The Alaska Baseball League @ Alaskan-Legacies.com

Design, Pic by Todd Dennis

By Baseball America Staff

ZEBULON, N.C.–In 2004, Jamie D’Antona was a member of “The Three Amigos,” as the trio of D’Antona, Conor Jackson and Carlos Quentin mashed California League pitching at high Class A Lancaster.

The Amigos were all 2003 drafts from prominent Division I programs–D’Antona from Wake Forest, Jackson from California and Quentin out of Stanford. Jackson and Quentin went in the first round that year, while D’Antona was drafted in the second.

Since then, the Three Amigos have disbanded (as has the name at Jackson’s request), and two have graduated to the big leagues while D’Antona has yet to even taste Triple-A. The 24-year-old struggled mightily in his first full season at Double-A in 2005 when he hit just .249/.322/.385 in 410 at-bats and was left behind by his former teammates.

Known for his light-tower power and his 70 arm on the 20-to-80 scouting scale, D’Antona hit just nine home runs in his first go-round in the Southern League. Needless to say, no matter how much he wants to check out the big league highlights every night these days, it’s pretty tough to swallow.

“It sucks every time you turn on the TV and you see someone you played with,” D’Antona said. “You like to see those guys, and you want to see them doing well. But it’s still like, damn it, you wonder what could have been.”

But what could have been quickly turned into the here and now through tons of extra work. No longer just a deep threat with an all-or-nothing swing, no longer known as just an average defensive third baseman with a killer arm, D’Antona has reinvented himself this season through versatility and a different approach at the plate that has him hitting .308/.378/.481 for Double-A Tennessee.

“Oh, he’s back on the map all right,” Tennessee manager Bill Plummer said. “And the main reason for that is how much work he’s put into what he’s done. The talent’s always been there, but where he was swinging for the fences and striking out a lot last year, he’s got a gap-to-gap, put-the-ball-in-play approach. He’s become a more complete hitter, and that makes him more dangerous than when he was a straight-up power guy.”

His new approach has allowed D’Antona to more consistently square up the ball, but not at the expense of his power. D’Antona strung together a 17-game hit streak in July with the Smokies, but still has 16 homers and 26 doubles in 423 at-bats.

“I’ve widened my stance. I can see a lot better now and everything’s starting to slow down as a result,” D’Antona said. “Last year when I started struggling, everything just got worse and worse. When you start to press like that, you start overswinging trying to hit that ball farther and farther and farther, and your swing gets slower and slower and slower.

“So this year I just widened out, stopped trying to hit home runs, stopped trying to overswing and hit the ball to the middle of the field. All of a sudden, now I’m starting to pull the ball, hit balls to the gap when I just miss them, and when I get them, they’re going out.”

Strictly a third baseman since signing, D’Antona started playing some first base (his college position as a freshman) last August, and started catching at the Diamondbacks’ spring training facility in Tucson while he was rehabbing a shoulder injury after the 2004 season. He then caught bullpens whenever he could last year, caught more intrasquad games in instructional league last fall, and finally made his debut at catcher in a game on Aug. 1.

“In most situations, I’m just back there thinking what I’d like as a hitter, and I call something different,” D’Antona said. “The memory thing of it, I really enjoy. I enjoy going over scouting reports and that kind of thing.

“I’m just worried about screwing up so badly that I hurt us on the field. Sometimes I don’t like it because I do something stupid and it gets us in a hole. I hate that, because I want to help us with whatever I’m doing. I don’t want to be a liability. But that’s just something that drives me to get better.”

And D’Antona will have plenty of time to get better.  He is heading to the Arizona Fall League in October, where his primary focus will be honing his skills behind the plate for Scottsdale.

“I’m ecstatic about it if for nothing else, it gives me more of an opportunity to prove myself again,” D’Antona said. “Last year, I took things for granted. I know I did, and it was stupid and it’s something I will never do again. But it’s something that helped me out in the long run, because I know what not to do now.”

