Baseball Prepares for River City Classic
2/20/2006 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Feb. 20, 2006
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This Week in Gaels Baseball: The Saint Mary's baseball team will host the San Jose State Spartans before heading back over to the Sacramento area for the Third Annual River City Classic. The Gaels will host the Spartans on Tuesday, February 21 at 2 p.m. from Louis Guisto Field. SMC will then kick off its tournament play on Friday, February 24 against North Dakota State at Hornet Field. The Gaels will then play the BYU Cougars on Saturday at Hornet Field before making the short trek to Davis to face No. 10-ranked Oregon State on Sunday from Dobbins Stadium. First pitch for all three of Saint Mary's tournament games is slated for 10 a.m.
Scouting San Jose State: The Spartans will enter Moraga with a 7-3 overall record and a 3-1 road mark. SJSU is coming off a three-game sweep of BYU this past weekend. The Spartans defeated the Cougars by the scores of, 4-1, 4-3 and 4-3. Offensively the Spartans are led by Ryan Angel's .278 batting average and nine RBIs. Angel has also tallied a home run, a triple and two doubles. Brandon Fromm follows with a .250 mark with eight RBIs and five doubles.
On the hill, SJSU is paced by starter Branden Dewing's 3-0 mark. Dewing currently holds a 0.78 ERA in 23 innings pitched. Dewing has allowed only 17 hits, struck out 10 and has held opposing batters to a .205. Steve Jones has closed the door on one game with a save and has yet to allow a run in 4 1/3 innings pitched.
Scouting North Dakota State: The Bison have yet to play any games in the 2006 season. NDSU just made the move to Division I ball last season and accumulated a 10-43-1 mark in its first year. The Bison return its top hitter in Matt Mossey. The shortstop batted .294 with two home runs and 27 RBI. Jared Sullivan looks to add to his potential laden freshman season after putting together a .294 mark from the plate in 34 at-bats.
Lefthander Jake Laber will headline the staff after finishing his freshman campaign with a 1-5 record and an 8.54 ERA. Tom Branca will start as well after posting a 1-1 record with a 4.65 ERA from the pen in 13 appearances.
Scouting BYU: The Cougars are off to a rough start, dropping all six of their games thus far in 2006. BYU is coming off the wrong the end of a three-game sweep to SJSU this past weekend. The Cougars were also swept by the Pacific Tigers to begin the season. Chris Johnson leads BYU with a .313 batting average in 16 at-bats. Ben Saylor hasn't recorded many hits but the one's he has have driven in six runs. Saylor currently posts a .190 batting average.
Jesse Craig leads the BYU starters with a 3.46 ERA in two starts. Craig has struck out a team-leading 12 batters in 13 innings pitched. Jordan Muir has been solid in relief, not allowing a run in seven innings with eight strikeouts.
Scouting Oregon State: The Beavers are currently the No. 10-ranked team in the nation after posting a 3-3 record. OSU blanked national power Arizona State earlier in the year 11-0 but then fell to WCC foe Gonzaga 5-6. The Beavers just dropped a series to No. 14-ranked Pepperdine, falling 2-6 and 1-7 in the final two games. Cole Gillespie leads the team with a .500 batting average. Scott Santschi closely follows with a .429 mark and five RBIs. Geoff Wagner has provided the punch with a .350 average, adding a home run and a team-leading seven RBIs.
On the hill, the Beavers are led by Dallas Buck (1-0). In his two starts, Buck has posted a 2.45 ERA with 12 Ks in 11 innings pitched. Kevin Gunderson has recorded the lone save for OSU. Gunderson is 1-1 in three appearances with a 5.40 ERA.
Who's Hot: Saint Mary's senior first baseman Orben Frederick had a strong week for the Gaels from the plate. In the two-spot, Frederick finished the week with a .462 batting average (6-for-13) against Sacramento State. The lefthander began the three-game set against the Hornets with a 3-for-5 performance adding an RBI. On Sunday, Frederick batted 2-for-6 with a double and a run scored. On the season, Frederick is second on the team with a .419 mark (13-for-31). He is also second on the team with eight runs and a .486 on-base-percentage.
