2007 Weekly/Monthly and Yearly Awards
Player and Pitcher of the Tournament
Player and Pitcher of the Tournament
A Pitcher and Player of the Tournament were selected by the press box at the conclusion of last night's Championship game won by the Dubois Bombers over the DuPage Dragons by a final score of 5-2.
Left-handed pitcher Mike Manns of the DuPage County Dragons was named Pitcher of the Tournament for 2007 for his 7 innings of 3-hit (all singles), shutout relief in the Dragons opening round victory over the Quincy Gems on Friday, August 10. Manns entered the game to start the 5th inning with the score tied at 3, and pitched through the 11th inning of the Dragons 12 inning 5-3 victory over the Gems. Manns earned the victory with his effort, which improved his final season record to 3-2 with a league-best ERA among qualifying pitchers (minimum 45 innings) of 2.75. Mike is from New Lenox, Illinois, and will be a senior this fall at Eastern Illinois University.
The Player of the Tournament was outfielder Brandon Knox of the Dubois County Bombers. In his two games, Knox (R/R) was 5-7 with 4 singles and a double, and scored 4 of the Bombers 10 runs in the tournament. In addition to going 5-7, Knox also reached on a walk for an astounding .750 on-base percentage, paving the way for the majority of the Bombers' scoring. Knox finished the season at .329, which would have put him in second place in the batting race had he joined the team at the start of the season. His 86 plate appearances were very short of the minimum 125 required. Brandon is from Omaha, Nebraska, and will be a junior this fall at Creighton University.
The Pitcher of the Second Half of the 2007 CICL regular season is Ricky Bowen of the Danville Dans. The right-hander from Jasper, Alabama, made 5 starts in the second half of the rrgular season, won 2, pitched a complete game, and had a league-leading 2.61 ERA. He also led the league in strikeouts with a whopping 44 K's in 31 innings pitched, 18 more than the runner-up in strikeouts. Batters averaged only .218 and managed only 26 total hits in his 31 innings of work. Bowen didn't join the team until late June so did not have enough innings to qualify for season leading statistics, but his overall 2.43 ERA would have been one of the best had he pitched 8 more innings with similar results. Bowen will be a junior this fall at Mississippi State University.
The Player of the Second Half of the 2007 regular season is left-handed hitting Thomas McCormick of the Quincy Gems. McCormick, an outfielder, finished in the top 3 of 8 offensive categories for the half, leading in 3 of those categories. He led the league in runs with 20, led in hits with 29 and led in total bases with 42; he was 2nd in average at .345 (29-84), 2nd in RBI with 16, 3rd in slugging at .500, 3rd in on-base percentage at .423 and tied for 2nd in homers with 3.
McCormick also garnered the Player of the First Half award and Player of the Week for Week #8. McCormick hails from Houston, Texas, and will be a junior this fall at Missouri - Rolla.
The final week of the season was a long week, running from Monday, July 30, through the end of the regular season, Tuesday, August 7.
The Player of the Week for that final week is Matt Wille of the Quincy Gems. For the week, Wille led the league in batting at .438 (14-32), led in hits with 14, led in total bases with 17, was 5th in slugging at .531, 2nd in on-base percentage at .500 and led the league in stolen bases with 7. The productive week enabled Wille to end the year tied for 6th in the batting race at .299 and 3rd in stolen bases with 23. Wille is an outfielder (L/L) from Crystal Lake, Illinois, who will be a senior this fall at St. Joseph's.
The Pitcher of the Week is Matt Nichols of the Dubois County Bombers. During week #9, the right-handed Nichols made 1 start, a 7-inning complete game shutout victory over Danville on August 3 and also pitched 3 innings of shutout relief against Quincy on August 7. In the two appearances, Nichols allowed a total of 5 hits in 10 innings, all singles, while fanning 14 and walking only 4. Nichols joined the Bombers in mid-July and compiled a 2-0 record with an ERA of 1.04 during his short stint with Dubois. Matt is from Newburgh, Indiana, and will be a junior this fall at Southern Indiana.
