By
clinching the Cape Cod League’s Eastern Division regular season title with ease
and dispatching the rival Chatham A’s in two straight games in the preliminary
round of the Cape League playoffs, the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox held serve as
the nation’s top team according to Perfect Game Crosschecker’s Summer 16—a
weekly ranking of the nation’s top college summer league clubs. Y-D, winners of
two of the last threeCape
playoff titles, has held the No. 1 spot every week this season.
The
remainder of the Summer 16 rankings underwent the most significant shakeup of
the season, however, as a number of national and league championships were
completed since last week’s rankings. Among teams that vaulted into the
rankings were the upstart Havasu (Ariz.) Heat,
which unexpectedly ran the table at the National Baseball Congress World Series
in
Wichita
on Sunday to finish the year with a gaudy 48-2 overall record. The
previously-unranked Heat, members of the Pacific Southwest League, moved up to
No. 2 in the rankings.
Also
on Sunday, in
Johnstown, Pa.,
Youse’s Maryland Orioles won their fifth consecutive All-American Amateur
Baseball Association title and 13th overall. The Orioles, members of
the Cal Ripken Sr. League, moved to No. 10.
Meanwhile,
the No. 3 Thomasville Hi-Toms, No. 4 Vermont Mountaineers and No. 6 Waynesboro
Generals made the most significant climb in the rankings after winning league
championships.
Thomasville
jumped ahead of league rivals and previously-ranked Edenton and
Martinsville
in the Coastal Plain League by winning the annual Pettit Cup on Sunday. Vermont
swept undefeated to the New England Collegiate League title on Saturday while
Waynesboro followed up a Valley League regular season title by winning the
league’s three-tier playoff crown late last week. No. 12 Coppell captured the
Texas Collegiate League title Sunday night.
PG
Crosschecker’s ranking of the top 16 summer league teams. Records as of Aug.
12; previous ranking in parentheses:
1.
Yarmouth-Dennis
Red
Sox
(1)
Cape
Cod
33-12-1
Georgia
SS Gordon Beckham (.284-9-35) led
Cape
in home runs, Stanford C-1B Jason Castro (.341-4-24) was No. 2 hitter.
2. Havasu Heat (NR)
Pacific Southwest
48-2
Missouri
Baptist RHP Matt
Murray
(8-0, 1.72), 1B Scott Talbert (.462-6-49) led Heat to big season, NBC World
Series title.
3.
Thomasville
Hi-Toms (NR)
Coastal Plain
43-17
Georgia
1B Rich Poythress
(.324-13-49), The Citadel OF Chris Swauger (.311-14-45) lift Hi-Toms to Pettit
Cup championship.
4.
Vermont
Mountaineers (12)
New
England
30-18
Maine
OF Curt Smith (.329-6-27), Georgetown RHP Matt Gaggioli (5-3, 1.83) lead
red-hot
Vermont
to NECBL crown.
5.
Santa
Barbara
Foresters (3)
California
47-10
Defending
NBC champs finished fourth;
Oklahoma
State
1B Rebel Ridling’s hot bat (.381-11-59) cooled off in
Wichita
.
6.
Waynesboro
Generals (15)
Valley
37-16-1
Akron
1B Kurt Davidson (.307-5-54),
Butler
RHP Jon Dages (7-2, 2.62) power Generals to regular season, playoff titles.
7.
Derby
Twins (5)
Jayhawk
40-16
Jayhawk
League champions primed for NBC title run before two close, late losses to
finalists Havasu, league-rival Hays
8.
Falmouth
Commodores (11)
Cape
Cod
24-22
So-so
record belies impact of prospect-laden pitching staff; Commodores could give
Y-D tough run in
Cape
final series.
9.
Eau Claire
Express (NR)
Northwoods
41-26
Express
flying behind Yavapai,
Ariz.
, JC LHP Kole Calhoun (3-0, 0.38, 14 SV), Nebraska-Omaha LHP Tim
Huber (8-1, 2.94).
10. Youse’s
Maryland
Orioles (NR)
Cal
Ripken Sr.
32-15-1
Five-time
AAABA champs clinch latest title on 6-0, two-hitter by Towson RHP Josh
Squatriro (4-1, 0.53, 3 BB/53 SO).
11.
Chatham
A’s (4)
Cape Cod
25-18-3
A’s
bumped by Y-D in playoffs, despite
Wake
Forest
1B Allan Dykstra (.308-5-31), USC RHP Tommy Milone (6-1, 2.92).
12.
Coppell Copperheads (16)
Texas
30-19
Copperheads
clinch second TCL title Sunday as Texas-recruit Brandon Belt (5-for-11, 5 RBIs)
wins playoff MVP honors.
13.
Vienna
Senators (6)
Clark Griffith
47-7
Pitching-rich
Senators run away with CGL regular-season title, follow up with 3-2 record at
NBC World Series.
14.
Moses
Lake
Pirates (13)
West Coast
32-14
Pirates
close to within game of WCCL title behind
Long
Beach
State
closer Dan Wolford (2-0, 1.27, 11 SV).
15.
Columbus
All-Americans (10)
Great
Lakes
28-14
Youngstown
State
1B Eric Diedrich (.350-5-27), Ohio State RHP Jake Hale (3-2, 1.39) power
Columbus
to GLL crown.
16. Mat-Su Miners (14)
Alaska
26-11
Miners
earn share of Alaska League title with AIA Fire, but neither team elect to
participate in NBC World Series in
Wichita
.
--COMPILED
BY ALLAN SIMPSON