The Alaska Baseball League @ Alaskan-Legacies.com

By Tom Keller
Staff Writer

Bryan Petersen needed a boost. Something. Anything.

He was two years into his college career at Cal-Irvine, and little had gone as planned. A touted prospect from nearby Chatsworth High School, Petersen played sparingly his freshman season under a new coaching staff and managed two hits in 24 at-bats. He saw the field more the next year but struggled just the same, a .226 average in 42 games. One day, after striking out with the bases loaded to end a close game, Petersen spent the drive home contemplating whether to give up on baseball.

“The talent was there. I never questioned that,” said Petersen, now the Grasshoppers’ centerfielder. “But there’s a difference between having talent and doing it on the field.”

Near the end of his rope, Petersen took a 7-hour plane ride to Alaska, where he was scheduled to play summer ball with the Anchorage Bucs. He popped the film Annapolis into his DVD player, the story of a Naval Academy student who must overcome doubt about whether he can succeed. Sounds familiar, Petersen thought.

When the plane touched down, Petersen felt different. His problems, his anxieties, all the people he was worried about disappointing - he realized they were all 3,000 miles away. A weight lifted.

“It was a chance for me to get out and have some fun,” said Petersen, who led the league with a .365 batting average. He watched Annapolis 12 more times that summer.

Petersen returned to California with renewed confidence. He led Irvine to the College World Series for the first time in school history last season, hitting .323 with a team-high 27 stolen bases. The Florida Marlins drafted him in the fourth round during that run, and he’s now one of the more promising prospects in the farm system.

He’s second on the Hoppers in batting average (.297) and RBIs (48), and he leads the club with nine stolen bases. His 17 home runs are more than three times his collegiate total, and they trail only teammate Mike Stanton in the South Atlantic League leaderboard.

And, oh, his arm. In a game against Delmarva this season, Petersen caught a fly ball near the warning track in center and threw out a runner tagging to third base. The ball never hit the ground. The Delmarva runner’s jaw almost did, though.

“I looked at the third base coach. He just had his hands on his head,” Grasshoppers manager Edwin Rodriguez said. “You’re not supposed to make that play.”

The right people are taking notice. When the Marlins’ high Class-A team in Jupiter had a hole in the outfield due to injury last month, Petersen filled in. He knew he would be sent back to Greensboro in about two weeks no matter how he played, but that didn’t help him get any more comfortable. In 39 at-bats, he had five hits and struck out seven times.

The Petersen of a few years ago might have been frustrated by that speed bump, but this version hardly seemed fazed at all. He returned to Greensboro and got right back into a groove, and when Double-A Jupiter had a one-day need for a centerfielder last Sunday, Petersen got the call again.

This time, he went 4-for-4.

“Wherever he goes, he’s going to struggle at first. But he’s not going to struggle for long,” Rodriguez said. “He’s already shown the ability to make adjustments. He’s not afraid to fail.”

Tom Keller can be reached at 373-7034 or tom.keller@news-record.com.

NBC not feeling economic pinch
BY PAUL SUELLENTROP
The Wichita Eagle

Summer baseball teams aren’t interested in “staycations.” They want to visit Wichita.

Even if the trip is hard on their bank accounts.

The field for the National Baseball Congress World Series appears to be immune to inflated prices (gas went for around 2.84 a gallon a year ago). No teams, as of Tuesday, had declined a spot in the 44-team field.

“Everybody’s feeling the crunch of the price of gasoline,” tournament director of operations Jerry Taylor said. “But (summer baseball people) are very resilient. It’s amazing how they will find ways to offset those costs. They’ll get here.”

Even all the way from Alaska.

Teams from the Alaska Baseball League are some of the most successful (with 14 titles) and popular in NBC history. Travel costs, however, cut down on participation from the ABL in recent tournaments. In 2005, the ABL started sending only its champion. The ABL will send at least one team this summer and the door is open for a second.

The Anchorage Glacier Pilots lead the ABL. The Kenai Peninsula Oilers are in a race for second. Both teams want to play in the NBC. The Glacier Pilots are already making preliminary travel plans.

“It would take a miracle to keep us out of there,” GM Jon Dyson said.

The Oilers, the ABL representative in Wichita in 2006 and 2007, want to come if they can finish second and if there is spot in the field.