–CHRIS KLINE

By KEN PETERS

ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) - Jered Weaver is familiar with Whitey Ford’s feats. The Los Angeles Angels’ rookie may want to study up on Hooks Wiltse.

“Sure, I know who Whitey Ford is,” the 23-year-old Weaver said after joining the New York Yankees’ Hall of Famer as the only AL rookies to win their first nine decisions.

Ford notched nine in a row in 1950 before losing a game. Weaver kept his perfect streak going with a masterful performance in a 3-0 victory over Seattle on Friday. He scattered three singles, walked one and struck out seven in seven innings.

The six-foot-seven, 205-pound right-hander also became the fifth major leaguer to win at least his first nine decisions as a starter.

The others, besides Ford, are: Livan Hernandez, nine for Florida before losing in 1997; Kirk Rueter, with 10 victories for Montreal in 1993-94; and Wiltse, who started 12-0 for the New York Giants in 1904. Only Wiltse had a better record than Weaver through 12 major league starts.

Weaver, a Southern Californian whose shaggy hair and laid-back manner belie his grit when on the mound, has an ERA of 1.95. He won his first seven starts, then had three consecutive no-decisions before he beat the Yankees last Sunday. He is trying to keep his success in perspective.

“It’s great to be mentioned in the same sentence with Whitey Ford,” he said. “I didn’t expect anything like that. It’s great, but I’ve got to start thinking about how to get that 10th win.”

Weaver’s imposing height, deceptive delivery and mix of pitches and speeds complement a corner-clipping accuracy that keep hitters off-balance. He throws his fastball in the low 90 mile per hour range, and his breaking pitches sometimes dips into the mid 70s.

Adrian Beltre went 0-for-2 against Weaver and was hit by a pitch by the right-hander in the Mariners’ loss.

“He kind of hides the ball a little bit and his delivery is a little funky,” he said. “And he throws a lot of strikes. He throws it on the outside corner and it looks like a ball, so you take it and it’s a strike.”

Weaver got in a rare jam against the Mariners, with runners at first and third and no outs in the seventh inning. He retired Richie Sexson on a fly to shallow right field, then struck out Ben Broussard and Kenji Johjima.

Weaver has impressed Angels bench coach Ron Roenicke, who is helping manage the team while Mike Scioscia serves a three-game suspension for his role in Wednesday’s brawl against the Rangers in Texas.

“He has enough confidence to work through situations,” Roenicke said. “When he’s in trouble out there, you can look at his face and tell that he’s just going to come right at the hitters.”

Asked how Weaver might improve, Roenicke smiled.

“I don’t know how he could get much better,” he said. “He keeps throwing zeros up there. I don’t know if I’ve seen a young guy who throws up so many zeros. Even if he has an off night, they might get one or two runs. They just do not see the ball well against him.”

Seattle manager Mike Hargrove agreed.

“The guy’s awfully good. He hides the ball really well and there’s a lot of deception,” he said. “He commands his fastball real well and he’s a tough prospect to hit - plain and simple.

Johnson earns 4,500th career strikeout

NEW YORK — Randy Johnson isn’t the same Big Unit he was when he recorded strikeout No. 1 or even No. 4,000. In his mind, the gun-slinging, intimidating strikeout guy is behind him.

So when Johnson notched career strikeout No. 4,500 in the fourth inning in a Yankees 7-2 win Monday against the Angels, he said it was just a bonus to his career, a late tack-on that doesn’t say anything about who he is now, just who he was.

“I must have struck out a lot of people somewhere along the line, just not recently,” Johnson said. “Today’s game was a by-product of what I’ve done over the majority of my career, and that was started in Seattle and really ended in Arizona.”

Johnson remembered other career strikeout milestones such as No. 4,000, which he reached in 2004. Only then he lost. He remembered striking out 19 batters in a game, and again losing.

At this point in his career, it’s all about winning, which Johnson has now done in back-to-back starts. He had won just one of five previous starts.

