Oilers show no mercy to Rock City

Peninsula team hand Red Sox an early exit via mercy rule

Ryan Gebhart was just one of many hot bats for
the Oilers in Wichita today.

Still licking their wounds from their stunning defeat from the Wichita Elite Sluggers the previous day, the Peninsula Oilers pulled no punches in their outing against the Rock City Red Sox. The Oilers made short work of the opposition in the 8-0 victory, bouncing Rock City from the NBC World Series tournament with a mercy-rule shortened loss.

In contrast to yesterday's loss, the Oilers' pitching in this game was rock solid with Jake Sabol (Central Michigan) pitching an even 6.0 two-hit innings, walking two and striking out four. Ryan Wooley (Alabama Birmingham) pitched the only necessary inning of relief, surrendering two hits but no runs and striking out a pair.

The bats were obviously hot this morning, with everyone reaching base at least once. Ryan Gebhart (Missouri) went 2-for-4 and scored two runs, and Garrett Wittels (Florida Int'l) knocked in a stellar 4 RBI. The team's offensive output was sufficient to put the Red Sox out of their misery and the Oilers were awarded the victory after six and a half frames.

The Oilers will advance to take on the loser of today's 5 p.m. (2 p.m. Alaska time) game between the Liberal Bee Jays and the San Diego Force. Time for the next-round game is TBA. Update: game starts at 1 p.m. central (10 a.m. Alaska).

Oilers drop shocker at NBCWS

Alaskans lose opening match 6-3 to the Sluggers

Garrett Wittels was successful at the plate, but the
Oilers couldn't top the Elite Sluggers on Wednesday.

In an opening-round upset, the Wichita Elite Sluggers handed the Peninsula Oilers -- the Alaska League's sole representative at the NBC World Series tournament -- a stunning upset defeat, plating six runs to the Oilers' 3 and advancing to the next round. The Oilers find themselves in the loser's bracket and facing elimination should they lose another game between now and the title game.

The Oilers' bats picked up nine hits but were only able to push the three runs across. Garrett Wittels led the offense, going 2-for-4, knocking in two of the runs and touching the plate once himself. James Lilley, Patrick Wisdom, and Michael Miller each had two-hits a piece; Miner-turned-Oiler Pablo Bermudez went 1-for-2 and drew two walks on the day.

With as many hits as the team put together, it's hard to imagine losing the game, but the pitching staff couldn't hold up their end of the bargain. After four solid innings by Kellen Moen (7H, 1ER, 6K) things started to unravel. The next four pitchers covered four innings pitched and surrendered five runs. Mike Wolford got the loss for his two-run inning, though it was somewhat of a tough-luck loss as neither run was earned.

Moving into the loser's bracket, the Oilers will get a chance at redemption against the Rock City Red Sox of North Carolina tomorrow. The game begins at 10:30 AM CDT, which is 7:30 AM AKDT.

Reflections/Photo Post: Oilers @ Miners 6/24/2010

I am officially on the Wittels Wagon.

Another crazy game in the valley...don't I say that every time I go to a Miners game? This one was a back-and-forth contest between the Oilers and the Miners, which I thought was destined to go into extra innings as we were all knotted up, down to the final out of the ninth, full count and the bases loaded. Then the unthinkable happened; the Oilers walked in the winning run and the Miners leap-frogged them for first place in the Alaska Baseball League.

There were a lot of stars in this game, but if there was one guy who looked like a big-league player last night, it was Oilers third-baseman Garrett Wittels. I knew going to the ballpark that he was a guy to watch, but I was trying not to drink the Kool Aid. Well, I drank it. He's good. We all know he can hit, but that's not really what stood out to me. He's really got something special going on in two other areas of his game. First, he can flash the leather. He made several gritty plays in the field to save his team some runs. Great work in the dirt by this guy. Second, his makeup. He's a team leader, very fired up and vocal. Maybe a little too vocal sometimes, as the umpire threatened to bounce him and Miners' 3B Quinn Pippin out of the game for exchanging some unpleasant words early on. But he's also constantly encouraging his teammates and making sure everyone is aware of the situation.

Last night was my third look at Miners reliever James Allen, a guy I was really impressed with the first time I saw him. These previous two sightings of him he's been roughed up a little bit and looked like he's just missing his spots a tad. Obviously, since he walked in the tying run, he's not getting the calls that he'd like. But one positive thing I'd like to note about Allen is that I really like his mentality. He comes with a game plan and doesn't let the opposing team rattle his cage. On the other hand, when Wittels tip-toed from first to second to get a prancing stolen base, completely on Allen, without even drawing a throw, it makes me wonder if he's a little too locked in to his own mind, but I digress. My point is that he's unflappable. Even after he walked in the run to tie the game, he came back and struck out Wisdom 1-2-3. And to be fair, he didn't surrender a hit in that inning; it was all walks, one of them intentional, and some good sacrifice hitting by the Oilers.

