SUMMER 16

TEAM USA STEALS SPOTLIGHT

With all due respect to the nation’s top summer college teams, the star of the show this summer has been USA Baseball’s college national team.

Team USA successfully completed a perfect summer on Sunday by defeating Japan 1-0 in 12 innings to defend its title at the FISU World Championship in Brno, Czech Republic. The U.S. squad, led by a number of rising juniors and potential 2009 first-round arms, went 24-0 on the summer and in the process posted a 0.88 team ERA, a program record.

The spotlight will now shift to USA Baseball’s junior (18-and-under) national team, which is unbeaten at the World Junior Championship in Edmonton, Alberta, and eventually to the Olympic team, which will open play in Beijing, China on Aug. 13 against Korea.

Meanwhile, the various college summer leagues around the country have either wrapped up regular-season play and are gearing up for the post-season (including national tournament competition, in some cases), or are coming down the home stretch. With that in mind and the growing interest in summer ball (and also in the PG Crosschecker Summer 16 rankings), we thought we would super-size our weekly Summer 16 ranking of the nation’s top summer college teams this week to include a second group of 16. We’ll do the same with our final set of rankings in mid-August.

The expanded rankings bring several new summer leagues into the mix this week, but it doesn’t alter the No. 1 spot. The Cape Cod League’s Orleans Cardinals maintained their place atop PG Crosschecker’s weekly rankings for the second straight week. The Cardinals have won nine of their last 10 games to open a sizeable gap over the competition on the Cape—and the rest of the field nationally.

The PG Crosschecker rankings are based, in part, on overall record, league dominance, legitimate pro-level talent and the relative overall strength of the league compared to other leagues around the country. No teams with sub-.500 records were considered. The team rankings serve as a warmup to our individual league rankings of the top prospects, which we will unveil in August.

Here are the latest PG Crosschecker Summer 16 (times 2) rankings, with records through July 28 (last week’s ranking noted in parentheses):