And that’s what Johnson said felt better after Monday’s game than any landmark. He held the loaded Angels lineup to two runs over seven innings while allowing eight hits and striking out five.

“I don’t think it means anything. Should it?” Johnson asked. “I’ve been around a long time and struck out a lot of batters. That’s probably why my arm’s pretty tired after I pitch.

“I could not strike out anybody for the rest of my career and I’d be content. Winning ballgames is really how you measure a pitcher, not by strikeouts.”

Either way, Johnson has been successful. He now has 276 career wins and is only the third pitcher in Major-League history to record 4,500 strikeouts.

“Randy is a dominant pitcher,” Yankees manager Joe Torre said. “He has been a dominant pitcher for a long, long, long time. Not too many guys of his age — Nolan Ryan did it — dominate the game into their 40s. And Roger, of course is doing it.”

Ryan (5,714 career K’s) and Clemens (4,552) are the only other two pitchers to have more strikeouts than Johnson, who now has 4,503.

After Johnson recorded the strikeout of Tim Salmon with a wicked slider, the crowd chanted his name. He only gave a small wave toward the Yankees dugout. Catcher Jorge Posada came out from behind the plate to stop the game momentarily. Otherwise, Johnson may have just plowed on.

“I went out there and said, ‘Congratulations, you’ve done a hell of a job,’” Posada said. “‘You deserve it. You deserve this ovation. Enjoy it.’”

Of course, Johnson ignored the advice, bearing down and retiring the next batter with a runner still on first. Only then did Johnson fully acknowledge the standing ovation before waving to his family sitting behind the backstop.

Posada, who had chemistry issues with Johnson during their first season together, was the first teammate to greet his pitcher with a handshake and a pat on the head.

Salmon couldn’t be a better opponent for Johnson to face. Of all active players, he’s struck out Salmon the most — 23 times. Of all players Johnson faced in his career, active and retired, Salmon ranks fifth on Johnson’s K list.

But Salmon’s latest failures weren’t chalked up to the same 6-foot-10 lefty who had dominated him in the past. This was a new pitcher.

“He’s different,” Salmon said. “He really pitches now. He has a splitty. He can still be hard in certain situations, but he doesn’t come out on every hitter like that. He reminds me of Roger Clemens with that splitty. Now you have to worry about that.”

Actually Johnson used five pitches Monday: a splitter, two-seam fastball, slider, changeup and, of course, that hard four-seam fastball.

After all, just because he’s a different pitcher at 42 doesn’t mean a worse one.

Ryan Mink is an associate reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.

Baseball Coaching Staff Changes Announced

Former catcher Brian Hickman joined the ORU coaching staff in August.

TULSA—Oral Roberts University baseball head coach Rob Walton recently announced changes to the baseball coaching staff. Volunteer assistant Ryan Neill has been promoted to a full-time position, and former ORU standout Brian Hickman has been added to the staff as volunteer assistant.

“Even though they’re both young coaches, Ryan and Brian are both enthusiastic about, and committed to, our program,” said Walton. “As alums, they have a lot invested in the University and the program. It’s great for our current guys to have two former players on staff that they can look to for guidance about baseball and school. Ryan and Brian are a big part of our past and a big reason why we’ve reached our current level of success.”

Neill spent the previous three seasons in a volunteer capacity, serving as ORU’s first base coach, outfield coach and primary grounds keeper. His new role will allow him to become more actively involved in off-campus recruiting. During his playing days, Neill was a third-team All-American in 1999, played three seasons in the Detroit Tigers organization after they drafted him in the 24^th round in 2000.

“Ryan’s promotion is well-deserved,” said Walton. “He’s committed to the job and knows what it takes to help us reach our goals. He’s going to do a fantastic job.”

Neill is ORU’s all-time leader in home runs (48) and RBI (199).

Hickman spent the last two seasons as an assistant coach at Eastern Oklahoma State College in Wilburton. Before arriving at Eastern, Hickman spent the 2004 season as a volunteer assistant coach at the University of Oklahoma. He recently completed a stint as an assistant coach for the Alaska League champion Peninsula Oilers, helping guide the team to an NBC World Series appearance.

