Spokane businessman Irv Zakheim announced today that he has entered into an agreement to purchase the Spokane RiverHawks baseball team. The RiverHawks were established in 2003 as a local collegiate summer team, showcasing prospects from colleges throughout the West. “This is a great organization, and I’m extremely excited to become a part of it,” Zakheim …
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Oregon State shocked the baseball world last spring by winning the Pac-10 and appearing in the College World Series (the Beavs first CWS appearance since 1952). There won’t be any surprises this spring as the Beavers have been ranked from the season’s first pitch. Overnight, the Beavers went from hunter to hunted. Senior outfielder Geoff …
Knights Baseball Club, Inc. announced that the Aloha Knights of the West Coast Collegiate Baseball League (WCCBL) are moving to Corvallis, Oregon. The club signed a lease agreement with Oregon State University earlier this month and will play this summer at Goss Stadium at Coleman Field, the home of the 2006 national champion Beavers. The …
At the league’s fall owners meetings, the WCCBL Board of Directors voted to form an East and West Division. With the creation of Divisions, the league announced plans to add a round of playoffs in 2007. This summer, four WCCBL teams will qualify for the post-season. Two Divisional Series will determine who competes in next …
74 players with experience competing for WCCBL teams are currently active professionals playing for MLB affiliated clubs. The list of pros includes MLB starter Jeff Francis of the Colorado Rockies. Francis excelled at Coors Field as the left-hander, who threw his final amateur game for the Bellingham Bells, went 14-12 with a 5.68 ERA over …
Continue reading “74 active affiliated pros played summer ball for WCCBL clubs in 2006”
The West Coast Collegiate Baseball League announced its All-WCCBL teams, Rawlings Gold Glove recipients and DeMarini All-Performance winners. In addition, the league’s MVP, Pitcher of the Year, Coach of the Year and Executive of the Year were named. Spokane’s Darin Holcomb of Gonzaga was named the league’s MVP. Holcomb, a junior-to be, played a solid …
The Wenatchee AppleSox repeated as WCCBL Champions Thursday night as the Sox beat the first place Spokane RiverHawks 7-2 at Avista Stadium. Wenatchee has now won all its WCCBL post-season games. Last summer, Wenatchee swept the Bellingham Bells. The Sox two wins vs. the Hawks improves its WCCBL Championship Series mark to 4-0. Wenatchee jumped …
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WCCBL All-Star Game co-MVP DJ Lidyard of Wenatchee tossed a complete game no-hit shutout Wednesday, July 19 at Moses Lake. Lidyard allowed only two base runners, both walks, while striking out 16 Pirates. Lidyard (pictured) improved his record to 4-1, increased his league leading strikeout total to 71, lowered his ERA to 1.70 and was …
Continue reading “Pennant races red hot. Spokane perched in first. Wenatchee’s Lidyard twirls no-no”
The WCCBL’s inaugural All-Star game ended in a 6-6 tie before 1,083 fans at Wenatchee’s Paul Thomas Sr. Stadium. Carl Moesche of the Major League Baseball Scouting Bureau named Spokane’s Darin Holcomb of Gonzaga as the game’s “top prospect” and awarded All-Star co-MVP honors to Aloha’s Zach Borba of UNLV and Wenatchee’s DJ Lidyard of …
Commissioner Jim Dietz announced the WCCBL’s inaugural East and West teams this afternoon for its first All-Star game next Tuesday, July 11 at 7 pm. The East team features prospects from the league leading Spokane RiverHawks, defending champion Wenatchee AppleSox, Kelowna Falcons and expansion Moses Lake Pirates and will be managed by 2005 WCCBL Coach …
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The Oregon State Beavers beat the North Carolina Tar Heels of the ACC 3-2 Monday, June 26 to win the Pacific Northwest’s first College World Series. The Beavers (50-16) became the first team in CWS history to lose twice in Omaha and win the national championship. The Pac-10 champions went 6-0 in elimination games and …
Former Aloha Knights Bill Rowe and Kevin Gunderson teamed up again to lead Oregon State to a huge College World Series victory and even its series with North Carolina 1-1. Sunday evening, Rowe shocked the baseball world with a three-run homer in the fourth-inning that put OSU ahead 7-5 after going into the inning down …
Commissioner Jim Dietz recently announced that the West Coast Collegiate Baseball League will host an All-Star banquet dinner Monday, July 10 at the Red Lion in Wenatchee as part of its inaugural All-Star event. The dinner will celebrate collegiate baseball and feature an exciting lineup of speakers and honored guest John Olerud. Sponsored by Red …
