in the league with 25 strikeouts. In his last appearance he tossed a complete game allowing only two runs and recording 10 strikeouts. Staunton was the other ball club to turn a triple play, along with Covington, on June 17 at home, a feat only done once in the history of the Major Leagues. Waynesboro: Infielder Brandon Selvog (Tennessee Tech) was third in the league with 18 hits and had eight last week. Barrett Ripley (Virginia Commonwealth) was 12-for-48 at the plate and had a game-winning double against Harrisonburg on June 18. Pitcher Josh Deaver (Radford) has pitched a total of 16.2 innings in three appearances and allowed only three runs. Josh Drew (Georgia Southwest) has six appearances and has not allowed a run in seven innings pitched while yielding six hits and striking out eight. First baseman Mark Fleisher (Radford) was tied for second in the league with five doubles. Winchester: The Royals won five of six to climb into the Northern Division race. They ranked second in batting as a team with a .274 average. Jeremy Terni (Southern Connecticut State) boasted .460 batting average and first in the league in hits, RBI, total bases, and tied for second in home runs. He currently had a six-game hitting streak going into this week’s play and went 3-for-4 with five RBI and two runs scored against Harrisonburg on June 16. Pitcher Sean Stidfole (Penn State) had 24 strikeouts in only 14.1 innings pitched, placing him among the league leaders. His last appearance was on June 18 against New Market when he pitched five innings and allowed only two runs and had six strikeouts in a 5-4 victory. Woodstock: The expansion River Bandits have surged to first place in the Southern Division, winning a league-best seven straight through June 22. Kelly Edmundson (Tennessee) and Alexander Gonzales (Barry) were respectively named the player and pitcher of the week (see top of release). Brian Hierlmeier (South Florida) went 9-for-20 (.450) and posted a slugging percentage of .750 through the first five games of the streak. The pitching staff combined for a 2.20 ERA in the first five games of the streak and four of the five starting pitchers gave up just one run each.