“Brian is going to be a great asset to our team and staff,” said Walton. “He brings the same enthusiasm and energy he played with to coaching. For a young coach he has a lot of knowledge about the game. He brings qualities to our staff which we need.”

Hickman was a two-year letterwinner at catcher for the Golden Eagles, earning all-conference honors in each season. He signed as a free agent with the Chicago White Sox following his ORU career and spent two seasons in the minors.

At ORU, Hickman will coach ORU’s catchers in addition to assisting with on-campus recruiting.

The baseball coaching staff now has a strong balance, with ORU graduates Hickman and Neill along side former Oklahoma State stars Walton and top assistant Ryan Folmar.

“I like the diversity of our staff,” said Walton. “All four coaches have played at the professional level and have had good success as players and coaches on the collegiate level. I’m looking forward to working with this coaching staff.”

Summer leagues give boys dream to build on

Brian MacPherson
The Arizona Republic

C.J. Ziegler hit 15 home runs as a junior at Canyon del Oro High in Tucson, and the scouts didn’t come. He showed enough athleticism that Arizona State recruited him to play football, and the scouts didn’t come.

This season at Pima Community College, he hit .323 with eight home runs and walked almost twice as often as he struck out. The scouts still didn’t come.

That’s when he headed east, to the Asheboro (N.C.) Copperheads of the Coastal Plain League, one of more than a dozen summer leagues for college players.

“I really wanted to get out of Arizona and go play some competitive ball somewhere,” he said. “Right off the bat, I loved it. It helped get my name out there.”

Despite having a season that begins in January and stretches into June, these players scatter for the summer to leagues in all corners of the United States. The players, most 18 or 19 years old and many living away from home for the first time, stay with host families, often hold down jobs to earn extra money and party with new friends from all over the country.

“There was something wild every night,” said Diamondbacks outfielder Eric Byrnes, on whose Cape Cod League team the movie Summer Catch was based. “It was fun.”

Cape Cod and Alaska are home to the most prestigious of the leagues and attract the most elite prospects, but motivations of the players are as varied as the geography of the baseball.

For players such as Scottsdale’s Austin Yount, it’s a chance to hone skills and develop experience playing every day. For Arizona State’s Brett Wallace, it’s a chance to jockey for future draft position with scouts watching every swing of his wood bat. For Ziegler, the Coastal Plain League was an opportunity to impress scouts and coaches who had never seen him play.

Each summer, college baseball players scatter for the summer to leagues in all corners of the United States. The players’ motivations are as varied as the geography, but what they share is a love of the game and a willingness to do whatever it takes and go wherever the opportunity exists in pursuit of a dream.

Here are the stories of three Arizona players and their summer “jobs” as baseball players:

Opening some eyes

Despite his strong numbers at Pima Community College, a school lost in the shadow of Arizona’s Pac-10 teams, C.J. Ziegler received no interest from premier Division I programs.His .329 batting average with 13 home runs in 47 games for the Asheboro Copperheads of the Coastal Plain League opened eyes around the country. After considering Mississippi and College World Series runner-up North Carolina, Ziegler made the decision to transfer to Arizona.

The Coastal Plain League, founded in 1997, cannot boast the longstanding tradition of its more storied counterparts in Cape Cod or Alaska, but it is not without bragging rights. Detroit pitcher Justin Verlander and Washington third baseman Ryan Zimmerman, top candidates for Rookie of the Year, both played in the league.

Asheboro players also become minor celebrities in a town where the Copperheads are the main attraction (with only the local go-kart track as competition for entertainment value).

“In the past two weeks, I’ve had more people come up to me and say I’m one of their favorite players to watch,” Ziegler said, the awe evident in his voice. “I’ve had people come up and ask for my autograph on a single ball, saying that they’re going to watch me play on TV.”