Taylor said he planned on one place for an ABL team after the winter meetings; finding a second spot is possible. Fans notice when Alaska teams are absent.

“If we can get both Alaska teams here we want to do it,” Taylor said. “They’ve had a great tradition in the tournament.”

Dennis Mattingly, general manager of the Anchorage Bucs, isn’t interested even if his team qualifies. The costs, in his mind, don’t justify a trip that doesn’t benefit his fans or sponsors.

“We don’t want to spend the $40,000,” he said. “It’s a nice tournament and I love it, but $40,000 is just not a good number.”

For the Glacier Pilots and Oilers, the cost of the trip is secondary to the benefits. Their clubs hustle and plan all year to raise money for the trip.

The Oilers average around 1,300 fans and sponsors buy out 28 of their 29 home dates. They also run a bingo hall to raise money. The Glacier Pilots, who have not been to the NBC since 2002, sell radio advertising packages designed to capitalize on fan interest in the NBC.

In 2006, Oilers third baseman Erik Hagstrom, an undrafted senior from Cal State Northridge, signed a pro contract after playing in the NBC. Those stories are what keep some ABL teams attached to the NBC.

“We’re here to develop these kids and let them get better in the summer time,” Oilers GM Shawn Maltby said. “We’re doing it for the kids.”

• Taylor said he is planning on a 44-team field. There is a chance, however, the number could slip to 42, depending on results from qualifying tournaments. He is considering changing the format for qualifying tournaments next summer and limit the field to 36 teams.

• New York Yankees pitcher Joba Chamberlain is the NBC Graduate of the Year. Chamberlain pitched for Beatrice (Neb.) in 2004 and 2005.

• Plans for the 74th tournament are ongoing. Taylor is also thinking about the 75th NBC next summer. “We want to do something special,” he said. “It’s a long way away, but it will be here before we know it.”

• Defending champion Havasu (Ariz.) and runnerup Hays will return to the tournament. Familiar names such as the Santa Barbara (Calif.) Foresters, Seattle Studs, Beatrice, Clarinda (Iowa), Liberal, Newton and Derby are also in the field.

• The cashless system for concessions used at Wichita Wingnuts games will be in effect. Fans must use plastic cards purchased at the games or debit or credit cards at concession stands.

College freshman takes ABL lessons
FLEDGLING: Newalu impresses with Miners before San Diego stint.

By RON WILMOT
rwilmot@adn.com

Published: July 13th, 2008 01:11 AM
Last Modified: July 13th, 2008 01:21 AM

The Alaska Baseball League has long been a place to see up-and-coming major leaguers. Normally, those players are in college. But occasionally, an ABL player who has yet to swing a bat at the collegiate level impresses.

Mat-Su Miners infielder Blake Newalu is one such player. He’s fresh out of high school, having graduated from Henry County High in McDonough, Ga., a month ago. But the 6-foot, 165-pounder, a top recruit for the University of San Diego, has adjusted just fine to playing alongside the Division I athletes in the ABL.

Although Newalu’s hitting probably isn’t what he would like (.233, 6 RBIs in 21 games), the lanky right-hander has impressed.

Newalu has filled in at third, shortstop and center field, garnering a .938 fielding percentage.

Newalu admitted that he put pressure on himself to justify his coming to the ABL. But it’s not the first time he’s had to step up to a higher level of play.

As a freshman at Henry County High, Newalu was brought up from the junior varsity to become the starting shortstop four games into the season. The team went on to win Georgia’s AAAA state championship.

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Newalu said he chose San Diego largely because he would be able to play immediately. San Diego coaches expect that too, and pushed him to play in the ABL for some pre-college seasoning.

“My college coach said this was one of the best leagues around on the West Coast,” Newalu said. “He said it’d be a good opportunity to see better pitching and hopefully be better when I come in as a freshman.”

Miners general manager Pete Christopher said he normally doesn’t recruit recently graduated high school players. During his tenure, the only other high school player to make the roster was catcher Jay Ponciano out of Hudson’s Bay High in Vancouver, Wash., in 2006.

“I was a little hesitant. I don’t like having high school kids on the roster,” Christopher said. “But he’s been a class act on the field and off. I might change my mind about high school kids.

“He’s polite, a hard worker, and he’s got soft hands, which is a requisite to be a good infielder,” Christopher said. “He’s had to fill in everywhere.”

