The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
Summer catch: Recap of Baseball summer action
08.14.2007 | Baseball
It was a busy summer for Texas Baseball as 23 current Longhorns and four newcomers stayed active with summer action throughout the country. Twenty-two players participated in collegiate summer leagues, while Jordan Danks spent the summer touring with the U.S. National Baseball Team.
Danks, who struggled early at the plate, rebounded to be one of Team USA's top hitters and helped the squad earn a silver medal at the Pan American Games in Brazil. Playing in a team-high 35 games, he led the team with 37 runs scored, 14 more than the nearest teammate. Danks hit .287 with four doubles, two triples, two home runs, five stolen bases and 12 RBI.
Texas had four players participating in the Cape Cod League, summer collegiate baseball's most recognizable league. Hunter Harris and Keith Shinaberry were two of the steadiest relief pitchers in the league. Harris went 2-1 with one save and a 2.55 ERA in 14 appearances for the Hyannis Mets. He struck out 27 while walking just eight in 24.2 innings. Shinaberry went 3-0 with a 1.47 ERA and one save in 20 games for the Brewster Whitecaps.
Austin Wood split his time between Hyannis and the Santa Barbara Foresters of the California Collegiate League. Wood went 0-2 with a 4.67 ERA in four starts for the Mets. Also for Hyannis, Russell Moldenhauer, who was adjusting to a new role in the outfield, went errorless in his 37 games and added four doubles, one triple, eight runs and six RBI.
Drew Bishop, Kyle Russell and Wood helped lead the Santa Barbara Foresters to a California Collegiate League title and a fourth-place finish at the National Baseball Congress World Series. Bishop went 1-0 with one save in 11 games for Santa Barbara. He held opponents to a .205 batting average, allowing just nine hits in 11.1 innings. Russell hit .247 with four home runs, 23 runs, 22 RBI and 10 stolen bases in 29 games. Wood went 2-0 with a 1.46 ERA in two starts with 15 strikeouts in 12.1 innings.
Kyle Lusson and Clint Stubbs helped the Beatrice Bruins win a M.I.N.K. (Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas) League title. Lusson hit .343 with 25 runs, 15 RBI and 12 stolen bases in 38 games. Stubbs added 18 runs, eight RBI and 12 stolen bases in 37 games.
The Longhorns had a bevy of players in the Texas Collegiate League, including TCL Championship Most Valuable Player Brandon Belt and TCL Freshman of the Year Casey Whitmer, both newcomers to the UT squad. Belt, a JuCo transfer from San Jacinto College, went 5-for-11 with five RBI in the championship series for the Coppell Copperheads to earn MVP honors. Whitmer logged a league-high 51 strikeouts for the Brazos Valley Bombers. He posted a 2-2 record with a 1.57 ERA and held opponents to a .163 batting average.
In addition to Belt, the Copperheads featured fellow newcomer Garrett Clyde as well as stints by Preston Clark, Todd Gilfillan, Pat McCrory, Travis Tucker and Kyle Walker. Belt went 0-3 with a 4.56 ERA in eight appearances and hit .333 with 22 runs, seven doubles, two triples, four home runs and 22 RBI in 37 games. Clyde went 2-2 with one save, a 3.62 ERA and 27 strikeouts in 27.1 innings. Clark batted .268 with 12 runs, four doubles, five home runs and 25 RBI in 24 games. Gilfillan saw limited action, hitting .400 in six games. McCrory was 1-0 with four saves and a 0.87 ERA in nine games and hit .255 with 12 runs and six RBI in 36 games. Tucker hit .286 with three doubles, one triple, three home runs and 15 RBI in 21 games. Walker went 2-2 with a 6.08 ERA and 48 strikeouts in 40 innings.
Also in the TCL, Juston Street and Alex Posey pitched for the Denton Outlaws and Andy Reese and Blake Williams pitched for the Colleyville LoneStars. Street pitched well down the stretch, logging a 4-1 record, one save and a 3.06 ERA in 17 games. He fanned five while allowing just five walks in 32.1 innings. Posey went 2-2 in 40.2 innings. Reese was 0-1 with one save, a 6.50 ERA and 14 strikeouts in 18 innings. Williams was 2-3 with a 4.60 ERA in 29.1 innings.
Longhorns' newcomer Marcus Tackett pitched and played infield in leading the Moses Lake Pirates to the championship series in the West Coast Collegiate Baseball League. The Oral Roberts transfer was 0-1 with one save and a 2.59 ERA in eight appearances in the regular season. He logged 31 strikeouts and just five walks in 24.1 innings. On offense, he hit .252 with 14 runs, five doubles and nine RBI in 36 games. In game one of the best-of-three championship series, Tackett allowed just two runs on four hits and one walk while striking out seven over seven innings to earn the win over the Corvallis Knights, a squad featuring four players from College World Series champion Oregon State.
Jordan Pellien played in 30 games for the Davidson Copperheads of the Southern Collegiate Baseball League. He hit .269 with five doubles and seven RBI.