A chance to learn

Austin Yount doesn’t need the extra exposure - as a former Arizona 4A Player of the Year, the son of former pro Larry and nephew of Hall of Famer Robin, his name is well-known in baseball circles.

Still, in his first year at Stanford, the Scottsdale Chaparral graduate pitched and led the team in earned-run average, but discovered a roadblock at shortstop, his other primary position.

He went to Alaska for the summer in search of an opportunity to learn the rest of the infield.

The Alaska Baseball League, more than a century old, has been a proving ground for stars such as Barry Bonds, Jason Giambi and Randy Johnson. It also simulates low-level professional baseball with bus rides of up to 12 hours.

On days he isn’t pitching for the Peninsula Oilers in Kenai, Yount plays second and third base, getting more opportunities to hit than he did during his first season at Stanford.

“We’re hoping to get him some at-bats and for him to play the position we project him to play next year,” Stanford coach Mark Marquess said.

Many players use the summer to focus on specific skills - defensive footwork at a certain position, throwing a slider for a strike, hitting with a wood bat.

“The main thing is to play,” said Diamondbacks third baseman Chad Tracy, who played in two different summer leagues while in college. “The more you play, the better you’re going to get, and that’s if you’re anywhere.”

It leaves little time for recreation, but Yount quickly discovered the joys of Alaska fishing. On one trip out in the peninsula, his older sister caught a 60-pound salmon.

“The fishing, that’s been a blast,” he said. “When we get back (from the Oilers’ current trip), the fish will start to run, and that’s supposed to be great.”

Tape-measure shots

It took three games for Brett Wallace to make history in one of the nation’s most historic amateur baseball leagues.

Just days after joining the Falmouth (Mass.) Commodores of the Cape Cod Baseball League, Wallace drove his first home run over the fence at Guv Fuller Field, a field that has hosted dozens of future major league stars.

The next night, the Arizona State first baseman went deep in the second inning and followed with another home run in the fourth. With that, he tied the league record for consecutive at-bats with a home run in the wood-bat era (the Cape League outlawed aluminum in 1986).

“It was just crazy,” Wallace said. “I just let everything go and started hitting. I didn’t even realize (it was a record) until they announced it over the loudspeaker.”

Wallace had a solid freshman year for the Sun Devils, and he went to Cape Cod to test himself against the nation’s elite.

“You want to show everyone you can get better if you play against the best,” Wallace said. “You always want to play against the best.”

Professional scouts also want to see how elite college hitters handle wood bats, as the extra weight and smaller sweet spot makes it a vastly different hitting experience than hitting with aluminum.

“Your mistakes get shown,” Wallace said. “If you get beat a little with metal, you still can fight it off to right field for a hit. If you get beat with wood, you break your bat, and everybody’s going to know.”

Then again, if a player excels with wood - as Wallace has done thus far, hitting five home runs - everyone will know, too.

“The Cape is where I first got on the map,” Tracy said. “That’s where I first got the exposure I needed to get drafted the next year. . . . I definitely would not have gotten to this level without doing it.”

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COURTESY PHOTOS

Englewood’s Jesse Jordan, who will be a senior at Division II Lenoir-Rhyne College this fall, had an all-star season for the Oilers in the Alaska Baseball League.

Jesse Jordan felt he was due for some good fortune, but the way he has performed this season in the Alaska Baseball League has surprised even himself.

The Lemon Bay 2003 graduate has become a top pitcher in a college summer league that comprises some of the best NCAA Division I talent in the country.

The 6-5, 186-pounder, who will be a senior at Division II Lenoir-Rhyne College next season, is the standout pitcher for the Peninsula Oilers, who recently won the Alaska League championship and is playing in the National Baseball Congress World Series in Wichita, Kansas, this week.

Jordan, 6-2 with a 2.61 ERA, leads his team in games started (9), complete games (2) and innings pitched (51.2). He was named to the ABL All-League team and has been nominated as the ABL’s Pitcher of the Year.