2005 All-WCCBL first baseman Bill Rowe continued to swing a torrid post-season bat and All-Pac-10 closer Kevin Gunderson recorded his second College World Series save as OSU advanced to the CWS Championship Series by shutting out Rice in consecutive games. In Thursday night’s bracket championship game vs. the #1 ranked Rice Owls, OSU’s senior first …
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19 collegiate prospects who played for WCCBL clubs were selected in the 2006 MLB June draft held Tuesday, June 6 and Wednesday, June 7. The first collegian with experience playing with a WCCBL club selected in this year’s draft was Pac-10 Player of the Year Cole Gillespie of Oregon State. Gillespie was picked in the …
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Major League Baseball’s first weekend of interleague play featured a pitching matchup of two former Bellingham Bells at Coors Field. On Saturday, May 20, Canadian born southpaw Jeff Francis of the Colorado Rockies out-dueled his 2002 Bells teammate Ty Taubenheim of the Toronto Blue Jays in Taubenheim’s major league debut. Francis took a no-hitter into …
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The Seattle Mariners can pitch. They can field. And presumably they’ll have better chemistry than in 2010, when a poor start, an anemic offense that scored just 513 runs, and a fractured clubhouse led to the early dismissal of manager Don Wakamatsu. Management addressed those concerns in the offseason, by adding some veteran bats, by …
Last spring’s University of Washington Huskies featured senior sluggers Brent Lillibridge, Kyle Larsen, Taylor Johnson and Nick Batkoski, but it was a freshman pitcher turned hitter from Kent, Washington that proved to be the Dawgs biggest stick. Mid-season injuries paved the way for Matt Hague’s offensive emergence. The young right-handed slugger made the best of …
Daniel Turpen of the 47-15 and #4 ranked Oregon State Beavers tossed 6 2/3 scoreless innings vs. the #1 ranked Rice Owls to lead the Pac-10 champions to a 5-0 College World Series victory. The win sets up a second game with Rice Thursday, June 22 to determine who faces North Carolina in the CWS …
UW’s post-season dreams could come true considering Kyle Parker’s history in big games. All the freshman did in 2004 was earn a complete game 7-2 win in the Huskies NCAA Regional victory vs. host Ole Miss and win two games for the Aloha Knights at the NBC World Series including a shutout in the Series …
The WCCBL announced plans to host its first All-Star gala Tuesday, July 11 at Wenatchee. The league’s All-Star teams will be split into East and West squads and feature the WCCBL’s top prospects. The East will showcase stars from the host and WCCBL defending champion Wenatchee AppleSox, Kelowna Falcons, Spokane RiverHawks and expansion Moses Lake …
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Last spring’s University of Washington Huskies featured senior sluggers Brent Lillibridge, Kyle Larsen, Taylor Johnson and Nick Batkoski, but it was a freshman pitcher turned hitter from Kent, Washington that proved to be the Dawgs biggest stick. Mid-season injuries paved the way for Matt Hague’s offensive emergence. The young right-handed slugger made the best of …
WCCBL Pitcher of the Year Tommy Hanson of Riverside CC and WCCBL MVP Steve Marquardt of Columbia Basin College were respectively rated the country’s #3 and #4 Junior College prospects in Baseball America’s 2006 College Baseball preview issue. Both are sophomores and draft-and-follow student-athletes. Hanson was drafted last June by the Atlanta Braves in the …
Third baseman Travis Hanson of the Springfield Cardinals of the Texas League (AA) was recently named the St. Louis Cardinals 2005 Minor League Player of the Year. Hanson was also named to the club’s 40-man MLB roster and should report this February to the team’s major league spring training camp in Florida. Hanson played for …
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On Monday, December 5, the West Coast Collegiate Baseball League unanimously accepted the Moses Lake Pirates as its eighth member team. With the Pirates, Husband and wife Brent and Amy Kirwan led a successful community effort to bring pro-like baseball to Moses Lake, Washington. The Kirwans, the clubs owner operators, recently hired Wenatchee Valley College …
