Game Day of the Aflac All American Classic

Staff Report

East comebacks with three in the ninth to win the 2007 Aflac Classic.

 

It’s amazing how going just a few miles inland the temperature seems to rise inSan Diego .  Today was game day at San Diego State ’s Tony Gwynn Stadium.

 

Players arrived at the park around 8:30 am to get loose, take BP and infield.  The Home Run Finals started at 11:00 am.  This year’s long ball contest was very entertaining, just like the game that was to follow.

 

The first hitter was San Diego ’s own Clark Murphy.  He was very impressive as he hit four long shots in his first ten swings.  Adrian Neito from Florida was next up and he hit three home runs.  Next came Destin Hood from Alabama and he hit five, none of which were of the cheap variety and a couple tape measure shots.  First day leader Ethan Martin from Georgia then stepped up and crushed five himself to force a playoff.

 

In the five swing playoff, Hood hit two monster shots.  Martin then hit two into the street beyond left field in his first three swings, but not a third one.  The contest was called a draw. Ethan Martin and Destin Hood were declared co-champions of the 2007 Aflac Home Run Derby.

 

What appeared to be a record number of scouts in attendance, a sold out Tony Gwynn Stadium and lots of television cameras set the stage for the Aflac game.  The starting pitchers were Jackie Robinson Award winner Tim Melville for the West and Michael Palazzone for the East.

 

Melville topping out at 93 mph retired the East in order in the first.  West scored a run in the bottom half of the first on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Kyle Skipworth.

 

Ryan O’Sullivan threw a 1,2,3 inning for the West in the second and Palazzone shutdown the West in the second featuring a 93 mph fastball and an unhittable 12-6 power curveball.

 

Gerritt Cole looked great today as he put the East team down in order in the third.  Cole topped out at 94 mph with great life. He also featured three quality pitches and showed that he has one of the best arms in the class.  Quinton Miller pitched the 3^rd for East and struggled a bit.  Miller is coming back from a minor injury.  He did top out at 90, but gave up a long 2 run blast to Skipworth to give the West a 3-0 lead after 3 innings.

 

Taylor Jungman (Texas ) pitched the 4^th for West. He topped out at 92, but allowed a run to make the score west 3, East 1 after 4 innings.

 

Brett DeVall (Georgia ) showed why he’s one of the nation’s top lefties by shutting out the West team in the 5^th and 6^th innings. 6’6/230 RHP BJ Hermsen shutdown the East in the 5^th while topping out at 92 mph.  6”7/205 Alex Meyer did the same thing in the 6^th featuring a 94 mph fastball and 83 mph slider.

 

Scott Silverstein 6’5/205 lefty from Maryland threw well, topped out at 91, but allowed a run to give the West a four to one lead.  East came back and scored a couple runs on a Tim Beckham triple in the seventh inning.

Jack Armstrong (Florida ) threw the 8^th inning for East and kept West off the scoreboard. 

 

Hard throwing and super tooled Aaron Hicks came in to close the game for West.  However Hicks battled to throw strikes with his mid 90s fastball and before long East scored three runs and took the lead on Tim Beckham’s sac fly. Then Armstrong shutout the West in the ninth to get the win in a closely contested 5-4 final.  It was the East’s first Aflac win since the first game in Ft Myers, Florida in 2003.  The series now stands, West 3, East 2 after one of the most interesting Aflac games yet..

 

The player of the game for the West was Kyle Skipworth who drove in 3 runs on a Home Runs and Sac Fly.  The game’s Most Valuable Player Award went to Tim Beckham.  Beckham drove in three runs, two with a triple and the game winner on a sac fly in the ninth inning.

 

There were several outstanding plays in the game, but Robbie Grossman (Texas ) made two great catches in the outfield that helped the West maintain the lead early on.  One was a head long dive in short right field and the other was over his head and deep against the centerfield wall.

 

For those keeping track of such things… Here is the peak velocities on today’s pitchers

 

Cole – 94

Meyer – 94

Hicks - 94

Melville – 93

Palazzone – 93

Hermsen – 92

O’Sullivan – 92

Jungman – 92

Wright – 92

DeVall – 91

Silverstein - 91

Swagerty – 91

Miller – 90

Armstrong – 89

 

More coming later, including a report from the PG Showcase Game held yesterday in San Diego .