It’s been somewhat of a vindication for the 20-year-old, who was disappointed with his recently completed junior season at Lenoir Rhyne. In the ABL, he proved he could pitch against Division I players and hopes it might help him get drafted after next season.

“I didn’t expect to do this well, but I was due for some good luck,” Jordan said. “During the college season, I had some tough luck with four complete-game losses and I lost a lot of close games. There aren’t many Division II players in the ABL and I feel fortunate to be playing here. The guys in this league come from the best conferences in the country.”

There were a lot more things going for Jordan besides good luck this summer. He has done a better job of locating his pitches and has become more skilled at working the inside corner. The left-hander has a good curve and change-up to complement a fastball that he can throw in the upper 80’s.

It also doesn’t hurt that he is pitching in a league where wooden bats are used instead of aluminum.

“The wooden bats help me on the inside pitches. It’s tougher to hit an inside pitch with a wooden bat and a lot of hitters are a little more timid on the inside pitches,” Jordan said. “I also have better control this summer and have been able to keep the ball down.”

It’s also helped Jordan that he is in his second season of the Alaskan League. He has gotten used to 24 hours of daylight during the early part of summer.

“At first it was hard, but now I am used to it,” Jordan said. “I get tired when my body tells me it’s time to go to sleep. Your biological clock is thrown off at first and it can make you a little tired.”

The Alaska Baseball League is one of a handful of summer leagues around the country that are affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association, meaning all players must be currently enrolled in an NCAA school to be eligible.

“There have been a lot of players who have come out of the Alaskan League and made it to the major leagues, including Barry Bonds, Randy Johnson and Jason Giambi. It’s considered the second-best college baseball summer league in the country.”

The Cape Cod League is considered to be No. 1.

Jordan loves playing for the Oilers, who are based in Kenai, about a 21/2-hour drive from Anchorage. He said they have the best fans and facilities in the league and he and his teammates enjoy celebrity status. When the team recently clinched the league championship, more than a 1,000 fans packed the stadium.

“Baseball is pretty much everything for the people here,” Jordan said. “They have a very long winter and it’s a big deal when the season starts. This is pretty much a tourist town during the summer because of the salmon fishing, but baseball takes over for the local people.

“Everyone here knows each other and we always have kids coming up to us asking for an autograph,” he continued. “All the games are broadcast on radio, and, if you go downtown, people know if you are an Oiler. It’s kind of neat.”

Jordan hopes he can continue his success into his senior year in college and get selected in next year’s Major League Baseball draft.

“I would like to give professional baseball a shot. That has always been a lifelong goal and hopefully things will work out,” Jordan said

Buhler High product is back in Kansas for NBC after spending summer in Alaska

By Brad Hallier

The Hutchinson News

bhallier@hutchnews.com

Andy Preston didn’t exactly spend his summer in a foreign country, but his summer wasn’t what he would consider normal.

Well, except for playing baseball. But that was about the only normal thing Preston was around the last two months.

Gone were the sizzling 100-degree days, shorts and T-shirts, a Wal-Mart in every mid-size city, deer bolting out on highways unannounced, never-ending prairies and sunsets.

Instead, Preston’s summer was filled with 50-degree days, long sleeves and pants, moose standing on roadsides, beautiful mountains, fabulous fishing and 24 hours of sunlight.

Maybe summertime in Kenai, Alaska was what Elton John had in mind when he sang “Don’t Let the Sun Go Down on Me”.

“It’s a little different of a world up there,” said Preston, a Hutchinson native, Buhler High graduate and former Garden City Community College standout first baseman who spent his summer playing baseball for the Peninsula Oilers in Kenai, located on a southern Alaskan peninsula.

Preston was given a pretty good idea of how different his summer would be when his plane arrived in Anchorage right before the season started in early June. He was handed a coat, much to his dismay.

“I asked, ‘What’s this for?’ ” Preston said. “I was told, ‘You’ll need it.’

