By From staff reports
newsroom@dailystandard.com This week, the Mariners stand atop several major categories in the Great Lake Summer Collegiate League standings.
The big jump comes from Dusty Hammond, as the Ohio University middle infielder leads the GLSCL in batting with a .432 average, 21 points higher than the previous top man, Andy Busch from Columbus.
Aaron Bulkley is not far behind as the Lemoyne (NY) College star is third with a .397 average.
It's not just Hammond and Bulkley providing the Mariners with offense as Grand Lake is third in the team batting average standings with a .275 clip. Only Columbus (.312) and Lima (.306) are batting higher.
Bulkley has also made an impact on the basepaths. Bulkley leads the league with 18 stolen bases through 26 games. Bulkley is closing in on fourth place for most steals in a season by a Grand Lake player, held by Doug Brady in the inaugrual season of 1990 with 24. Bulkley still has time to make a run at the season record of 31, set in 1997 by fan favorite Tyler Thompson.
Andy Hudak is hovering around first place in a couple of spots, placing second in doubles with nine and fourth in runs batted in with 18.
Billy Grace has been showing amazing patience at the plate, proving so by leading the league with 26 walks, eight ahead of the nearest competitor.
The pitching has also shined, leading the GLSCL with a team earned run average of 2.16.
Mariners go 1-2-2 in the individual ERA standings. Ross Lierseman leads the way with an 0.58 ERA. Evan Smith and Andy Delagarza are tied for second with 1.02 showing in matching 202/3 innings. Five Mariners are sporting ERAs of 2.13 or lower.
Liersemann is also among the leaders in strikeouts (30) and wins (3).
The most important stat to remember is the points race. The league this season installed a points system to decide which six teams make the playoffs in Columbus at the start of August. Two points go for each win and one point for ties. Grand Lake's 15-11 records puts the team solidly in fifth place with 30 points, 10 points ahead of the two-way tie for sixth of Indianapolis and Southern Ohio.
BIG MAN OF THE WEEK: Delagarza had a strong week last week, winning two games and recording 11 strikeouts in seven innings.
That stat line earned Delagarza the GLSCL Pitcher of the Week honor, according to the GLSCL website this week.
The Player of the Week goes to Southern Ohio's Matt Robbins, who had three homers, 12 RBI and batted a cool .500 (11-of-22) for the week.
ALL-STAR MARINERS: The GLSCL All-Star Game will be played on Sunday at Ohio Wesleyan University in Delaware.
Rather than split the teams geographically or by standings order in the league. The teams are set as a Red team and a Blue Team and players are placed on each team.
That means teammates in regular season play can be foes in the All-Star Game.
Seven Mariners will make the trip to the All-Star Game.
The Blue squad, coached by Delaware coach Bruce Heine, will feature Lierseman, Delagarza and Bulkley on its roster.
Smith, Hudak, Grace and pitcher Aaron Tennyson will play for the Red team, coached by Columbus coach Brian Mannino.
SCHEDULE NOTES: The Mariners will play a make-up doubleheader with Stark County on Monday starting at 5 p.m.
The moving of the game marks a long busy week that will see some criss-crossing the state on U.S. 33 on Tuesday has the Mariners traveling to Columbus for a single game, then coming back Wednesday to face Indianapolis. Delaware comes to town on Thursday before the Mariners head back to the capital to face the All-Americans for a doubleheader. The game was supposed to be a single game but an earlier rainout prompted the double-up.
The Mariners are off Saturday the 24th but head up to Lima for a rare Sunday single game at 7 with the Locos. |
