Yarmouth-Dennis has dominated the Cape Cod League from start to finish in 2007, but the Red Sox season will be on the line Friday when they openCape
League
playoff action. Y-D, winners of two of the last three league titles, enters the
Cape
playoffs as the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Division.
Y-D’s dominant season has enabled it to remain atop the weekly PG Crosschecker Summer 16 rankings since the outset of the season. Numerous other national and league tournaments are underway or set to get underway, with three of the top six teams in the Summer 16 participating in the ongoing National Baseball Congress World Series in Wichita.
The nation’s hottest summer team entering post-season play is the Coastal Plain League’s Edenton Steamers, who moved from seventh to second in the Summer 16 rankings on the basis of 17 wins in their last 18 games. The Coastal Plain begins the Pettit Cup, an eight-team tournament in
Florence, S.C.
, on Friday that will determine the official league champion.
The lone playoff champion crowed to date is the Columbus All-Americans, winners of the Great Lakes League playoff title.
PG Crosschecker’s ranking of the top 16 summer league teams. Records as of Aug. 5; previous ranking in parentheses:
1.
Yarmouth-Dennis
Red
Sox
(1)
Cape
Cod 30-11-1
Duo of Stanford’s Jason Castro (.352-4-24), LSU’s Sean Ochinko (.311-8-22) have split catching, first-base duties for Sox.
2. Edenton Steamers (7) Coastal Plain 38-14
Red-hot Steamers getting big years from
Binghamton
RHP Zach Groh (7-0, 1.75), Towson IF Brian Conley (.380-5-31).
3.
Santa
Barbara
Foresters (2)
California
44-9
Reigning NBC champs in loser’s bracket in ’07 tournament;
Oklahoma
State
1B Rebel Ridling (.407-11-53) still swinging hot bat.
4.
Chatham
A’s (5)
Cape Cod
24-14-3
Wake Forest 1B Allan Dykstra (.323-5-31) and Southern Cal RHP Tommy Milone (6-1, 2.92) guide A’s to
Cape
playoffs.
5.
Derby
Twins (8) Jayhawk 37-14
Central Arkansas RHP Matt Whitaker (5-2, 1.99), Northern Iowa SS Brandon Douglas (.322-2-16) keys for NBC title run.
6.
Vienna
Senators (6) Clark Griffith 41-6
Tulane LHP Aaron Loup (8-0, 0.98), Pepperdine RHP Nate Newman (6-0, 1.80) lift Senators to league title, NBC berth.
7. Bourne Braves (4)
Cape
Cod 24-16-2
Missouri
’s Rick Zagone (4-1, 2.09) and Clemson’s D.J. Mitchell (league-best 58 strikeouts) have Braves ready for playoffs.
8.
Green Bay
Bullfrogs (3) Northwoods 40-20
Portland
1B Danny Meier (.302-9-40) provides the power,
Concordia,
Calif.
, OF Dan Robertson (.328-3-30, 44 SB) the speed.
9.
Fayetteville
Swampdogs (9) Coastal Plain 39-14
Illinois
pair of Aaron Martin (8-0, 2.03) and Ben Reeser (7-0, 1.39) remain unbeaten for CPL team with best overall record.
10.
Columbus
All-Americans (NR)
Great
Lakes
28-14
Youngstown
State
1B Eric Diedrich (.350-5-27), Ohio State RHP Jake Hale (3-2, 1.39) power
Columbus
to GL crown.
11.
Falmouth
Commodores (12)
Cape
Cod 22-20
Missouri RHP Aaron Crow (3-1, 0.67), Eastern Kentucky LHP Christian Friedrich (4-1, 2.68) rank among
Cape
’s best arms.
12.
Vermont
Mountaineers (NR)
New
England
27-18
Notre Dame OF A.J. Pollock (.348-1-20),
Maine
IF Curt Smith (.313-4-24) have Mountaineers unbeaten in NECBL playoffs.
13.
Moses
Lake
Pirates (16) West Coast 29-13
Long Beach State RHP Dan Wolford (2-0, 1.27, 11 SV) continues to be WCCL’s best closer for hard-charging Pirates.
14. Mat-Su Miners (10)
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
.
15.
Waynesboro
Generals (13) Valley 30-13
Akron
1B Kurt Davidson (.305-5-50),
Butler
RHP Jon Dages (7-2, 2.74) have Generals in second round of Valley playoffs.
16. Coppell Copperheads (NR)
Texas
26-18
Texas
A&M RHP Clayton Ehlert (4-1, 2.11),
San Jacinto
1B Brandon Belt (.333-4-22) help C’heads to TCL division crown.