The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
2006-07 signee spotlight: Michael Demperio
06.07.2006 | Baseball
ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- Michael Demperio capped a winning week in style.
Going 3-for-4 with a double, a stolen base, two runs scored and an RBI, Demperio led the East to an entertaining 9-7 win in the All-American Baseball Game at Isotopes Park on Wednesday.
The second baseman from Atlanta was named MVP of the contest, played in front of an announced crowd of 8,613.
"It's a great feeling to play well with all these great fans and so many outstanding players," Demperio said, smiling and staring skyward at a postgame fireworks display.
"My main goal coming out here was to have fun, and I was having a blast. This couldn't be better."
It was hard to find anyone disappointed after the fourth annual national all-star game for the nation's top graduating seniors. It was the third straight game played in Albuquerque and the crowd size has steadily increased. The All-American game is scheduled to return to the Duke City next year.
"There was so much enthusiasm, lots of little kids asking us for autographs," said Mark Sobolewski of Sarasota, Fla., who belted a go-ahead three-run homer for the East. "What an awesome experience."
The rosters for Wednesday's contest featured 13 players selected in this week's Major League Baseball amateur draft. Many of the rest have or will sign with top collegiate baseball programs.
The on-field action reflected the talent level.
Demperio, who has committed to play at the University of Texas, started things with a dazzling play in the bottom of the first, diving to his right to glove a grounder up the middle by the West's Drew Rundle. Demperio got to his knees, flipped the ball to shortstop Alex Hilliard, who threw to first and narrowly missed getting a hustling Rundle out.
New York's Danny Almonte, the best-known player in the game, finished 0-for-4 but drove in two runs with a pair of grounders. The first scored Demperio to give the East a 1-0, first-inning lead.
Robby Alcombrack's solo homer and Luis Tovar's run-scoring single put the West ahead 2-1 in the bottom of the first, but not for long. A walk, an error and Sobolewski's three-run homer to left-center helped the East score four second-inning runs for a 5-2 lead.
Devin Shepherd's RBI double and a run-scoring groundout by Las Cruces' Alex Mancha cut the deficit to 5-4 in the third. But the East answered every challenge. Almonte and Jason Place drove in runs to rebuild the lead to 7-4 in the fifth.
New Mexico players fared well overall. Mancha allowed two runs in his one inning of pitching work, but picked off a baserunner and drove in a run. La Cueva's Jason Davidson was 1-for-3 with a run scored and gloved a hard grounder with a sliding play at first base. Davidson's La Cueva teammate, J.J. Muse, finished 1-for-2 with a walk- and hit a hard shot to right field with two runners on in the sixth. But East outfielder David Christensen made an inning-ending over-the-shoulder catch.
"It was slicing and I thought it might get over him," Muse said. "But that's why (Christensen) is a high draft pick (of the Colorado Rockies)."
"Everyone's faster and quicker than I'm used to in this game, but I'm so glad I got to be a part of it. I think all the guys had fun coming here. For the New Mexico guys it was a blast."