Perfect Game USA, a recruiting service that tracks high school players, has listed Newalu.

He’s also played in the prestigious East Cobb Baseball program. Based in Marietta, Ga., the amateur program for players ages 8 and up has produced numerous college and pro players.

Newalu first joined an East Cobb team when he was 15. In 2006, his East Cobb Astros won a national wood bat tournament. His team last summer lost only one game. Newalu played summer and fall league baseball with the East Cobb Braves.

“Winning is expected,” he said.

Newalu isn’t the only ABL newbie who’s an incoming freshman at San Diego. Anchorage Glacier Pilots second baseman Bryan Haar, a recent graduate of Grossmont High in San Diego, will also join the Toreros in the fall.

The future teammates first met when Newalu hit a double and Haar, covering second base, struck up a conversation.

Miners fall to Pilots thrice in three days

Last season, the Mat-Su Miners won a share of the ABL title despite hitting .242 as a team. Why? Its pitching staff had a combined 2.17 ERA, tops in the ABL.

So far this season, the Miners are following the same pattern, but without the same success.

As of Thursday, the Miners were hitting .220, second worst in the ABL, and the pitching staff had a team ERA of 2.93, third best.

That’s landed Mat-Su in third place in the league standings (9-9 ABL, 13-10 overall) as of Friday.

Mat-Su lost three games to the Anchorage Glacier Pilots in three days this week. Each game was winnable.

The Pilots won Tuesday and Wednesday by 4-2 scores at Mulcahy Stadium in Anchorage. On Thursday, the Pilots scored seven runs in the first inning and held on to win 8-6.

Weathers named to 2008 Olympic team

NASHVILLE, Tenn. –Former Vanderbilt All-American Casey Weathers was one of 23 players named to the United States Olympic team today by USA Baseball.

Weathers went 12-2 with a 2.37 ERA (49.1 IP, 13 ER) over 31 relief appearances for the Commodores in his senior season in 2007. He recorded a team-high seven saves and issued just 21 walks against 75 strikeouts as opposing batters hit just .154 (25-for-162).

The right-hander earned unanimous first-team All-American honors and was a finalist for the Stopper of the Year Award.

“We are excited for Casey and look forward to seeing him pitch for the USA next month in Beijing,” said Vanderbilt head coach Tim Corbin. “He has worked hard and is certainly deserving of the honor of getting to pitch for the USA.”

This will be his second experience playing for USA Baseball, as he was on the 2006 National Team that won the gold medal at the FISU World University Championships in Havana, Cuba. He was also named Alaska Summer League Closer of the Year, after going 1-0 with a 0.84 ERA for the Anchorage Glacier Pilots earlier that summer.

Weathers transferred to Vanderbilt after spending his first two collegiate seasons at Sacramento City College. He was an outfielder during his freshman year in junior college and converted to a pitcher his sophomore year.

The Elk Grove, Calif., native was the eighth overall pick in the 2007 draft by the Colorado Rockies and is currently playing for the Tulsa Drillers, their Double-A affiliate. He is 2-0 with a 2.23 ERA with 42 strikeouts and 20 walks in 36.1 innings.

The Olympic team will be managed by former major leaguer and New York Mets skipper Davey Johnson and is set to compete in Beijing from August 13-23.

The team features 12 pitchers and 11 position players. The 24th member of the Olympic Team will be named in the coming days, ahead of the Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad’s (BOCOG) July 22 cut-off date.

“We are proud of the ball club we have assembled,” said USA Baseball Executive Director/CEO Paul Seiler. “The team is strong from top to bottom, and we are confident it will succeed in Beijing. We applaud our coaching staff and selection committee for their tireless work in putting together an excellent team.

Astros conclude set with Orioles

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(Betting Express) - Veteran right-hander Shawn Chacon seeks to end a three- start skid tonight when the Houston Astros visit Camden Yards for the finale of a three-game interleague series with the host Baltimore Orioles.

A 30-year-old native of Anchorage, Alaska, Chacon improved to 2-0 by defeating the St. Louis Cardinals on May 27, when he allowed seven hits and two runs over seven innings of an 8-2 Houston triumph.

He’s 0-2 with a no-decision since, however, including a one-inning stint against Milwaukee and a five-inning shellacking by the Cardinals in which he combined to give up 12 hits and 11 runs in six innings.