Rank Team League Record
1. Orleans (Mass.) Cardinals (1) Cape Cod 23-10
San Diego RHP Matt Thomson (3-0, 1.47) started Cape ASG, Loyola Marymount OF Angelo Songco (.275-4-16) won HR Derby.
2. Anchorage Glacier Pilots (2) Alaska 29-11
National Baseball Congress World Series-bound Pilots dominated Alaska League behind all-league 1B Joe Terdoslavich (.375-4-17).
3. Youse's Maryland Orioles (5) Cal Ripken Sr. 41-7
O's gear up for sixth straight AAABA title behind Georgia Tech 3B Patrick Long (.385-1-21), ODU SS Gerard Hall (.346-0-21, 30 SB).
4. Falmouth (Mass.) Commodores (NR) Cape Cod 19-15
Notre Dame OF A.J. Pollock (.394-3-20), Cape's top hitter, fireballing Jacksonville State closer Ben Tootle (3-2, 1.61), lead surge.
5. Waynesboro (Va.) Generals (9) Valley 30-14
Generals edge Luray for Valley League's No. 1 playoff seed; Tennessee Tech LHP Adam Liberatore (6-0, 1.15) continues to sizzle.
6. Vienna (Va.) Senators (4) Clark Griffith 36-10
Senators easily clinch Clark Griffith title behind Pepperdine OF David Harris (.302-11-37), sets sites on NBC World Series crown.
7. Luray (Va.) Wranglers (3) Valley 30-14
Ohio State RHP Drew Rucinski (3-1, 0.85), VMI LHP Travis Smink (5-0, 1.70) lead pitching-rich Wranglers into Valley playoffs.
8. Sanford Mainers (10) New England Collegiate 27-12
George Washington RHP Pat Lehman (4-1, 1.52), West Chester (Pa.) RHP Jason Bowman (5-2, 2.21) head up Mainers rotation.
9. Cincinnati Steam (7) Great Lakes 27-9
Two home-state outfielders, Miami's Tommy Nurre (.312-5-25), Ohio State's Zach Hurley (.396-3-22), big bats in Steam lineup.
10. Thomasville (N.C.) HiToms (12) Coastal Plain 32-16
Clemson RHP Justin Sarratt (6-1, 1.01), North Carolina A&T OF C.J. Beatty (.311-8-38) lead HiToms on 16-4 second-half surge.
11. Hyannis (Mass.) Mets (NR) Cape Cod 19-16
Louisville 3B Chris Dominguez (.271-10-26) tops Cape in homers, Vanderbilt closer Russell Brewer (0-0, 1.40) leads with 12 saves.
12. Santa Barbara Foresters (NR) California Collegiate 32-16
Rice OF Chad Mozingo (.470-0-20), Jacksonville RHP Carson Andrew (4-0, 0.77) have NBC World Series-bound Foresters on fire.
13. Corvallis (Ore.) Knights (11) West Coast Collegiate 24-9
Cal Poly LHP Jared Eskew (2-0, 0.96), Sierra (Calif.) JC OF Logan Lotti (.371-3-20) have Knights riding high at top of WCCL.
14. Mankato (Minn.) MoonDogs (NR) Northwoods 33-21
Arizona State-bound C Carlos Ramirez (.331-10-41), league HR leader, Elon LHP Jimmy Reyes (4-2, 1.46) have Dogs howling.
15. Hays (Kan.) Larks (NR) Jayhawk 31-13
Perennial NBC power peaking at right time behind Eastern Ky.'s Patrick Cooper (6-2, 2.29), Nebraska's Casey Hauptman (5-1, 2.78).
16. Beatrice (Neb.) Bruins (NR) MINK 27-7
Texas A&M unsigned senior 1B Darby Brown (.394-12-47), Texas freshman OF Tant Shepherd (.390-5-36) spark hot-hitting Bruins.
17. Newport (R.I.) Gulls (NR) New England Collegiate 24-16
Vanderbilt RHP Chase Reid (4-0, 1.88, 38 IP/55 SO), Connecticut RHP Dan Mahoney (1-1, 1.33, 6 SV) head prospect-laden staff.
18. Harwich (Mass.) Mariners (6) Cape Cod 19-17
Duke LHP Chris Manno (2-0, 2.06), Notre Dame RHP Brian Dupra (3-1, 2.37) both pitched effectively in Cape all-star game.
19. Thunder Bay (Ont.) BorderCats (NR) Northwoods 33-22
Belmont RHP Jimmy Stanley (4-1, 0.58, 11 SV), Northeastern LHP Dan Zehr (3-0, 1.29) lead Cats to league's best team ERA (2.89).
20. Florence (S.C.) Redwolves (15) Coastal Plain 30-16
Wolves 10-9 in second half, despite Coastal Carolina RHP Kent Altman (5-0, 0.61), Mercyhurst (Pa.) RHP Steve Grife (4-0, 1.54).
21. Derby (Kan.) Twins (NR) Jayhawk 26-14
Jacksonville 1B Alex Martinez (.331-6-18), Texas State C Ben Theriot (.400-4-16) have Twins primed for NBC World Series run.
22. Mat-su Miners (NR) Alaska 22-14
Pair of Washington products, 1B Troy Scott (.280-2-26) and RHP Jason Erickson (6-1, 2.51), have Miners in contention in Alaska.
23. North Shore (Mass.) Navigators (13) New England Collegiate 23-13
Brigham Young OF Sean McNaughton (.364-3-30) leads offense, St. Joseph's RHP Chris Prescott (1-0, 0.55, 8 SV) the pitching staff.
24. Hornell Dodgers (NR) New York Collegiate 29-10
SIU Edwardsville OF Adam Eggemeyer (.368-2-28), William Woods (Mo.) RHP Josh Goodin (1-1, 1.54, 10 SV) spark Dodgers.
25. Wisconsin Woodchucks (8) Northwoods 33-21
Tusculum (Tenn.) RHP Rob Currie (8-0, 2.70), Lamar (Colo.) CC RHP Kyle Gumieny (6-0, 3.14) remain perfect for Woodchucks.
26. Cotuit (Mass.) Kettleers (NR) Cape Cod 17-17
Tennessee LHP Nick Hernandez (5-3, 2.76), Arizona State Seth Blair (2-1, 1.73) remain from lineup depleted by signings, injuries.
27. Peninsula Oilers (NR) Alaska 28-16
Oilers have 1.94 team ERA, led by San Diego-bound RHP Joe Gardner (6-0, 0.50), Washington State LHP Ross Humes (5-0, 1.13).
28. Lehigh Valley (Pa.) Catz (NR) Atlantic Collegiate 25-11
St. John's 1B Tim Morris (.328-4-21), Wagner RHP Kyle Morrison (3-0, 2.06), Liberty RHP Tyler Light (4-1, 1.32) lead ACL's best.
29. McKinney Marshalls (NR) Texas Collegiate 24-17
Alabama RHP Jimmy Nelson (3-2, 2.55), Arkansas RHP Mike Bolsinger (2-1, 2.57) have a combined 104 strikeouts in 84 innings.
30. Wilson (N.C.) Tobs (NR) Coastal Plain 26-20
Tobs go 14-5 record in second half behind Georgetown RHP Tim Adleman (7-0, 1.87), Austin Peay RHP Ryne Mantooth (5-3, 1.53).
31. Belleview Bulldogs (NR) Florida Collegiate 22-11
Bulldogs clinch regular-season title on strength of Florida State RHP Bo O'Dell (3-1, 1.15), Daytona CC RHP Jason Postill (3-0, 1.88).
32. Stark County (Ohio) Terriers (NR) Great Lakes 22-12
Notre Dame RHP Cole Johnson (5-0, 2.67), Winthrop C-OF Ed Rohan (.400-5-26) help Terriers close in on first-place Steam.

--COMPILED BY ALLAN SIMPSON