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West Coast League

WCL on OSC

by Bruce Baskin
March 6, 2014 - West Coast League (WCL)


WCL WEST

BELLINGHAM has signed P Hever Bueno (Arizona State) and C Jimmy Sinatro (Gonzaga). Bueno was the Mets' 17th round draft pick last year while Sinatro, son of former MLB C Matt Sinatro, was a 2012 35th rounder for the Astros.

COWLITZ has 30 players committed for 2014. Signees include 3B Caleb Hamilton (Oregon State), who's hitting .321 as a frosh. Hamilton was a Nats' 38th rounder in 2013. P Bryan Clough (Hawaii) went 5-2 for Klamath Fall last year.

KITSAP has signed OF Landon Cray (Seattle U), who hit .313 as a frosh last spring. Cray is batting .355 after eight games with the Chieftains this season. His uncle, Paul Sorrento, averaged 21 MLB homers between 1992 and 1998.

VICTORIA has been busy adding players, including P Bret Helton (Utah), who started last year's WCL All-Star Game while with Walla Walla. Longtime minor league skipper Dennis Rogers will be a Harbour Cats coach this season.

WCL SOUTH

BEND reports incoming C Cole Ferguson (SE Missouri State) leads his team with a .355 batting average and .548 slugging percentage. Ferguson is an Oregon native who spent two years at Western Nevada.

CORVALLIS' 2013 All-WCL C Dane Lund (Oregon State) is redshirting this spring after transferring from San Jose State. Lund will return for his fourth year with the Knights after hitting .343 last season.

KLAMATH FALLS is cobbling a roster together including the likes of three UC-Riverside players (P Jordan Kron, 2B Edgar Morales and OF Thomas Walker) and three Oregon recruits (P Brac Warren, OF Casey Soltis and C Slade Heggen).

MEDFORD OF Matt Taylor (Western Oregon) went 7-for-17 with 7 RBIs over four recent games. Taylor hit .236 with 3 HRs in 34 games for the Rogues last summer after two years at Lane CC, where he was an All-NWAACC pick.

WCL EAST

KELOWNA is tapping into Louisiana for its 2014 roster. The Falcons have signed IF Kevin Carr and OF Andrew Godbold from SE Louisiana plus LSU-Shreveport OF Conner McMullin. Godbold is a cousin of former MLB star Andre Thornton.

WALLA WALLA will bring back IF John Skrbec (ND State), who tied for the team lead with 4 HRs and 28 RBIs in 2013. The Sweets also signed four UCLA commits: SS Josh Morgan, IF Sean Bouchard and Ps Grant Hockin and Jacob Nix.

No word from WENATCHEE on who's playing there this summer, but the AppleSox will host an Alumni Night in July commemorating their 15th season. Sox games can be heard via radio on KCSY-FM this year after 14 seasons at KPQ-AM.

Future YAKIMA VALLEY P Reed Garrett (VMI) struck out 13 in a no-hitter vs. Lafayette on Feb. 21, the first of the D1 season. Garrett, one of three VMI players signed with the Pippins, was named Collegiate Baseball's player of the week.

CAUGHT ON THE HOP: The champion Corvallis Knights have named team mascots Li'l K and Mack the Knight as their 2013 Staff Members of the Year. The two appear at all Knights home games and various non-ballpark events throughout the year...Former Wenatchee OF Cole Gillespie is in camp with the Seattle Mariners after eight seasons with four other MLB organizations. He's ticketed for AAA Tacoma...Longview, Washington, home of the Cowlitz Black Bears, will serve as de facto home base for this column. The Black Bears are entering their fifth WCL season in 2014...No word out of Coeur d'Alene, Idaho about a proposed ballpark that would house the inactive Spokane Riverhawks WCL franchise, which went dark after the 2009 season. Former World Series star Don Larsen, who lives in the area, has backed the ballpark but (if anything), the game has taken backward steps in CDA with the demolition of what had been the city's only facility that might've temporarily hosted WCL baseball... During the season, we'll take you on a virtual tour of all 12 league cities and ballparks with the "WCL Road Trip," beginning in June with Victoria and ending in August with Kelowna after a swing through Western Washington, Oregon and Eastern Washington...

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West Coast League Stories from March 6, 2014


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