He fared better in his last outing but nonetheless recorded a no-decision, surrendering just three hits and a run in 6 1/3 innings of the Astros’ 2-1 loss to the New York Yankees on June 13 in Houston.

Chacon is 2-1 with a save in four career meetings with the Orioles, posting a 4.02 earned run average in 15 2/3 innings.

http://www.adn.com/sports/story/440822.html

Oilers 5, Bears 4

Anthony Aliotti’s two-out, two-strike, two-run single to left field in the bottom of the ninth inning capped a four-run rally Wednesday night that earned the Peninsula Oilers a 5-4 win over the visiting Bears of California.

The victory at Coral Seymour Memorial Ballpark in Kenai cemented the Oilers’ perfect run (9-0) of their early-season, non-league schedule. Tonight, they travel to Palmer for their first Alaska Baseball League game, against the Mat-Su Miners.

Peninsula trailed 4-1 entering the ninth, and parlayed a single, four walks, a wild pitch and Aliotti’s walk-off hit into victory.

Meanwhile, the Bears endured a tough nine-game road trip on which a victory would have at least salved their sorrow. Instead, they went 0-9 against ABL teams.

With the Oilers trailing 4-2 after Trey Dennis’ bases-loaded walk forced home a run, Bears reliever Kevin Ayers unleashed a wild pitch that allowed Bryan Horst to score and runners to advance to second and third bases with no outs. Ayers got Ryan McCurdy to ground out back to the mound, intentionally walked Vince Belnome, and then got P.J. Sequeira to pop up for the second out.

Ayers worked a 0-2 count on Aliotti, who then fouled off two pitches before delivering his game-winning hit.

Glacier Pilots 3, Running Birds 1

The Anchorage Glacier Pilots used solid outings from a trio of pitchers and capitalized on miscues by the SoCal Running Birds to overcome a sluggish offense to score a 3-1 victory at Mulcahy Stadium.

The Glacier Pilots bounced back from Tuesday’s 9-3 loss to the AIA Fire by scoring their first two runs on a passed ball and a throwing error.

Bryan Haar extended his hitting streak to six games with two hits including an RBI triple to add an insurance run in the eighth.

The Pilots’ pitching threesome of starter Antwonie Hubbard, David Brown and Eric Best slowed the Running Birds by scattering seven hits and walking one. Hubbard, who gave up the lone run in the fifth, went five innings and struck out five. Brown put down six straight batters in middle relief, and Best overcame two singles to start the ninth by striking out the next three Running Birds to end the game.

Seals 5, Bucs 1

A third-inning letdown led the Anchorage Bucs to their first losing streak of the season Wednesday afternoon as they lost a non-league game to the San Francisco Seals at Mulcahy Stadium.

A throwing error from Bucs starter Paul Bargas, trying to throw out a runner at second base in the third inning, opened the floodgates and led to a two-run inning and a lead the Bucs never relinquished.

Although the lefthander out of UC Riverside suffered the loss, he pitched well, striking out eight and walking one batter in seven innings.

Miners 7, AIA 0

In a meeting of last year’s co-ABL champs, Max Peterson rung up five strikeouts and allowed just two hits in six shutout innings Wednesday as the Miners blanked Athletes in Action at Hermon Brothers Field.

Michael Carlson, Will Musson and David Rowse each pitched one inning as the unbeaten Miners (5-0) notched their second straight shutout.

Through five games, the Miners have allowed just eight runs.

Catcher Wes Dorrell finished 2 for 4 with a double and two RBIs.

http://www.adn.com/sports/story/440822.html

Pitcher sets sights on Alaska, Santa Barbara
by Wes Bowers

http://www.fremontbulletin.com/sports/ci_9566280

“I decided to go to Alaska because I think it’s a better fit for me,” he said. “I’m just flattered to be invited to such a prestigious league.”

Click photo to enlarge«1»Joe Gardner is living the dream that many young baseball players have when they pick up a bat and glove.

Gardner, a Fremont resident and ace pitcher at both Milpitas High School and Ohlone Community College, is heading for Kenai, Alaska, to play in a summer collegiate league before starting his career at the University of California at Santa Barbara thanks to a full-scholarship.

To top that off, there’s a chance he’ll be drafted by a Major League Baseball team at the entry draft this month.

It’s something he and his family believe doesn’t normally happen to most local athletes.