2010 Players to Watch: Peninsula Oilers

The Kenai River: legendary fishing destination for tourists
and Oilers baseball players alike.
Photo credit: CC/Frank K.

Late last night I posted the Glacier Pilots' Players to Watch. I figured, what the heck, why not rally and whip out the Oilers' PTW while I'm at it? So I did. The following is the list of players who I have found interesting on the Oilers 2010 roster. Once again, these are not necessarily the best players, but the ones who have some interesting combination of things like talent, notable performances, background stories, prospect buzz, etc. At the end are a list of "peripheral vision" guys, ones to keep track of who are also interesting but I didn't really have enough to write a whole blurb about. And of course, I'm always open to the idea that there could be a hidden gem just waiting to be discovered on the team, so if you've got a bead on a guy that I overlooked please let me know!

As an aside, one thing that I found particularly hilarious is the number of recruits who, under the "personal" section of their biography pages on their school websites, have "loves fishing" written. I'm really curious as to whether or not that has anything to do at all with their decision to play in Alaska, particularly Kenai. I've been reading the great book Diamonds in the Rough and it seems like the one constant in this league throughout the years has been the guys who come up to play baseball and end up spending more time on the river than the field.

RHP Kyle Barraclough
St. Mary's
Sophomore - 6'3" 200lb

Barraclough was the workhorse of the 2009 Oilers' phenomenal pitching staff, leading the team's starting pitchers in ERA (1.42), starts (9), and IP (57.0). He finished the year with a 2.61 (47/18) K/BB ration and a BAA of .178. He will obviously be a key second-year player for the Oilers in 2010. Can he do it again, or was 2010 a fluke? We'll find out.

5/29/10 Odds & Ends

The Bucs' and Pilots' new infield is
open for business.
Photo courtesy of Anchoragebucs.com

We're getting really close now. Tomorrow will open the last full week before two big events: the start of baseball in Alaska, and the MLB draft. There are a lot of posts I want to have done before then and I'm blogging like a madman to keep up. I've gotta do two more draft eligible lists and the draft ranking ASAP, and I also want to do a season preview. It's gonna be a race to the finish, but once its over we can focus on the fun stuff...ABL baseball! But right now, let's wrap up the little tidbits of the past week...

- The Goldpanners have a couple articles, penned by none other than Don Dennis himself, up on their website. One is regarding the "first wave" of Panner players who will be coming up to open the team's season, and the other is about the old days of summer ball and a little history on the Panners and how the whole scene got started.

2010 Player Profile: Garrett Wittels

Garrett Wittels
3B/RHP - Peninsula Oilers
Bats: R - Throws: R
Height: 6'1" - Weight: 195 lb
College: Florida International
Year: Sophomore
Hometown: Bay Harbor Island, Florida

Garret Wittles is a two-way player, manning the third bag as well as the mound for Florida International. He hasn't seen a lot of inning son the mound for FIU this year, though, because he's had something else going on: one of the longest hitting streaks in NCAA Division 1 history. That, along with his great stats -- team-best .408 average, a OPS of .982, and a handful of steals to boot -- caught ESPN's attention on their First Take program. At the time of writting, Wittels is in third place all-time in DI ball with 45 consecutive games.

This is obviously a monumental feat, but Wittels' 45 game streak is of interest to Alaska League fans for another reason: he's just two shy of taking sole control of second place away from another ABL alumni. Phil Stephenson (Panners, 1980-81) set what was, at the time, the longest hitting streak in DI history in 1981 with 47 games. His record stood until 1987 when Robin Ventura hit 58.

5/15/10 Odds & Ends - Less than a month to go edition

Strange things are done in the midnight sun...
Like the Midnight Sun Baseball Classic.  #4 on ESPN's
Must See list for 2010.

Here we are, just a few short weeks until the opening salvos are fired in the all-out battle that is to be the 2010 Alaska Baseball League season. OK, so maybe that's a little extreme, like I'm trying to sell tickets to the monster truck rally, but I'm seriously stoked. I will unfortunately be out of state for the first couple weeks, but when I get back, watch out because I'm going to be pounding the games hard.

Today also marks my last final exam for the semester, so until I find some sort of job (and unless you guys start clicking the hell out of the ad banners on here, that will happen eventually) I'm going to make this blog my full-time gig. Pretty quick here I'm going to write up a big "to do" list so you can all see what's coming up, and I'm going to knock everything out as fast as I can so I can caught up before the season starts and the real fun begins.

So that's what's going on in jjack-land. Now, for the rest of the ABL world...

- Here's a guy that snuck by me when I was finishing up the Pro Prospects list...Tyson Ross (Bucs, 2006) made the Oakland A's bullpen this spring and has apparently been doing very well. The Bucs' website has a link to this great article on the Minor League Ball blog over at SB Nation. According to those guys, Ross has a mid-90's fastball that he compliments with a "nasty" slider and a decent off-speed pitch. He has had some control problems in the past but seems to be ironing them out. The Minor League Ball blogger also says that he's got the makeup of a starter in the long run, but will stay in the pen for now.