This week's CICL Player of the Week is Thomas McCormick of the Quincy Gems. This is the second Player of the Week award for McCormick this season; he was also the Player of the First Half.
For the week, the left-handed hitting outfielder tied for the league lead in RBI with 6; led in hits with 11; led in runs scored with 9; was 2nd in hitting at .579; 2nd in slugging at .737; 2nd in on-base percentage at .636 and was 2nd in total bases with 14.
McCormick is from Houston, Texas, and will be a junior this fall at Missouri-Rolla.
This week's Pitcher of the Week is left-hander Dallas Sims of the Dubois County Bombers. Dallas pitched a complete game 5-1 victory over Danville on July 25 at Danville to extend his record to 4-1 for the summer. Sims allowed only 3 hits, all singles. The lone run allowed was earned and came with 1 out in the 1st inning. The next 8-2/3 innings he shut the Dans out.
Sims is from Floyds Knobs, Indiana, and will be a senior this fall at Lee University in Cleveland, Tennessee.
This week's Pitcher of the Week is Michael Manus of the Dubois County Bombers. In two appearances for the week, including one start, Manus was 1-0 in 7.2 innings pitched. He allowed 0 earned runs on only 3 hits, all singles, while fanning 5 batters. Batters averaged .111 against him. For the season, the left-hander from Greensburg, Indiana, is 1-1 with a save and an ERA of 2.52 in 25 innings pitched. Manus recently completed his career at Lincoln Trail Community College.
This week's Player of the Week is James Meador of the Danville Dans. For the week, Meador batted .333 (6-18) and drove in 6 runs and had 2 homers and a triple. He was 1st in RBI, 1st in homers, 1st in slugging at .778, 1st in total bases with 14, the only player with a triple and tied for the league lead in walks with 3. A versatile utility player, Meador is from Ramona, California, and will be a sophomore this fall at San Diego.
This week's Player of the Week Award goes to Ryan Duffy of the DuPage County Dragons. The catcher/first baseman led the Dragons to a 4-1 record for the week against the Danville Dans by driving in 13 runs in the series. The only game Duffy failed to drive in a run was the only loss of the week, though he had 3 base hits in the game.
Overall for the week, Duffy batted .421 (5th), led in slugging at .842, led in RBI with 13, led in doubles with 5, led in total bases with 16 and tied for 3rd in hits with 8. He leads the Dragons in batting at .291 and is now tied for the league lead in RBI with 27. Duffy is from Naples, Florida, and will be a junior this fall at Mississippi State.
The Pitcher of the Week is also a Dragon, left-hander Matt Jernstad who wins the honor for the second time this summer. During the week, Jernstad was 1-0 in one appearance, a start against Danville where he pitched 7 shutout innings allowing only 3 singles while striking out 5 Dans. The Dans' 3 hits added up to a .130 batting average for the game.
Jernstad once again leads the league with a 1.95 ERA and 4 wins. Matt is from Oswego, Illinois, and will be a senior this fall at Northern Illinois.
The 2007 Player of the First Half Award goes to Thomas McCormick of the Quincy Gems. The Gems outfielder from Missouri-Rolla started and played all 26 games and finished the first half leading the league in slugging at .564, leading in homers with 5, leading in total bases with 57, was 2nd in RBI with 22, 2nd in hits with 34, 5th in on-base percentage at .437, 3rd in batting at .337 (34-101) and tied for 3rd in runs with 20. McCormick is from Houston, Texas and will be a junior this fall at Rolla.
The Pitcher of the First Half Award goes to Dan Kapala of the Dubois County Bombers, capping off an excellent half that saw the right-hander also garner two weekly awards. Kapala's 0.69 ERA leads the league by almost two full runs (qualifying pitchers = 1 IP/game). In the first half, Kapala made 5 appearances, including 3 starts, and allowed only 3 total runs, 2 earned runs, in 26 innings pitched. Batters averaged only .223 against him, struck out 22 times and had only 2 extra base hits out of the 21 allowed, both of them doubles. Kapala is from Royal Oak, Michigan, and will be a senior this fall at Notre Dame.