“I remember when he was a freshman at Milpitas High. They told us there are 300,000 seniors in the country, and only 3 percent of them go on to become professional athletes,” father Ken Gardner said. “That’s a paltry number, but we think it’s a pretty good accomplishment for Joe.”

Of course, he’s not a professional athlete yet. Joe Gardner said he is committed to completing four years of college at UC Santa Barbara.

Joe Gardner hopes to major in communications or sociology he doesn’t know yet.

What’s first on his mind is playing for the Peninsula Oilers in the Alaskan Baseball League, a summer league for college students that’s invite-only.

Moreover, the majority of players in the league come from National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I schools like the University of Hawaii or Duke University.

Joe Gardner is one of four players on the Oilers coming from the community college level.

He left for Anchorage last Thursday, and started playing Tuesday.

To be invited to play in the league, coaches can refer you or you can be scouted.

Joe Gardner said he learned of the league near the end of Ohlone’s baseball season from his coaches.

“They approached me and asked if I was doing anything for the summer,” he said. “When I said not really they asked if I wanted to play in the league.”

According to Ken Gardner, there are three collegiate summer leagues in the country seen as the best of the best.

The Cape Cod Baseball League in New England is probably the most well known in baseball circles, he said.

Joe Gardner was invited to play in both the Alaskan League ranked third among coaches and scouts and the Northwoods Baseball League in the Midwest.

“I decided to go to Alaska because I think it’s a better fit for me,” he said. “I’m just flattered to be invited to such a prestigious league.”

Joe Gardner started playing baseball in Milpitas Little League with the intention of playing catcher or shortstop.

To be a catcher most players are short in stature, and he said as he grew taller, playing the position grew increasingly out of the question.

He then continued playing youth ball as shortstop and eventually pitcher.

It was in the latter position Joe Gardner found his success as he developed a strong throwing arm and remarkable accuracy.

He made Milpitas High’s junior varsity team under coach Mike Greer, and in his sophomore year pitched the very first game played at the school’s new sports field where he led the junior varsity Trojans to a 7-0 victory over the Los Altos High School Eagles.

Joe Gardner moved onto the school’s varsity team, where Head Coach Chuy Zamudio helped him prepare for the transition from high school to community college ball.

The Gardners say it was Ohlone Coach Tom Kunis, a former pitching coach at Stanford University, who developed Joe’s ability even further and is the reason a lot of what’s going on today is happening.

While at Ohlone, Joe Gardner made All-Conference in the Coast Conference both seasons, and this past season led the conference in innings pitched. He was also second in the conference in strikeouts.

Kenai, Alaska is a two-hour drive from Anchorage, and the Peninsula Oilers are one of the top teams in the six-club league.

If the Oilers do well, Joe Gardner could be in the National Baseball Conference World Series in Wichita, Neb. on Aug. 1.

Then it’s on to Santa Barbara, where he’ll likely play for one of the top teams in the Big West conference.

He was courted by several universities throughout the nation, but made his ultimate decision just weeks ago to attend Santa Barbara.

Joe Gardner said he chose the school because he liked its atmosphere.

“It’s close to home. It has good coaches they impressed me with what they had planned to make me better,” he said. “And having a UC degree was more appealing to me than a degree from a state school.”

Joe Gardner added that he hopes he gets drafted in the June Major League Baseball draft.

His father said as many as 10 teams have already shown interest. He added whichever team drafts him will undoubtedly make an offer, but the offer has to be really good to get his son to leave college.

Ken Gardner said while foregoing a pro career to complete college could hinder a player’s chances of making it to the majors, the family is proud of Joe’s accomplishments in life.

“We just hope he continues to have great success, gets a degree and realizes his dreams whatever they may be,” he said. “If he turns pro, great. If not, he can take his degree and go into life with his best intentions.”

Joe Gardner said he will continue playing in honor of former teammate Michael De Jesus.

Joe Gardner said he and De Jesus grew up together, competing for the shortstop position in Little League.

De Jesus was killed in 2005 when unwanted guests at a Berryessa neighborhood party fired multiple shots into a crowd of people. A bullet struck De Jesus in the head.

At the time, De Jesus was attending Evergreen College in San Jose and was also on the road to attending an NCAA Division I school. Ken Gardner said De Jesus and his son would have both been heading for universities today.

