Matthew Clay (Port Moody, BC), left, and Owen Lusztig (North Vancouver, BC), shown here with the Coquitlam Reds of the BC Premier League, have been making an impact with the Monterey Peninsula College Lobos.

Big Man On Campus Week 3

By Matt Betts
Canadian Baseball Network

The college season continued last week and it included big games for a number of Canadians. From impressive pitching performances to impactful offensive games the past week was a good one. The top performances are highlighted below.

Morris has monstrous game

The Crowder College Roughriders may have only had one game on the schedule but Kobe Morris (Victoria, BC) made the most of it. In a 16-9 victory over Labette Community College he reached base six times, thanks to a 3-for-3 day at the plate with a trio of walks. Two of his hits came courtesy of the long ball. By the end of the game he had driven in four runs, scored four times and even showed off the wheels by swiping a base. Morris earned Canadian Baseball Network all-Canadian Second Team honours last season after hitting .384 with 15 doubles, three triples, nine home runs, 65 RBIs and a 1,091 OPS. Crowder was ranked No. 6 in the 2018 Perfect Game/Rawlings Junior College Top 50 coming into the year.

Trogrlic-Iverson picks up first win

Nick Trogrlic-Iverson (Oakville, Ont.) tossed five scoreless innings to help Central Arizona blank Gateway Community College 5-0. Trogrlic-Iverson gave up just a pair of hits and two walks, while striking out six in picking up his first win of the young season. Trogrlic-Iverson is No. 3 on Perfect Game’s Top 150 JUCO prospects list.

Canadians take the ball for William Woods, one picks up win

It wasn’t a great weekend for William Woods University as they dropped 3-of-4 to Blue Mountain College but it was Dany Paradis-Giroux (Lavis, Que.) who helped them to their lone win. The righthander worked five innings in a 5-3, Game 2 win, scattering six hits and two runs. He struck out eight to cap his outing. The Owls handed the ball to another Canadian in Game 3 of their series with Blue Mountain College. Taran Oulton (St. Albert, Alta.) allowed just two runs over six innings but it wasn’t enough as his team dropped a 2-0 decision. He allowed seven hits, a walk and struck out five.

Clay has five hits

Matthew Clay (Port Moody, BC) went 4-for-5 and drove in a run in Monterey Peninsula’s second game of the week, a 14-6 wim over Laney, while Owen Lusztig (North Vancouver, BC) had a pair of hits.. Clay added an RBI double the game before in an 8-3 win over San Francisco.

Hooge reaches in all four

The week ended with seven hits for Jaxson Hooge (Calgary, Alta.) despite his Tabor College Blue Jays coming away with only one win in four games. In Game 1, a 4-2 loss, he stroked a double, walked and drove in a run. He doubled again against Lindsey Wilson in an 8-1 loss. Next up was 17th-ranked Clarke University. The Blue Jays dropped the contest 10-8 but Hooge had himself a nice game going 2-for-4 with a walk, a triple and two RBIs. The final game of the weekend and only win featured Hooge’s best performance. In the 8-4 win over LSU Alexandria he went 4-for-4 with another double and triple, driving in three. Tabor College was picked 2nd in the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference preseason polls.

Dimitroff with home run, six hits

Senior Bryce Dimitroff (Hamilton, Ont.) went 2-for-6 with a double and two RBIs for East Central University in their season opening 11-7 loss to Southwest Baptist. The Tigers got in the win column in Game 2 with a 17-14 win. Dimitroff had a hit, a walk and a RBI in the victory. His best game came in Game 3, an 18-8 loss. He went 2-for-4 at the plate with a three-run home run. He chipped in with a hit and a walk in the final game of the series, a third loss of the series for the Tigers. Infielder Connor Stevenson (Keswick, Ont.) also had a fine week for the Tigers as he went 5-for-16 with two walks and two RBIs.

Fonseca keeps getting better

Trevor Fonseca (West Vancouver, BC) kept getting better with each passing game. It started with a hit in Cypress’ 9-5 loss to Palomar. In their next game Fonseca went 2-for-3 with a stolen base and scored four runs in a 20-1 thumping of College of the Desert. Cypress again brought the bats against San Bernadino Valley beating them by a 26-5 score. In that one Fonseca went 5-for-5 with two walks, three RBIs and scoring another four runs.