“The only knock up there is the weather is freezing cold. The water temperature is 35 degrees, and the high is between 55 and 60 (degrees). The tide comes in and it gets pretty cold. The first week, I wore long sleeves, but then I kind of got used to it.”

Preston also had to get used to some daunting road trips. Think a trip from Garden City to El Dorado for a Jayhawk West doubleheader is long? Granted, that is a 480-mile roundtrip, but how about traveling from Kenai to Fairbanks, which Preston’s Oilers had to do? That trip is more than 1,000 miles.

At least Alaska’s backdrop never got old for Preston to stare at during those long journeys.

“We had a lot of fun on road trips up there,” Preston said. “It’s so beautiful up there. The mountains, the water … you can’t put it into words. It’s just magical up there.”

Playing for a successful team certainly helped Preston’s mood this summer. The Oilers were the Alaska Baseball League champions, and automatically qualified for the National Baseball Congress Tournament, which is going on at Wichita’s Lawrence-Dumont Stadium. Thus, Preston is back in a place with the familiar searing heat and fast-food joints on every corner.

“I’ve already gone to Spangle’s,” Preston said with a smile.

While Preston is back in a familiar setting, baseball was essentially his life this summer, so he never really felt out of place.

And the baseball was pretty good, too. Not just for Preston - who was named to the all ABL team as a first baseman - but the entire league as well. The Cape Cod League is widely considered the premier summer league for college players, but the ABL is still one of the most respected leagues.

Major League Baseball players such as J.D. Drew, Dave Stieb, Frank Viola, John Olerud, Rich Aurilia and Bobby Thigpen played for the Oilers.

Other alumni that played in the ABL include Jeff Kent, Randy Johnson, Mark Teahen, Mark Redman, Mike Pelfrey, Michael Young and Barry Bonds.

And if you ask Preston, the ABL is still as tough of a league as it gets.

“It’s better than advertised,” said Preston, who landed on the Oilers thanks in part to Garden City coach Chris Finnegan, who has coached in the ABL and gave Preston’s name to Oilers’ coach Thad Johnson. “It was different for me, because in juco ball, they’re throwing in the mid-80s. Righties throw 90-92 (mph), and they can locate two breaking pitches. That’s talking about guys with major-league talent. A lot of guys in this league are talented.”

Preston could be considered one of those, being he was named all-league. He hit .231, which may not seem that impressive but consider the league uses wood bats, and the Oilers play at sea level in a big park that gets plenty of rain. Still, of the Oilers’ regular starters, Preston had the fourth-best batting average. He also hit a rare home run at the Oilers’ home field, and he made only seven errors all year.

“For me, it was the physical talent you go against,” Preston said about the biggest challenge this summer. “They’ve got guys in this league that can run balls down you think are hits. The center fielders run the ball down in the gap, and the shortstops get the balls in the hole. And you’ve got to deal with failure. You’ll have games when you go 0 for 4, 0 for 4, 0 for 4, 0 for 4, and then you go 3 for 4. You’ve got to stick with it every day.”

Notice Preston didn’t say “every night.” Nights don’t exist in Alaska during the summer.

“We’d play until 11 p.m., and then we’d fish to 2 or 3 a.m., because the sun would be out,” Preston said.

Playing under sunny skies won’t be the case today when the Oilers play at 10 p.m. against the Crestwood, Ill., Panthers.

“We’re playing under the lights. That’s something we haven’t done,” Preston said.

Then again, this whole summer has been about doing things Preston and many of his teammates haven’t done before.

ABL CHAMPS: Peninsula’s 18-year-old shuts out Bucs for eight innings in 1-0 win.

By VAN WILLIAMS
Anchorage Daily News

Published: July 29, 2006
Last Modified: July 29, 2006 at 02:41 AM

KENAI — With the Alaska Baseball League pennant on the line Friday night, the Peninsula Oilers turned to an 18-year-old pitcher with peach fuzz on his face.