“We’re still thinking of him, and he’s still playing behind us,” Joe Gardner said.

http://www.fremontbulletin.com/sports/ci_9566280

Former Bulldog gets shot at big leagues
By IAN ABBOTT
sports editor

Brent Wyatt’s large extended family has been the greatest influence on his play throughout his life. His family is (left to right) Tyler, Grandma Helen Hernandez, Kristen, mother Tally, Brent, father Kevin, girlfriend Mikaela Lamb, Laurel, Kylie, Michael and (not pictured) Heidi Brower. Ian Abbott/Daily Record
ELLENSBURG – Brent Wyatt is living the dream.

Last Friday, Wyatt, an Ellensburg High School grad, was drafted by the Detroit Tigers in the 26th round of the MLB Draft, thanks to the great success he had with the Bulldogs and the Lewis-Clark State College Warriors.

But Brent’s story begins much earlier than that.

“Ever since I’ve seen baseball being played on TV it’s something I’ve wanted to do,” Brent said. “I’ve always wanted to have people sitting at home, watching me on TV, saying, ‘I want to do that.’ It’s a dream that’s always been there, and it’s never faded.”
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Tally, Brent’s mother, awoke at 2 a.m. one morning 22 years ago to a faint sound coming through the walls.

Smack! Patter-patter-patter…

She went out into the hallway to find her husband, Kevin, kneeling in the middle of the dimly lit front room, holding an oversized plastic ball and tossing it to a 1-year-old Brent. Brent swung at the ball (smack!) and ran around the room (patter-patter-patter…).

“What are you guys doing?” Tally asked.

Kevin turned from his kneeling position and shrugged.

“My boy wanted to play baseball,” he said, “so we’re playing baseball.”

Brent has come a long way from being a toddler whacking wiffle balls around the living room. Now he’s on his way to the big stage.

It came about as naturally as anyone could have hoped — from the beginning, it was clear that Brent was a special kid.

A Baseball Life

Brent was born into fortunate circumstances. His family didn’t have a lot of money. He grew up in a small, one-story house near the Kittitas High School baseball fields, within earshot of the crack of the bat.

But Brent’s parents made up for their lack of material possessions with an abundance of love and a fostering of their son’s instant affinity for baseball.

When the living room became too small for Brent, Kevin would pitch to his son in the yard. By the age of 2, Brent was hitting balls over the house, and awestruck neighbors were telling the parents that, someday, Brent was going to be a star.

When the yard became too small, they took the game to the street and ball fields. Whenever Brent wanted to play ball, Kevin obliged.

“He was my first boy,” Kevin said. “I didn’t have anything else to do.”

Kevin challenged his son from the beginning. He threw the ball high and hard, and Brent dove for it unconditionally — even before he started T-ball.

Kevin knew about his son’s dream, but the two didn’t talk very seriously about it for a long time. He didn’t want to get Brent’s hopes up.

When Brent turned 13, however, the time finally came to talk seriously about that dream.

“I told (my dad) I really want to play baseball for a long time,” Brent said. “He told me, ‘All right, I will help you, and I will push you, and the minute you tell me to stop, I will stop. But, if this is something you want to do, I will help you do it.’”

Even after long games, instead of going home to relax and hang out with friends, Brent would stay behind to take extra batting or fielding practice, playing on into the twilight. The light often gave out before Brent’s will.

Brent had a spectacular career with the Bulldogs, and, after two years at Wenatchee Community College, he signed with one of the best programs in the nation: Lewis-Clark State College in Lewiston, Idaho, where he was a 2008 NAIA Preseason All-America selection and helped the Warriors win two National Championships.

He posted great numbers in his senior year, leading his team in a number of categories while adjusting to playing shortstop every day, but he wasn’t satisfied — he never is. Still, he had gained a reputation as a true gentleman in the league, and he had a number of Major League scouts watching him.

The draft — a shot at a dream — was less than two weeks away.

“We’re all Tigers fans now”

June 6. Brent, now a lean, muscular athlete, receives a phone call in the middle of the afternoon. It’s Ryan Johnson, a scout for the Tigers. Brent runs out into the front yard, exactly where he used to hit balls over the roof 22 years earlier, and, surrounded by his large extended family, he answers the phone.

Johnson tells Brent that he would be Detroit’s next pick.

