Fairbanks batters love doubleheaders: Preseason Wrap, 3/20-3/27

Nigel Morton came through big
in TWO games this week.
Photo credit: Goldpanners.com

Note to ABL teams: you'd better pack a pretty big lunch if you're headed up to Fairbanks for a doubleheader. There will be some guys up there that aren't afraid to break out the big bats twice in one day.


Darian Sandford (Panners) is a name that keeps popping up, and for good reason. The Park University outfielder swiped five more bases in Friday's doubleheader against Harris-Stowe in NAIA play. That brings the Park-career-leader's total to 18 swipes in just 12 games. The grounds crew in Fairbanks may need to look into patching the field's turf because we might see a hole or two burned into it before the summer's over.

In D1 ball, another Goldpanner had a good two-game day: Stanford's Jake Stewart. In the first game of Saturday's DH against USC, Stewart was 3-for-4 with a run. In the nightcap, he scraped out a pair of hits on three at-bats, also with a run. Stewart's bat has been a little quiet so far this season, so it's good to see him starting to heat up.

Southwest Baptist's Nigel Morton was 4-for-7 good -- that's 2/2 (plus a walk) in game 1 and  2/5 in the second matchup. Morton picked up an RBI in the nightcap as well.

The Panners couldn't steal all the thunder though. The other residents of Growden Memorial Park have a recruit on their hands that is also capable of being doubly-good: Tyler Windall (Fire). Windall, out of Fresno State, put together a 3-for-4 early game, complete with three runs and 2 batted-in. I guess he must have been a little winded from touching so many bases because he only managed to go 2-for-4 with a run in the nightcap.

Crank made up for a hitless first game
with four smacks in the nightcap.
Photo credit: AnchorageBucs.com

Some players, while putting up their own stellar performances, weren't so predictable in doubleheaders this week. Some have been bipolar, you might say. Coley Crank (Bucs) went hitless for Michigan in the first game of their twin billing, but then made up for it in game two with a four-for-five performance, tacking on three RBI's and a run. Crank's bats have been sporadic this season; I'm hoping he'll put together a string of these big games.

Down in the JuCo ranks, the big wood (edit: did you know that Arizona junior colleges actually use wood bats? I didn't. Thanks to rsbharley for the tip!) was being swung by Cam Schiller (Bucs) of Yavapai. He also had a 4-for-5 game in the early portion of a doubleheader. This comes on the heels of Tuesday's 2-for-3 job.


And while we're on the Bucs' hitlist, let's talk once again about Bret Atwood. His 3-for-4 day on Saturday kept his hitting streak alive at fifteen games strong. Unfortunately his multi-hit game streak was snapped at nine games this week, but needless to say, it's unusual for him to end a game without multiple hits. Atwood will be a second-year Buc this season and I'm sure that Anchorage's younger team is licking their chops over this kid.

T. Hoenshell went 8 IP, giving up only
four hits and two runs.
Photo credit: Goldpanners.com

What about the pitchers? This week's gold star goes to Panners signee Thomas Hoenshell out of Cypress College. Over an even eight frames, Hoenshell  gave up a mere 4 hits and allowed only two runners to cross the plate. That was good enough to pick up the big W for the day.

There were a lot of good performances this week, too many to sum up in paragraph form. So here's a quick recap of some of the others:

- Saturday was good to Jarod Berggren (Panners), who went 2 for 3 with a run in the latter matchup of Northern Colorado's doubleheader against Utah. Berggren is hitting .304 on the season.

- The Bucs' Eddie Rohan was solid in game 1 of Winthrop's DH: 2 for 5, 2 runs and 3 RBI. One of those hits was a two-run homer.

- Bucs and Eagles teammate Sean Sullivan couldn't let Rohan steal all the thunder: in game 2, he put together a 2 for 3 game with 3 runs and 2 RBI.

- Marc Schoch (Fire) was 2-for-4 on Saturday, batting in a pair and touching the plate for himself on one occasion. Schoch's La Salle Explorers picked up the win on the strength of their potent bats and a two-run complete game by Kevin Christy.

- Mike Tauchman (Panners) had an identical line: 2/4, 1R, 2RBI. Tauchman notched the first run of the Saturday game and had an RBI triple to his credit later on.

That about wraps it up. Did I miss someone? Leave me a comment and let me know. And speaking of people I missed...there is STILL time to get in on the All-Time ABL Players: Reader's Choice. Leave me a comment with your favorite ABL players and I'll include them in next week's post.