BOCA RATON, Fla. – The Florida Atlantic University baseball team has sent a dozen players from last year's Conference USA regular season champions to various leagues across the country this summer. Here is a look at how each Owl is doing with their respective team, and the list includes four summer league all-stars.
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Cape Cod League
DeSantolo is batting an even .300 through 25 games, ninth in all of the CCBL, with his 24 hits tied for 12th in the league, and ranking second on the Harbor Hawks (just one behind the team leader). He leads the squad and is fourth in the CCBL with 17 runs scored, and slots eighth among all league players with a .417 on-base percentage. The rising junior has been named to the upcoming CCBL All-Star Game, to be held this Sunday, as a reserve for the West Division team.
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Collegiate League of the Palm Beaches
Sandberg just recently joined the nearby Sailfish, making his first appearance with three scoreless innings of relief on July 10, allowing only one hit while striking out six. He started and earned the win on Monday, going four innings, with two runs coming against him on five hits. He again totaled six strikeouts in the team's 5-3 win over the Palm Beach Navigators. He hasn't walked a batter in either outing.
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Florida Collegiate League
Alvarez has appeared in nine games for the Scorpions. He had an RBI in the team's first game, and the very next day, walked in his first plate appearance, and added an RBI double. A litte more than a week later, on June 24, he had a three-hit effort – plus a walk – with two runs scored in a win over Winter Garden. The soon-to-be senior also added a stolen base in that game.
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Futures League
- INF BJ Murray – Brockton Rox
Appearing in 15 games thus far, Murray is hitting .293 with two doubles, a triple, a home run and four RBI. He has also scored 13 runs, while earning more walks (14) than strikeouts (12). On Monday, he had a 4-for-4 game with a walk, double and his summer home run, in an 11-0 whitewashing of the Pittsfield Suns. The Rox are just 1 1/2 games from the top spot in the league.
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New England Collegiate Baseball League
Vescelus has been a key member of the bullpen for the Sharks, with his first five appearances (and six of his first seven) scoreless. Overall, he has a 3.68 ERA, giving up just three earned runs on four hits in 7 1/3 innings. He has struck out 10, including two hitters in four of those outings. The Sharks are 19-11 at this point and lead the Southern Division of the NECBL by 1 1/2 games.
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Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball League
- OF/RHP Mitch Hartigan – Amsterdam Mohawks
Hartigan bats .299 with a team-high 25 walks (against just 13 strikeouts) for the league-leading Mohawks, who have already clinched a playoff berth with 15 games to go in the regular season. At the plate, the rising sophomore has nine doubles, a triple, three home runs and 11 RBI, while scoring 19 runs. Additionally, he has appeared in two games as a pitcher, both of the scoreless variety. He had a perfect inning with two strikeouts on July 3, and four days later, picked up a two-inning save, with another flawless showing, retiring all six batters he faced. The squad is 26-8, three games up in their division, and Hartigan was named as a reserve for the PGCBL East All-Star Team, which will take place on Tuesday night.
In the same league, Josey has also shone as a two-way player. Offensively, the fellow soon-to-be sophomore is batting .291, has four doubles and 11 RBI with 16 runs scored. He has been the team's primary shortstop, making up 2/3 of all possible innings there. Last but not least, on the mound, all three of his relief outings have been scoreless, with the Diamond Dawgs picking up a win in all three. He struck out two batters in two of those efforts.
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Cal Ripken Collegiate League
Cooley has pitched in five games, with four starts, for the top team in the Cal Ripken League (and it's really not close … at 26-6, the Big Train are atop the standings by eight games). In his best outing, he picked up the victory on June 28 by going 4 2/3 innings, giving up just an earned run on four hits, with one walk and a summer-best seven strikeouts. His last time out, on July 13, he started but did not factor in the decision in a 9-6 Bethesda win, going three innings and striking out two more.
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South Florida Collegiate League
Asnes has eight appearances, with two starts, for the Blazers. In four of his last six outings, he's not allowed an earned run, including as part of a pitcher's duel on July 15. In the team's 1-0 loss to the Fort Lauderdale Knights, he threw four innings of three-hit baseball, with the lone run unearned. He struck out two in the effort. He has struck out 13 batters this summer, with a season-high of four coming in 2 1/3 innings on June 12.
Urbaez has played in 21 games and has been a selective hitter, with only seven strikeouts in over 60 plate appearances. He has walked seven times, and has stolen seven bases. The Snappers are 26-12, just three games back in the South Division, but with the league's second-best record. Urbaez has played every infield position but 1B, and was named to the SFCL All-Star Game, played this past Sunday at FAU Baseball Stadium.
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Valley League
Evans, coming off a redshirt year, just joined his FAU teammate Toney with the Express, and has gotten off to a tremendous start with his summer club. In three games, the first coming on July 11, he is 4-for-10 (.400), with at least a hit in each. He singled in each of his first two appearances, and then, this past Sunday, he went 2-for-4 with a home run, two RBI and two runs scored in the team's 8-5 win.
- C Nick Toney – Strasburg Express
Toney has been a leader for the North Division-leading Express, hitting .286 with five home runs and 18 RBI in 20 games played. He has also been behind the plate for each of the team's two no-hitters this summer, and for 130 out of a possible 178-plus innings (just a tick under 75 percent). One of his five homers was a walkoff grand slam, coming with one out in the bottom of the ninth inning in the team's 11-8 comeback win over the Front Royal Cardinals. Another came in the most recent no-no, a three-run shot on July 8, and he added No. 5 on the year in the team's next game. Toney is the Owls' fourth summer all-star, and he was also chosen to participate as a Valley League representative in the 2019 Southeast Prospect Showcase in Cary, North Carolina.
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These 12 Owls will join a host of other returnees and the team's new incoming class on campus this fall to prepare for the 2020 campaign, which begins in February.
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