The excitement didn’t set in until his name finally appeared, but when it did — “DET, Pick 792, Brent Wyatt” — the calls flooded in. Brent and his family were so busy fielding calls, 20 minutes passed before they even got a chance to hug each other.

“It’s been a lot of hard work,” Kevin said. “It’s nice to see him get that reward. We’re all Tigers fans now.”

The Wyatt family still lives in the same little house, but a lot has changed. The family has grown to include seven kids. The front room now has too many toys scattered around to play baseball in it. The backyard is filled with weeds — “a baseball yard,” Kevin calls it — because the family spends too much time at baseball games to care for it.

Etched into a sign in the front room, however, is the perfect rebuttal to the apparent chaos: “We may not have it all together, but together we have it all.”

“I don’t care what anybody else says, he’s going to make it,” said Helen Hernandez — Grandma Hernandez, to the family, and the loudest fan at each of Brent’s games. “That’s what I say about all my kids. I’m going to be 84 my next birthday, and let me tell you, I hope to make it to 100 so I can see all of them make it.”

Brent is moving far away — probably to New York — but he’ll have a difficult time leaving behind the family, friends and coaches who helped raise him into an athlete and a gentleman.

He hopes to make enough money to help move his family into a bigger house, and he wants someday to raise a family of his own.

For Brent, getting drafted is just the first step.

“Until I see myself on ESPN, it’s still going to be a dream,” Brent said. “I’m just inching a little closer to that dream. With this happening, it’s becoming a little more of a reality for me.” Calendar [page]
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Reader comments

http://alaskab4udie.wordpress.com/2008/06/11/baseball-season-strikes-anchorage/

The Alaska Baseball League is starting its season. . . woe upon us with the gasoline prices so high . . . it makes traveling around Alaska quite expensive as our bus gobbles up the fuel, but we will toe the line and make it a great season.

To learn more about the team, see the entire roster, history, etc. link here and enjoy the work of our webmaster, Gary Lichtenstein.

While a tourist would hardly come to Alaska just to watch baseball, it is a peripheral option to enjoy sandlot ball, sit in the boxes with friends and have a beer. Some even watch the whole game.

http://alaskab4udie.wordpress.com/2008/06/11/baseball-season-strikes-anchorage/

By Matthew Carroll | Peninsula Clarion

Jeremy Gould had been here all of 13 hours. And already he didn’t want to go home.

A sophomore at Duke University and one of 26 new faces featured on the 2008 Peninsula Oilers, Gould now resides in Chicago while vacationing from his life as a Blue Devil.

Relatively new to the Windy City, though, he doesn’t know many people and wants to extend his time in Alaska as much as possible.

There’s only one way to accomplish that — win.

“That’s definitely one of my goals, the top of the goals, really,” Gould said of the Oilers recapturing the Alaska Baseball League title and traveling to the National Baseball Congress World Series for the third consecutive year. “I want to win this league and then go over (to Wichita) and win that, have a lot of fun, keep playing as long as I can around here.

“I’ve got nothing to go back to home in Chicago,” he added. “So, I’m trying to stay up here as a long as I can.”

That’s why he’s here.

Coming off a season in which they began with 11 consecutive home wins before sputtering through a nine-game road losing streak, the Oilers struggled to find consistency the rest of the year, finishing tied for third in the ABL standings while going 1-2 at the World Series in Wichita after the Athletes In Action Fire and Mat-Su Miners, the top two teams in the league, declined invitations.

With just one returner, right-handed pitcher Kevin Matsumoto, who was a member of the Oilers’ 2006 ABL championship squad, and a new skipper in Tom Myers, the bar is set high yet again for a franchise seeking its fourth NBC World Series championship, the last coming in 1994.

“I stated the goals and talked about what we’re going to do from a coaching standpoint on their development and I think development and winning go hand in hand,” Myers said of a letter he sent to his players after accepting the coaching position. “If we’re doing the right things, they’re getting the proper amount of repetitions, then the end result’s going to be success — success for them individually, success for us as a team.”

In that letter, Myers, the pitching coach and recruiting coordinator for UC Santa Barbara, wasn’t shy about delivering his goals for the season, including championship-caliber performances both in Alaska and Kansas.

“You might as well throw out the big goal in mind, but I did also preface that we’re not looking for that as the end all. Because there’s so many other things involved that we have to take care of that will take us there,” he explained. “You want to go into every season with the mind-set that you’re going to win. Then you’ve just got to take care of all the little things to make it happen.

