HarbourCats player updates - Alphabet soup edition

More week two updates on our future HarbourCats, this time from the ACC, MW, WCC, and CCAA. Updates from the west, south and east in this one…

If the University of New Mexico Lobos baseball program is familiar to you, it’s because you’re remembering familiar names from the 2014 HarbourCats roster. Outfielder Danny Collier, and pitchers Carson Schneider and Preston Ryan were members of last year’s ‘Cats. Both Schneider and Ryan are returning this season.

Carl "Stud-uhar" off to a great start

Schneider, who set a freshman record last year by appearing in 24 games for the Lobos, is already working on besting that as a sophomore, taking the mound in 3 of UMN’s first 7 games. His numbers are slightly better than they were last year at this point, he holds a 3.00 ERA in 6 innings of work. Sadly, he’s already walked a batter this year – he went the first 18 trips to the mound last year before giving up his first free pass.

Ryan, who took a while to warm up last year for UNM has had only one appearance so far this season, going 2/3 of an inning, giving up 1 run on three hits.

Joining Schneider and Ryan on the cats this year, is freshman Lobo and 3B/1B Carl Stajduhar. He’s quickly earning the nickname of “Stud-uhar” here on the blog. He’s had a great start to the season, including going 5-9 in the opening 2-game set against OSU. He cooled off a bit this past weekend, but sits at a respectable .267 with 2HR and 9 RBI for the Lobos. He’s started all 7 games at the corners, and has a perfect 1.000 fielding percentage on 77 opportunities. What – a 3B with hands? Could the Hot Corner become the “Not” Corner for opposing hitters this season? Lets wait and see…

Over on the west coast, another school returning players to the Cats this year is Pepperdine University. The waves – home of blog-favourite Aaron Barnett are sending us two players this year – infield freshman Chase Lambert, and early-season pitching star Ryan Wilson. 

While Lambert is still looking for his first hit of the season (0-7 in a limited pinch-hitter role), Wilson is working some early-season mound magic giving up only a single earner run on 11 hits over 2 starts and 13 innings of work. An interesting-stat kind of guy, he’s K’ed 11 batters, but thrown 4 wild pitches. Maybe it’s too early to be dishing out this many nicknames, but “Wild Thing Wilson” has a certain ring to it…

St. Mary’s College in Moraga California is sending us a complete battery this year – Pitcher Sean O’Toole and catcher Jackson Thoreson. 

O’Toole has come off the bench twice to pitch an inning, each time giving up a run, a walk, and a hit while registering a strike out. Thoreson is a second-string catcher at this point, starting two games and coming in defensively in the late innings in another two. He’s hitting 2-7 with an RBI. A freshman playing behind a 3rd year starting catcher, he may have to settle for minimal plate appearances until he can prove himself. The two have yet to work together in a game.

Across the country, Freshman lefty Josh Mitchell of the University of Pittsburgh made his collegiate debut earlier this month, pitching a scoreless 9th inning for the Panthers. 

And it’s not all about Div 1. Checking in on Chico State’s Cameron Santos (NCAA D2), he’s yet to get into a game for the 4-2 Wildcats. More on him as the season progresses.

Don't forget that many of the colleges and universities sending us players have live broadcasts of every game available on the web. If you're looking to watch some early baseball, it's great entertainment!