Hitter of the week
Justin Ramirez- Arizona Christian: .813avg, 13-16, 5R, 5 doubles, 8RBI, 3BB vs College of Idaho, Kansas Wesleyan, OPSU, #12 MidAmerica Nazarene.
Pitcher of the week
Dylan McDonald- Vanguard (CA): 1-0, 7ip, 2h, 0r/er, 0bb, 14k, 75 pitches- 66 strikes. Carried a perfect game in 6.1 innings.
Other players receiving consideration this week: Luis Rodriguez Gallo- Thomas (GA), Blaise Foote- LSUA, Austin Young- The Masters (CA), Kaiden Cardoso- UAV (CA).
Touching Base
In this first ever edition of ‘Touching Base’ we take a look at week 1, which is by no means a measuring stick for the season; there is a lot that will change from one month to the next in this game. But that doesn’t mean there weren’t eye-opening series from week 1.
LSUA sweeps Oklahoma City-An out of conference head coach told me that I should be on the lookout for LSUA to make things interesting, but I wasn’t thinking a sweep of #11 Oklahoma City. The offense looked capable, throwing up 34 runs in 25 innings of play. The pitching staff held #11 Oklahoma City to 3 hits in 2 of the 3 games played, with the exception of one wild game 2 where 25 total runs were scored. I fully expect OCU to shake this weekend off, and face a good test in Clarke (IA). As for LSUA, the Generals head south to play #23 Loyola in New Orleans this weekend.
The Coach Calderone invitational in Arizona kicked the season off, and the two teams that stood out the most were Arizona Christian, who went 4-0 in the invitation, while scoring 53 runs in 4 games. And Embry-Riddle (AZ) who went 3-1 with 2 Top 25 wins over #12 MidAmerica Nazarene (KS) and #24 Taylor (IN). Benedictine-Mesa (AZ) and College of Idaho each went 3-1, #12 MidAmerica Nazarene and #24 Taylor (IN) went 1-2, while Kansas Wesleyan and Oklahoma Panhandle State went 0-4.
Brewton-Parker (GA) takes series vs #25 Keiser (FL) in a very close set of 3 games, with 2 of them decided by 1 run and the largest margin of victory being 3. BPC and KU played to a strong weekend that had some exciting finishes. In games 1 and 3 BPC used 9th inning runs to extend or win the game; in game 1 BPC scored 3 to send the game to extras and then in game 3, BPC right fielder Jacob Mantooth homered in the top of the 9th to give BPC the lead and ultimately win the series. Next up for BPC is a 3-game set vs Ave Maria (FL), while #25 Keiser (FL) will face #8 STU on Tuesday, then the East/West Challenge Thursday-Saturday.
— Robby Gutierrez
‘Touching Base’ is a short weekly check-in of the ‘Re-Entry Rules’ blog into the world of NAIA Ball in lieu of a weekly podcast this year. Please consider subscribing to receive these articles before they drop on social media.