“That would be nice to walk home with a title of some kind.”

Things appeared promising from the onset of the 2007 campaign, when the Oilers opened the season with 11 straight wins at Coral Seymour Memorial Park before losing one and departing on a nine-game ABL road trip with a .365 team batting average.

They returned to Kenai at 11-10, well behind in the league with a dismal 3-10 mark, and were hitting a combined .261.

Myers has some strategies to prevent further disappointment on the road this time around.

For him, it’s all about routine.

“I think when you don’t do well in a certain element, and if it’s on the road, well, you’ve got to change things,” he said. “And what we’re going to try to do is get them more in a mind-set of, ‘Hey, if we’re on the road, let’s not sleep all day. Let’s get up. Let’s do things. Let’s be active. Let’s make it is as similar as you do when you’re here at home. Prepare the same way so you’re not a fish out of water when you’re in Anchorage.’

“The last couple years at UC Santa Barbara we struggled on the road, so we went back into the drawing board and kind of said, ‘Hey, we’re going to have a team breakfast. We’re going to get up to take a team jog, and then give them some free time to relax but then when we get to the field, it’s game time. Now we get back to business.’”

No members of this year’s team, however, were around for that skid.

Matsumoto was close, though, and is the only familiar face after Nick Buss, an outfielder from the University of Southern California and member of last season’s Oilers squad, was drafted in the eighth round, 247th overall, by the Los Angeles Dodgers in this past week’s Major League Baseball Draft and probably won’t be playing here this summer.

Going 3-1 with a 1.78 ERA in 16 appearances, striking out 22 and walking 12 in 30 1/3 innings of work, Matsumoto, a junior from Hawaii Pacific University, suffered a tear in the ulnar collateral ligament of his elbow prior to joining the Oilers last season.

Following a year of rehabilitation, he feels ready to help the team.

“I was pretty upset. I had so much fun my first year,” he said of being unable to play last year. “I’m really excited. I can’t wait until we start the season.”

He has fond memories of his time here, too, when the Oilers claimed the ABL title on a bases loaded walk in the season finale, their first such championship since three consecutive titles from 1998 to 2000.

“Whoever won that game went to Wichita,” he said. “Being in an environment of a baseball town and everyone here, bleachers packed, full house, people in the beer garden were going crazy, it’s just exciting.”

That’s the type of enthusiasm Myers is hoping to foster this season.

Looking to follow in the footsteps of last season’s strongest department, the bullpen, Myers said right-handers Seth Harvey and Will Currier, of Washington State and Duke, respectively, lefty Justin Anderson and Matsumoto should provide valuable innings in relief.

“Every successful team, winning that seventh, eighth and ninth inning is the key to your success,” he said. “We’ve got some candidates that could fit into that short bullpen role — setup men, closers.”

While it’s obviously too early to tell, the starting rotation could consist of Washington State lefty Ross Humes, who has a deceptive delivery, according to Myers, West Virginia right-hander Jarryd Summers, righty Joe Gardner and lefty Brandon Dixon.

“If you have two left-handers in your rotation, you get to keep the opposition off-balance,” he said. “You go with a right-hander, a lefty mix, you’re getting different angles and potentially different velocities that can throw off the timing of hitters.”

Also watch for the Oilers to flash much-needed team speed, particularly at what could be the top of the lineup in brothers Kevin and Danny Muno, who Myers said can run, bunt and steal bases quite well, and Garry Kuykendall, a left-hander from Washington State who also boasts a strong short game.

Following them is Anthony Aliotti, Gould and P.J. Sequierra, who all could provide the big bats.

“Some physical body guys that could strike some fear with our lineup,” he said. “Looking at it on paper and kind of looking at them, there could be a good blend of speed and power in the lineup, and if you have that, and then they produce, that could be really fun on the offensive end.”

While some guys have yet to show up, the drive and determination of the available players was still palpable as they took the field for a makeshift practice Friday night.

And even though the goal of furthering their collegiate and possible professional careers is the at the top of the list, winning apparently sits right alongside that.

“Definitely nice to win,” Aliotti said. “I’d probably take that first and foremost.”

Matthew Carroll can be reached at matthew.carroll@peninsulaclarion.com.