Monthly Archives: June 2019

QUAKES WRAP UP FIRST-HALF TITLE

Posted on June 12, 2019 by | Comments Off on QUAKES WRAP UP FIRST-HALF TITLE

The Rancho Cucamonga Quakes clinched the Cal League South division first-half title on Tuesday night, qualifying for the playoffs for the fifth straight year. A loss by second-place Lancaster officially locked up the first half title for Rancho, who went on to beat Inland Empire, 7-5.

The win gave the Quakes a season-high five-game winning streak and stretched their lead in the division to seven games. Remarkable about Rancho Cucamonga’s 39-24 record is that they did their damage on the road. While their home record sits at 14-14, the Quakes are 25-10 away from LoanMart Field.

The visiting Quakes scored two runs in the top of the ninth as DH Jeren Kendall homered to break a 5-5 tie and C Connor  Wong doubled in SS Jeter Downs to make it 7-5. Releiver Max Gamboa (3-1) had come on with one out in the 8th and finished it off to earn the win.

Rancho Cucamonga is the defending Cal League champion and will join the Visalia Rawhide in the playoffs as first-half winners. The rest of the playoff field will be decided by the second-half results.

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PLAYER OF THE WEEK: MICKEY MCDONALD

Posted on June 12, 2019 by | Comments Off on PLAYER OF THE WEEK: MICKEY MCDONALD

Photo: MiLB.com

Stockton’s Mickey McDonald earned Cal League Offensive Player of the Week  honors with a line of .556/.600/.944 over five games. The Ports’ RF went 10-for-18 with three doubles and two triples against Visalia and San Jose. On Saturday he went 4-for-4 with two doubles, a triple and three runs scored as the Ports beat the Giants 4-3.

McDonald was drafted by the A’s in 2017 in the 18th round and split 36 games between the AZL and short-season Vermont. Last season he batted .284/.356/.353 at loA Beloit.

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PITCHER OF THE WEEK: GARRETT SCHILLING

Posted on June 12, 2019 by | Comments Off on PITCHER OF THE WEEK: GARRETT SCHILLING

 

Photo: MiLB.com

Garrett Schilling of the Lancaster JetHawks went six shutout innings against Rancho  Cucamonga on June 5th to earn Cal League Pitcher of the Week honors. The right-hander struck out 10 while allowing just three hits and a walk.

Schilling was drafted by the Rockies in the 18th round of the 2017 draft and made 10 starts in the short-season Northwest League that year. He spent all of 2018 with the Asheville Tourist of the South Atlantic League (loA) and went 8-5 with a 3.27 ERA over 26 outings, 25  starts. This season, Schilling is 4-2 for Lancaster after a win Monday over Lake Elsinore and has thrown 48 2/3 innings with 17 walks and 53 K’s.

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ALL-STAR GAME ROSTERS ANNOUNCED

Posted on June 11, 2019 by | Comments Off on ALL-STAR GAME ROSTERS ANNOUNCED

The 2019 California League All-Star Game will be played on June 18th at San Manuel Stadium, home of the Inland Empire 66ers. Rosters were announced last week with five of the 66ers on the South roster, plus the coaching  staff:

NORTH DIVISION

SOUTH DIVISION

The festivities start at 3:30PM with an All-Star fanfest, a home run derby and a Cal League Hall of Fame induction ceremony featuring MLB Hall-of-Famer Rollie Fingers.

INFO AND TICKETS

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NUTS WIN THIRD STRAIGHT, 4-1 OVER VISALIA SAT. NIGHT

Posted on June 10, 2019 by | Comments Off on NUTS WIN THIRD STRAIGHT, 4-1 OVER VISALIA SAT. NIGHT

Photo: Steve Cummings/CalLeagueHeat.com

The Modesto Nuts got five shutout innings from starter Ian McKinney and newly acquired OF Jake Scheiner blasted his first Cal League homer as the Nuts topped the Visalia Rawhide 4-1 in Visalia Saturday night.

McKinney (4-3) allowed six hits and three walks but always managed to dodge trouble as he earned the win. With the Nuts leading 1-0 in the fifth inning, Scheiner fired a strike to home plate on a single to left field to cut down the tying run and end the inning.

Visalia starter Jeff Bain (4-4) took the loss despite striking out 13 batters over seven innings. Bain allowed six hits and two walks along with two earned runs.

