The smell of green grass, hot dogs and crackerjacks may be a couple months away, but, the official opening weekend of Division One baseball saw many of our Rams in action. Here is the weekly update for the week of 2/11/13-2/17/13....
Pitchers: Many of our Rams took the hill for their respective programs this past weekend. Bryson Kauhaahaa (Cypress) is off to a great start, with a 1-0 record in his two starts on the season. The smooth righty has given up only 8 hits in 19 innings. Brett Brown (Lamar) and Travis Moore (Lamar) each logged an inning for Lamar this past weekend who swept a four game from Northern Kentucky. Brown is a very hard thrower and struck out the side in his inning of work. Joe Adel (South Florida) pitched an inning of scoreless relief against Louisville on Friday night. Dan Reitzler (San Diego) pitched an inning as well on Friday night against San Diego St. and struck out a pair. Tyler Rauhauser (Millersville) saw action a couple of times over the weekend and the big righty was unblemished in two innings striking out a pair in some big jams for Millersville. Brett Casey (Texas A&&M Corpus Christi), Ryan Dominique (LSU-Eunice), and Jake Jenkins (Pacific) also saw mound time for their clubs over the past week.
Catchers: Colin Theroux (Nevada) backstopped Nevada in their only win against Kansas this past weekend. The freshman catcher is expected to split time behind the plate for the Wolfpack. Dale Irving flew out in his only at-bat for Central Florida. Riley Drogensen (Pacific) is on the injured list right now but the junior catcher is expected to be back soon and in the middle of the line-up for the University of Pacific.
Infielders: This impressive crop of players may be the strongest unit to don a Watertown jersey in the history of the franchise. Going around the horn, starting at third base, Dominic Lopez is the starter and started all four games for Texas A&M Corpus Christi in their impressive sweep of Northern Kentucky. The freshman hit .250 on the weekend, drove in a run and is currently second on the club with a .438 on base percentage as the Islanders took three of four from UT Pan-American. JJ Wagner (Pacific) started the third game of the series against San Jose State contributing to the clubs win in salvaging one game of that three game set. Kyle Lombardo (St. John's) also started a game this weekend against Florida Gulf Coast and played a flawless game at Shortstop for the Red Storm. Justin Protacio (Kansas) is off to a great start as the Jayhawks took two of three from Nevada. He is 2-7 on the young season and second on the club with three runs batted in. Protacio’s teammates also had good weekends as well. Jacob Boylan (Kansas) is 6-for-10 on the young season with two runs batted in and had a triple today. He currently leads Kansas in batting average. Trevor Marino (VCU) was 2-6 with an RBI, a run scored and a stolen base as he helped lead the Rams to a 2-0 start with wins over Boston College and Elon. Last and certainly not least, Nick Alfonso (South Florida) is off to a torrid start, currently 4-8 with four RBI’s as the Bulls opened the season in the Big 10/Big East Challenge.
Outfielders: James Bonds (College of the Canyons) is off to sizzling start, hitting at a .428 clip. Joe Maroney (Kansas) started a game for the Jayhawks, had a hit, and, scored a run. Austin Lueck (South Florida) took advantage of his first college start going 2-3 against Indiana in the Big East/Big Ten challenge. Tyler Fullerton (Mississippi State) was 1-3 on the weekend as Mississippi St. swept Portland in a four game series.
Notes: Rams baseball would like to thank everyone who made the Hot Stove Dinner featuring Dwight Gooden a sell-out success. Money raised from the event will help the Upstate Youth Baseball Association. The home schedule will be released shortly. The team is still finalizing the preseason exhibition schedule. Be on the lookout in the near future for the new website., it is expected to launch sometime next month. Season tickets will go on sale on April 1st. The Rams are also looking for host families for our players for the 2013 season. Contact the team at 315-955-8207 for more information.