On paper, baby-faced Jordan Meaker didn’t seem like a logical choice. He was young, winless on the summer and had been demoted to the bullpen a month ago.

But Oilers manager Thad Johnson knew what he was doing. And although he had planned on throwing Meaker well before Friday’s must-win situation developed, the youthful right-hander made his manager look like a genius and helped the Oilers win the pennant.

Meaker threw the game of his life to propel Peninsula to a dramatic 1-0 victory over the Anchorage Bucs in front of a nearly packed house of more than 1,000 fans at Coral Seymour Park, clinching the team’s first ABL title in six years and punching the Oilers’ ticket to the NBC World Series in Wichita, Kan.

“You would think he would show a little nervousness, but if he was a little tight you never saw it,” Johnson said. “He showed he’s the real deal. He can definitely compete at this level.”

Meaker, who was one of only two pitchers on the staff without a win this summer, pitched eight shutout innings in his longest outing with the Oilers (23-12, 31-15 overall). He gave up just four hits, walked none and struck out five before giving way to closer Taylor Bills in the ninth.

“I’ve never gone more than like five, six innings in my life,” said Meaker, who came into Friday’s game having pitched just 23 2/3 innings. “I was just on. My adrenaline was going so much.”

The game was scoreless through five innings, with Meaker and Bucs starter Zack Ashwood matching goose eggs. In the sixth inning, though, the Oilers manufactured a run after loading the bases with one out. Ashwood struck out Andy Preston, bringing Jordan Opdyke to the plate.

Opdyke, a free-swinger who is prone to strike out, was probably the last guy anybody would predict could draw a walk, but he managed to lay off Ashwood’s outside change up on a 3-2 count, forcing in the game’s lone run. It was only the ninth walk for Opdyke in 126 plate appearances.

“I knew he wasn’t going to bring me a fastball,” said Opdyke, who was batting just .224. “I was seeing the ball really well. He threw that change up and I watched it (run) off the plate.”

Given that the ABL pennant chase came down to the final game of the season, it was fitting that the winning run came on a close play.

The Oilers came into the three-game series needing to win two of three, but after losing Wednesday’s series opener 3-1 in 12 innings, the Bucs were the ones in control. Anchorage needed to only win Thursday or Friday — then beat last-place Athletes in Action in an if-necessary game — to win their first ABL title since 1998.

It didn’t happen, though. Instead, they lost consecutive games and were forced to watch the Oilers celebrate the championship and a berth to the NBC World Series. Dozens of fans joined the dog pile of players celebrating on the field after the game.

“It’s hard to accept right now,” said Bucs second baseman Dustin Hood. “After 46-some games, all the hard work, showing up and playing every day — then to lose like this, it’s tough.”

The Bucs (26-16) had limited chances against Meaker, getting a runner to third base just twice.

The Oilers didn’t have many more scoring opportunities, although they took advantage in the sixth. With one out, Jake Kahaulelio reached on third baseman Robert Taylor’s fielding error, went to second when David Newby walked and third after Brian Van Kirk singled.

It wasn’t long before Opydke delivered the biggest RBI of the season. It wasn’t pretty — he would rather have ripped a single — but it was good enough to make the Oilers champions.

The Oilers will play Prestwood (Ill.) on Wednesday in the first round of the NBC World Series.

Peninsula didn’t look like ABL contenders at the beginning of the season, dropping five of its first six league games. But then the team got hot at home and rode that momentum through the final series of the regular season.

“I don’t know how many wins we had when we scored in the seventh, eighth and ninth inning, but we’ve had a ton of them this year,” Johnson said. “Our offense just stays mentally locked in and knows that at the end we’re gonna get a chance.”

In the end, the Bucs couldn’t muster the same offense that put them in the title hunt. They managed only nine hits — all singles — in the final two games here.

Friday’s matchup, though, could’ve gone either way.

“I don’t know if they really outplayed us,” Hood said. “They may have caught one more break than we did, but it was a hard-fought game. Both teams laid it on the line. You can’t ask for much more than that.”