Photo: Steve Cummings/CalLeagueHeat.com

The Rawhide, who have already clinched the North division first-half title, outhit the Nuts 10-8, including four hits from 1B L.T. Tolbert, who raised his batting average to .380.

C Cal Raleigh went 1-for-3 for Modesto, driving in two runs, while SS Johnny Adams knocked in the final run in the ninth inning to make it 4-1.

The five-game series continues Sunday at 6PM.

 

 

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FRIDAY NIGHT: MODESTO OUTLASTS VISALIA

Posted on June 7, 2019 by | Comments Off on FRIDAY NIGHT: MODESTO OUTLASTS VISALIA

The Visalia Rawhide suffered a rare home loss on Friday night when the Modesto Nuts pushed across an eighth-inning run to eke out a hard-fought 5-4 victory in Cal League North division action. Nuts starter Ljay Newsome bounced back from two rough outings to throw six strong innings while SS Johnny Adams belted a homer and a triple to pace the offense.

Modesto built a 4-0 lead going to the bottom of the fifth inning, but the first-half champion Rawhide pecked away with single runs in the fifth and sixth before tying it up in the seventh.

The Nuts came up in the top of the eighth and took the lead back with a homer off the bat of CF Connor Kopach, his third of the season. It was a major breakthrough against Rawhide reliever Mack Lemieux, who had held opponents to a .156 batting average coming into his 12th relief appearance. Kopach touched him up for the deciding run as Lemieux (4-1) took the loss.

Newsome went six innings and allowed seven hits and a walk with five strikeouts and two earned runs. Reliever Kyle Wilcox (2-1) got the win despite a shaky inning where he surrendered the lead, in part because of two wild pitches.

Five of Visalia’s 11 hits came from the top two spots in the batting order where SS Jancarlos Cintron went 3-for-5 and 1B L.T. Tolbert was 2-for-5. Tolbert has batted .410 over his last 10 games (16-for-49) and clocks in at .358/.431/.453 on the year.

The five-game series continues tomorrow night

OTHER SCORES

LANCASTER – 0
LAKE ELSINORE – 5

RANCHO CUCAMONGA – 6
INLAND EMPIRE – 5

SAN JOSE – 3
STOCKTON – 8

 

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PLAYER OF THE WEEK: AUSTIN BECK

Posted on June 4, 2019 by | Comments Off on PLAYER OF THE WEEK: AUSTIN BECK

Photo: MiLB.com

Stockton OF Austin Beck was named Cal League Offensive Player of the Week as he batted .478/.536/.783 over six games last week. In going 11-for-23, the big game was at Lancaster where Beck went 3-for-4 with a double and his sixth homerun while driving in three. He’s currently fifth in the league in RBIs with 29.

Drafted in the first round by the A’s in 2017, Beck started out in the AZL and played 123 games at loA Beloit last year. He’s playing in the Cal League for  the first time at age 20 and is Oakland’s #5 prospect per MLB Pipeline.

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PITCHER OF THE WEEK: AARON PHILLIPS

Posted on June 4, 2019 by | Comments Off on PITCHER OF THE WEEK: AARON PHILLIPS

Photo: MiLB.com

San Jose right-hander Aaron Phillips threw six shutout innings against Lancaster to earn Cal League Pitcher of the Week honors. Phillips  allowed just a hit and a walk against five strikeouts at the Giants beat the JetHawks 1-0.

Drafted out of St. Bonaventure in 2017, Phillips is in his first year at San Jose. Over his last four starts he has thrown 22 innings and allowed three earned runs on 11 hits with seven walks and 13 strikeouts.

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RAWHIDE WRAP UP NORTH FIRST-HALF TITLE

Posted on June 4, 2019 by | Comments Off on RAWHIDE WRAP UP NORTH FIRST-HALF TITLE

The Visalia Rawhide won the only Cal League game on Monday’s schedule by a score of 4-2 over Stockton and clinched the first-half title in the North division. RF Anfernee Grier knocked in a pair of runs in the top of the second inning and single runs in the  third and seventh were enough for the visiting Rawhide. Starter Matt Mercer went three innings allowing two earned runs while three Visalia relievers combined for six scoreless innings. RHP Luis Castillo (5-0) picked up the win.

The Rawhide made a mockery of the North division as they now hold a 38-15 record overall and the club’s record at home is a ridiculous 23-4. The first-half title locks Visalia into the Cal League playoffs in September.

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