Sitting Atop The Conference: Seniors Delaney Gallagher and Preston Young are among the leaders in several batting statistics. Gallagher is second in the WCC in both batting average and RBIs. So far this season, Gallagher has posted a .481 average with 10 RBIs. Gallagher only trails Gonzaga's Zach Woodward's .516 batting mark and San Francisco's Stefan Gartell's 11 RBIs.
Young currently stands second in the WCC with two home runs. Young trails San Francisco's Luke DeLong's three round trippers and is tied with Jackson Brennan (GON) and Travis Vetters (POR) with two. Young belted his second home run this year on Sunday against Sacramento State. Young currently boasts a .357 batting average and a team-leading .714 slugging percentage to go along with six RBIs.
Seniors A-Plenty: Fifteen seniors return for the Gaels this season including three that earned All-Conference honors. Outfielder Sam Carter returns after leading the Gaels with seven home runs and 50 RBIs. Carter also compiled a career-high .350 batting average and collected 103 total bases. Infielder Delaney Gallagher is also coming off a banner year for SMC. Gallagher etched his name in the single season and career annals with his 18 doubles which put his all-time mark at 46. Gallagher batted .332 with three home runs and 32 RBIs. Also in the infield is honorable mention selection Adam Hicks. The senior shortstop finished the year with a .267 batting average, two long balls and 14 RBIs.
Record Chasing: Senior infielder Delaney Gallagher moved into sole possession of the all-time SMC doubles record against Wisconsin-Milwaukee when he hit his 47th two-bagger. Gallagher moved ahead of the mark of Jason Waugh set in 2002 with a two-run double against Wisconsin-Milwaukee. In addition to every time Gallagher takes two, the senior is also rising in other career marks. Currently Gallagher sits in eighth in hits with 188, compiling three the past week. James Mouton is atop the list with 274. Gallagher moved into seventh this past weekend in total bases with 261, passing Russ Vrankovich. Mouton also holds the career mark with 428.
Home Cooking: Head Coach Jedd Soto has established an incredible schedule for the Gaels this season. The last two seasons SMC has had to hit the road for more than 30 away games. This year the Gaels will enjoy 31 home games at the friendly confines of Louis Guisto Field. Last season the Gaels compiled an 11-7 mark at home with wins against LMU, San Diego, Portland and Santa Clara. This year the Gaels are off to a 4-2 start at Louis Guisto and will host the likes of Cal, Pepperdine, San Jose State and Utah to name a few.
Head Coach Jedd Soto: Soto enters his third year as head coach at Saint Mary's College. After two seasons at the helm, Soto has had seven players earn West Coast Conference accolades including three first-team selections in 2005, the most at SMC since the 1991 season. In addition to the conference awards, Soto had four players selected in the 2005 amateur draft and eight players selected in previous drafts.
Last season Soto led the Gaels to their first 20 win season since 2002 and his six win improvement is the most by any single coach at Saint Mary's since Jim Jones accomplished the feat in 1987.
Soto has been instrumental in bringing in the top talent to Moraga and his 2006 recruiting class is no different. Soto inked 14 players in the early signing period including 10 Northern California players. Several of Soto's signee's are ranked among the best in the nation.
Soto was hired on July 1, 2003 as a unanimous choice of the players, coaches, administrators and the search committee. At 29 years of age, Soto was the youngest head coach hired in the West Coast Conference.
Coach Soto comes from a coaching tree that includes Smoke Laval: current head coach of LSU, and Jim "Skip" Walker: 1000 game winner at the collegiate level and hitting pioneer. With the implementation and combination of the systems used by Laval and Walker, Soto's style of play is bred for success.
Next Week: Saint Mary's will play on the road one more time before heading home for a weekend series. The Gaels will continue their road swing with a game at Pacific on Tuesday, February 28 with first pitch scheduled for 2 p.m. SMC will return home for a three-game set against Georgetown. The Gaels will begin the series with a doubleheader on Saturday, March 4 beginning at 10 a.m. from Louis Guisto Field.
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