A few last-minute HarbourCat college updates before we begin

As the NCAA Div 1 regular season comes to a close, here’s a last look at some of our future HarbourCats before they don the navy, white, and teal over on Pembroke street…

Stajduhar, 19 Doubles

UNM’s Carl Stajduhar has continued to impress, winning the Mountain West conference player of the week honours. Staj went 10-16 with 12 RBI, a double, triple, and two home runs last week. The freshman is absolutely on fire to end the season – he’s close to breaking several New Mexico freshman records. With three games left to play in the season, he’s only 2 RBI shy of the freshman RBI record, set back in 2005. He also leads the Lobos with 19 doubles and 7 home runs. Coach Ray Birmingham says of Stajduhar “He's going to be a big-time draft pick in a couple years”. 

Lobos pitcher Preston Ryan hasn’t seen any action lately – his ERA has been on a steady climb over the past 3 weeks, and now sits at 5.74. That’s RAP beer-price high, he’ll be looking to improve that with more work over the summer…

Another freshman making waves this past week is Pittsburgh Panther reliever Josh Mitchell. Mitchell is currently building on a 7.2 inning scoreless streak out of the pen over the past 4 games. In 15 appearances for the Panthers this season, he’s worked his ERA down to 3.86.

Pepperdine’s Ryan Wilson has remained steady, although his record has slipped a bit with a couple tough late-season losses. He still leads the Waves with 7 wins on the season, sporting a 3.76 ERA in 76.2 innings pitched. He should see one more start before the end of the year. OF Chase Lambert will be happy to get here and see more playing time – his 69 AB the season is second lowest on the Pepperdine active roster. 

At St. Mary’s, C Jackson Thoreson continues to hit .303 for the year in 76 total AB. He should see about the same amount of time here this summer, given the ‘Cats current wealth of catchers. RHP Sean O’Toole will likely see more work that the 10.2 innings he’s had for the Angels this season, hopefully regular work will help reduce his 5.06 ERA.

A reminder the drive to the 2015 NCAA Division 1 College World Series starts next week for most schools as they begin their regional tournament. The selection show is set for May 25. Once those are complete, we will have a firm idea of who will be joining the ‘Cats to start the season, and who will be delayed while they compete in the playoff round. Stay tuned for a complete recap once all that is known.

HarbourCatNip

As Gus mentioned yesterday, pitcher Alex Fagalde - whom we had been touting as a potential WCL All-Star and cornerstone of our pitching staff this year - has exceeded his pitch count for the year and will not be coming North this summer. He’s pitched 85.1 innings this season (after pitching 34.0 for Victoria last summer). I guess Cuesta College’s coach (Bob Miller) wasn’t overly concerned with Alex’s summer ball plans this year…