Marklund records save, Scott has four hits

Brandon Marklund (North Vancouver, BC) made two appearances for Bryan as they swept their opening weekend with a pair of wins against Rio Grande and another pair against #18 Northwest Ohio. Canadian teammate Tyler Scott (Calgary, Alta.) went 4-for-11 with three walks and two RBIs in the four wins.

Bedard, Langlois combine for eight hits

It was two Canadians powering the offence for Trinidad State Community College last week. Alex Bedard (Levis, Que.) had four hits as the Trojans split a four-game set with Garden City Community College. Xavier Langlois (Varennes, Que.) also had four hits that was highlighted by a 3-for-4 performance in Game 2 of the series.

Barclay battles Canadian counterparts

Tyrus Barclay (Wyoming, Ont.) was staring back at Bedard and Langlois from the other dugout during their series last week. Barclay went 2-for-3 with a double, a walk and three RBIs for Garden City Community College in Game 1 of their series with Trinidad State. After walking twice in Game 2 he went 2-for-3 with three RBIs in Game 3.

Swift leads William Jessup to sweep

William Jessup University and Austen Swift (Toronto, Ont.) came away with a sweep of #8 Hope International this past week. First up, however, was a midweek game with Simpson. The Warriors won that contest 19-1 behind a 3-for-3 game from Swift. He worked a walk and drove in two in the drubbing. In Game 1 of their series with Hope International Swift used a 2-for-4 game with a pair of RBIs to lead his team to an 8-2 win. Game 2 also went the way of the Warriors by a 7-4 score. Swift went 2-for-3 with a double, a walk, a hit by pitch and a RBI. He had another two hits, a walk, a hit by pitch and three RBIs to help his team complete the sweep in a convincing 9-1 win. One of his two hits in the finale was a solo home run in the first inning. Swift hit .692 on the week and the Warriors improved to 9-3.

Hendra-Brown with two, three hit games

Hits came in bunches for Alex Hendra-Brown (Victoria, BC) of Linfield College last week. In Game 1 of their series with California Lutheran he went 3-for-4 with a RBI in an 8-7 win. Later in the week against Occidental he again went 3-for-4 with a double in another victory.

Cienfuegos with six hits, Raiders improve to 6-1

Miguel Cienfuegos (Laval, Que.) had two hits and three RBIs in a 9-1 Northwest Florida State Community College win over Enterprise State Community College to start the week. Next up was two straight against East Mississippi Community College and Cienfuegos had a hit in the first one, a 6-0 win and a hit, a walk and a RBI in a 4-0 triumph. He closed the week with another two hit performance, while also driving in a run and swiping a base as the Raiders again took down Enterprise State.

Pepper picks up win

It was a solid start for Jordan Pepper (Seaforth, Ont.) as he allowed just two hits over four innings to pick up the win for the Saints of Seward County over Galveston College. He gave up three runs, all unearned, walked two and struck out three.

Mailloux races to victory

Olivier Mailloux (Ville de Quebec, Que.) earned the win for the University of Northwestern Ohio Racers over Rio Grande. He worked 4 1/3 innings, giving up seven hits and one run with three punch outs.

Berg battles for Polk State

Six hits, two walks, two stolen bases and two RBIs from Danny Berg (Saskatoon, Sask.) helped lead Polk State Community College to a 2-2 week. Rhys Cratty (Surrey, BC) had four hits and Mitch Osborne (Lindsay, Ont.) chipped in three hits for the Eagles.

Preseason accolades

Tristan Pompey (Toronto, Ont.) of the University of Kentucky Wildcats was named a Preseason First-Team All-American. He was a First-Team All-SEC and Third-Team All American in 2017 after hitting .361 during the ’17 season. Kentucky opens their slate Feb. 16 against Wofford.

Indiana University’s Matt Lloyd (Okotoks, Alta.) has been named a Second-Team Preseason All-American. Lloyd is a two-way player for the Hoosiers and posted a 2-3 record with nine saves and a 2.23 ERA on the mound while hitting .301 in 2017.

The 2018 college baseball season continues to roll on. Each week Canadians are putting on exciting performances for they schools. Check back next week to read all about the action.

If you know someone deserving of a mention in the weekly BMOC column please contact Matt Betts at mattbetts41@gmail.com