July 2005 Diamond Notes
July 30, 2005
Arizona teams came through in the clutch yesterday to claim the Super Series Summer Nationals in the 16U and 18U divisions.
In the 18U Division, All Star Baseball Academy gutted out 3 games in the heat on Friday to claim the title. ASBA had to sweep a pair of games from the Altamont Titans from Northern California after falling to the Titans 1-0 on Thursday.
In the 16U Division, the Arizona Blackhawks defeated the Del Rio (Tx) Scorpions 16-5 in six innings for the title. The Blackhawks were 7-1 in the event, and were led by Tourney MVP Kyle Stiner as well as All Tournament team members Jason Pohl, Michael Wales, and Corey Urich.
The 16U Arizona Blackhawks (above) are the Summer Nationals Champions
July 29, 2005
The Arizona Firebirds are on the verge of elimination at the Connie Mack Western Regionals in Seattle. The Firebirds lost on Thursday to a team from Oakland and were losing this morning in the fifth inning 12-2 to the Trombly Braves from southern California in a losers bracket elimination game.
The Arizona Liners clawed their way through the losers bracket of the Super Series Summer Nationals yesterday. The Liners won two games on Thursday morning against IBCA and the North Texas Stallions and returned for an 8:00 P.M. contest, where they defeated the Dallas Drillers 8-0.
This morning, the Liners fell to All Star Baseball 10-2. ASBA now plays the Altamont Titans for the Championship later today.
July 28,2005
The 18U and 16U Super Series Summer Nationals are taking place this week at the Peoria Sports Complex.
In the 18U Division, All Star Baseball Academy, with a 5-1 record, is playing this morning to see if they will come out of the winner's bracket and play for the championship on Friday. This is actually the 17U team for ASBA.
Also, the Arizona Liners (4-2) are still alive, doing battle in the loser's bracket.
In the 16U Division, the Arizona Blackhawks (5-1) are playing for the right to advance from the winner's bracket, while the Arizona Toros, at 3-2, are still alive on the loser's side.
July 25, 2005
The Arizona Firebirds claimed the Connie Mack State Championship with a pair of wins over All Star Baseball Academy this weekend.
In the first contest Charles Brewer (Chaparral '06) outdueled Ben Hornbeck (Sunnyslope '05) 2-1. Brewer scattered 3 hits in the winning effort.
In the second game the Firebirds, after trailing 10-8 entering the seventh inning, scored 8 times including 4 homers to take the lead and held on for a 16-12 win.
The Arizona Firebirds are the 2005 Connie Mack State Champs
July 23, 2005
The Cincinatti Reds Area Code Team , comprised primarily of players from Arizona, Nevada, Utah and Colorado, has been announced. The following Arizona players were selected:
Seth Furmanek- Mesquite 2006
Charles Brewer- Chaparral 2006
Mike Ford- Mountain Pointe 2006
Rudy Owens- Mesa 2006
Taylor Lewis- Canyon Del Oro 2006
Michael Weldon- Canyon Del Oro 2006
Khris Davis- Deer Valley 2006
Tim Alderson- Horzon 2007
Jason Jarvis- Chaparral 2006
Drew Beurlein- Desert Mountain 2006
Adam Bailey- Desert Mountain 2006
Four Arizona players attended the Perfect Game National Showcase in Atlanta. The four were Jason Kudlock (Hamilton), Luis Tovar (Yuma Kofa), Charles Brewer (Chaparral), and Andrew Tonner (Brophy).
Charles Brewer of Chaparral and Taylor Lewis of CDO and Tim Alderson of Horizon were selected as pitchers for Team One's Cape Cod High School Classic to be held July 28 and 29.
July 21, 2005
2004 Horizon graduate Brandon Wood has moved into the #1 spot in Baseball America's "Prospect Hot Sheet" as the top minor league prospect in professional baseball. Wood leads all of minor league baseball in homers (31) and extra base hits (64).
The Arizona Junior Sunbelt Team landed a 3rd place finish in the event in Oklahoma. This is the best finish since we began sending teams in 2000. Named to the All Tourney team were Kevin Roderick (Horizon '07), Tim Alderson (Horizon '07) and Ronnie Welty (Mesquite'07).
Twenty one Arizona players were in the group of 185 attendees at the Perfect Game Sunshine West showcase in San Diego. I'm very interested in getting feedback from anyone who attended as to their opinion of the event. Please e amil me at rb@azdiamondreport.com
The Connie Mack State tournament starts Friday in Tucson with 4 teams each from the Phoenix area and Tucson squaring off. The format is as follows:
PHOENIX
1 FIREBIRDS BLACK
2 ALL STAR BASEBALL ACADEMY BLACK
3 CLASH
4 GARDEN OF GEARS
TUCSON
1 KFC
2 RBI
3 DESERT VIEW
4 PALO VERDE
CROSS POOL 1 VS 4, 2 vs 3 etc
WITH WINNERS PLAYING EACH OTHER AND LOSERS PLAYING EACH OTHER
FRIDAY 5 P.M AND 8 P.M
SATURDAY 5 P.M. AND 8 P.M.
SUNDAY TBA, IF 2 PHX TEAMS GAMES WILL BE PLAYED IN THE VALLEY
July 20 , 2005
For the understatement of the year I'll start by saying that it's great to be back. I feel like I missed out on a ton of great baseball and following it third person from afar didn't make the situation any easier. Some pretty significant accomplishments happened in my absence and I'll spend the next couple of days recapping.
Arizona high school sports lost a dear friend last week when the AIA's Berry Sollenberger passed away at the age of 60. Berry was responsible for maintaining records and statistics for the AIA. I didn't know him well, but had several conversations with him over the years and he was always gracious and very giving of his time. He will be missed and will leave a large pair of shoes to fill.
Arizona is once again well represented on the USA Baseball National Teams.
Congratulations to Kyle Brule (Marcos De Niza'07) and Riccio Torres (Brophy '07) for being named to the 2005 Youth National Team.
Horizon's Kevin Roderick was one of only 2 players from the 2007 class to be named to the 2005 Junior National Team. Nice job Kevin.