Baseball returns home from Cape Cod

Tech sent nine players to the Cape Cod Baseball League (CCBL) this summer. The CCBL is the most highly regarded league which college baseball players go to fine tune their skills against some of the best competition in the country. In addition, a combination of eight current and new Jackets joined various summer league clubs to continue to improve their skills.

Rising Junior Matt Wieters, who was tabbed as a Freshman-All American in 2005 and a first team All-American in 2006, lived up to his high billing with the Orleans Cardinals in the CCBL in the summer. He led his team with a .307 batting average (2nd in the CCBL) while hitting eight home runs (2nd most in the CCBL) and driving in a team high 21 runs. One of Wieters' strengths, his plate discipline, helped him earn a .417 on base percentage, which ranked second best in league. His discipline did not slow down his power though, as he slugged .535, third best in a league that is widely known as a pitching dominated league.

Many scouts have carved him in as a surefire first round pick in the 2007 MLB First Year Player Draft, and some even have him as a top 10 overall pick.

His teammate in Orleans, Tim Gustafson, who missed the last half of the 2006 season, bounced back from a tired arm with a strong summer. He finished with a 3.27 ERA in six relief appearances. Selected in the ninth round in the 2006 draft, Gustafson has chosen to return to Tech for his senior year after a disappointing Junior season.

The Cardinals missed the playoffs in the CCBL. David Duncan and Tim Ladd both joined the Cotuit Ketleers, and won the Western Division in the CCBL. They were swept in the first round of the playoffs.

Duncan, one of Tech's key returning starters, posted a 3.06 earned run average while holding a 3-2 record in seven appearances, five of them in starts. Ladd, the Jacket's top southpaw out of the bullpen, looked very sharp in nine appearances with the Ketleers, sporting a sparkling 1.20 ERA in nine appearances. He allowed just two earned runs all summer.

Brad Rulon, Michael Fisher and Ryan Turner each joined the Brewster Whitecaps, who finished second in the Eastern Division while Luke Murton and Chris Hicks (Wareham Gatemen) were also on playoff squads. Rulon, projected as a setup man in 2007, was solid on the hill as well. In 14 games, he posted a 2.84 ERA and notched two saves in 25.1 innings.

Turner, one of only four seniors on the projected 2007 squad and potential opening day starter, posted a 1-2 record with a 3.57 ERA in seven games, six starts.

Murton, who emerged as a solid bat in the middle of the Tech lineup, struggled at the start of the summer, going hitless in his first 23 at bats. After breaking through with a triple for his first hit, he ended the summer with a .234 average.

Hicks, a potential starter in the rotation in 2007, had a great summer, allowing just three earned runs in 18.1 innings (1.47 ERA) in seven games, three of them starts.

In addition, current Jackets Jason Haniger, Chris House, Eddie Burns and Michael Hutts played in the Northwoods League along with Tech newcomer Zach Von Tersch. Rising Junior Brad Feltes is participated in the Coastal Plain League, while red-shirt freshman Jay Dantzler took the field in the Valley Baseball League. Freshman Patrick Long played in the Cal Ripken, Sr. Collegiate Baseball League with the Maryland Orioles.

Tech lost four starting seniors from the 2006 squad, Mike Trapani, Andy Hawranick, Steven Blackwood and Jeff Kindel. Four draft picks, Wes Hodges, Blake Wood, Whit Robbins, Lee Hyde and Kindel, chose to skip their final year and start a professional career. Additionally, top catching recruit Torre Langley chose to forego a college career to begin a major league career.

Newcomers to the 2007 club include outfielders Ben Baker, Curtis Dupart, Matt Harper, Michael Klindt, infielder Patrick Long, Tony Plagman, Jeff Ussery, left-handed pitcher Charlie Blackmon, and right-handed pitchers Will Hirsch, Andrew Robinson and Von Tersch. Tersch and Dupart were both drafted, but have not signed with a professional team.

Despite the 2007 season being more than six months away, the baseball team will be starting fall practices the last half of September.

Head Coach Danny Hall will have a lot of information to look at in order to evaluate player's before the start of the new season.