The Spokane RiverHawks announced this week that the club will play its home games at historic Avista Stadium in 2006 and that coaching legend Steve Hertz will replace ex-major leaguer Kevin Stocker as the team’s field manager. Avista Stadium is the home of the Spokane Indians of the affiliated pro Northwest League. Hertz, GU’s Director …
WCCBL Pitcher of the Year Tommy Hanson of the Aloha Knights was named to Baseball America’s College Summer All-America first-team, which was announced by the national publication last month. He was the only WCCBL player chosen and one of only three selections from Western summer leagues. The Alaska Baseball League (ABL) featured two first-team picks. …
74 players with experience competing for WCCBL teams are currently active professionals playing for MLB affiliated clubs. The list of pros includes MLB starter Jeff Francis of the Colorado Rockies. Francis excelled at Coors Field as the left-hander, who threw his final amateur game for the Bellingham Bells, went 14-12 with a 5.68 ERA over …
Continue reading “74 active affiliated pros played summer ball for WCCBL clubs”
Third baseman Travis Hanson of the Springfield Cardinals of the Texas League (AA) was recently named the St. Louis Cardinals 2005 Minor League Player of the Year. Hanson was also named to the club’s 40-man MLB roster and should report this February to the team’s major league spring training camp in Florida. Hanson played for …
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WCCBL Notes The Wenatchee AppleSox won the inaugural WCCBL Championship Series as the Sox swept the Bellingham Bells 2 games to 0. The WCCBL Champions won game one at Bellingham by erasing a two run deficit with a three-run ninth to take the series opener 3-2. Shortstop Brent Wyatt of Wenatchee Valley College delivered the …
The Wenatchee AppleSox recorded their second straight WCCBL championship series late-inning come from behind victory to beat the Bellingham Bells 5-2 and sweep the league’s inaugural three-game championship series 2 games to 0. With the Bells leading 2-1 going to the bottom of the sixth, Steve Marquardt, a sophomore-to be at Columbia Basin College, delivered …
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Imagine the World Series Champion Boston Red Sox centerfielder. He runs like the wind, tracks everything, he leads off, is an offensive catalyst, he hits from the leftside and he’ll surprise you with his power (ask the Yankees). Now picture Jacoby Ellsbury without the locks and beard and you’ve got the next Johnny Damon. Ellsbury …
The #5 ranked Oregon State Beavers won the Pac-10 title for a second straight spring. OSU posted a conference best 16-7 mark and will host a regional June 2-4 as a #1 seed. The 39-14 Beavers offense was led by junior outfielder Cole Gillespie who was named Pac-10 Player of the Week for May 23-29 …
2005 All-WCCBL first baseman Bill Rowe continued to swing a torrid post-season bat and All-Pac-10 closer Kevin Gunderson recorded his second College World Series save as OSU advanced to the CWS Championship Series by shutting out Rice in consecutive games. In Thursday night’s bracket championship game vs. the #1 ranked Rice Owls, OSU’s senior first …
At its winter board meeting the West Coast Collegiate Baseball League (WCCBL), a premier wood-bat summer college league, announced its inaugural advisory board. The boardis membership includes such baseball luminaries as legendary ex-Washington State University head baseball coach Chuck “Bobo” Brayton; ESPN Baseball Tonight analyst Harold Reynolds; Northwest League President, Bob Richmond; 2003 Minor League …
A new summer collegiate baseball league has taken root out West. It will open play June 14, 2005 with seven teams and a 36-game regular season schedule. The summer amateur league is a first of its kind on the West Coast, as the newly formed West Coast Collegiate Baseball League will feature only college players …
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Bremerton, Washington, December 18, 2004 – The expansion Kitsap BlueJackets are doing all the right things as they prepare for their first season in summer college baseball. At least, that’s the opinion of 66-year-old Jim Dietz, commissioner of the new seven-team West Coast Collegiate Baseball League. Of course, Dietz could teach a class on the …
Continue reading “WCCBL showcases Expansion Team in Bremerton, Washington”
UW’s post-season dreams could come true considering Kyle Parker’s history in big games. All the freshman did in 2004 was earn a complete game 7-2 win in the Huskies NCAA Regional victory vs. host Ole Miss and win two games for the Aloha Knights at the NBC World Series including a shutout in the Series …