This week's Pitcher and Player Awards go to two key players who helped the Dubois Bombers to a 5-2 record pulling them into a 4-way tie for the league lead at 13-13.
The CICL Pitcher of the Week Award for the week ending July 8 is Dan Kapala of the Dubois County Bombers. The right-hander made two appearances during the week including one start and earned the victory in each game. He was the starting and winning pitcher Saturday in the Bombers' 3-0 victory over DuPage, pitching 6 innings and allowing only 4 hits.
For the week, Kapala was 2-0 in 11 innings pitched while allowing 2 runs, only 1 earned, while striking out 10. This is the second weekly award this summer for the Notre Dame senior-to-be who hails from Royal Oak, Michigan.
The CICL Player of the Week Award this week goes to Derek Melton, also of the Dubois County Bombers. For the week, the left-handed hitting outfielder led the league in batting at .448 (13-29); led in hits with 13; led in slugging at .621; led in total bases with 18; tied for the lead in runs with 8; tied for 2nd in RBI with 6; tied for 3rd in doubles with 2; was 4th in on-base percentage at .469 and was one of 9 players who hit a homer during the week.
Melton is from Trenton, Ohio, and recently completed his career at Wabash Valley Community College.
The CICL Pitcher of the Week Award for week #4 of the 2007 season is shared between Connor Sestak of the Danville Dans and Matt Jernstad of the DuPage County Dragons.
Matt Jernstad pitched a 7 inning complete game 1-0 shutout at home against the Dubois County Bombers on June 26, scattering 6 hits and a walk. The victory raised Jernstad's record to 2-2 for the year, lowering his earned run average to a league-leading 1.54. A left-hander, Jernstad hails from Oswego, Illinois and will be a senior this fall at Northern Illinois University.
Connor Sestak of Danville earned his second weekly honor for the 2007 season by also pitching a 7 inning complete game shutout as the Danville Dans defeated the DuPage County Dragons 2-0 at Lisle on June 29. Sestak successfully kept the Dragons scoreless despite walking 7 and giving up 4 hits. The victory ran Sestak's record to 2-1 and lowered his earned run average to 2.14, second only to Jerstad. Also a left-hander, Sestak is from Springfield, Illinois, and will be a sophomore this fall at Purdue.
The Player of the Week this week is Casey Martin of the Dubois County Bombers. Martin led the league in hitting this week at .423 (11-26), led in hits with 11, led in RBI with 8 and was tied for 2nd in total bases with 12. He was also 5th in on-base percentage at .464 and 5th in slugging at .462.
The CICL Player of the Week award for the third week of the 2007 season goes to Thomas McCormick of the Quincy Gems. The left-handed hitting outfielder led or tied for the lead in seven offensive categories for the week: batting at .556 (10-18), slugging at 1.000, on-base percentage at .619, hits with 10, triples with 1, homers with 2 and total bases with 18. He was 2nd in RBI with 6 and 4th with 4 runs.
McCormick is from Houston, Texas, and will be a junior this fall at Missouri-Rolla.
The Pitcher of the Week this week is Dan Kapala of the Dubois County Bombers. The 6-04, 215 pound right-hander made one start and pitched 7 shutout innings against the Danville Dans on June 20, getting a no-decision in a game eventually won by the Dans in the bottom of the 9th. Kapala faced only 26 batters, 5 over the minimum, and allowed only 4 hits, all singles, while striking out 5.
Kapala is from Royal Oak, Michigan, and will be a senior this fall at Notre Dame.The CICL Pitcher of the Week Award for the week ending Sunday, June 17, goes to right-handed pitcher Dave Nykiel of the Quincy Gems.
Nykiel started and won the Gems' 2-0 victory over the Dubois County Bombers on June 15, going eight innings and allowing just one hit and no walks, striking out 9. Another Bomber batter reached on an error but Nykiel still faced only 25 batters, only one over the minimum as the Bombers turned a double play retiring one of the runners.
Nykiel is from Tinley Park, Illinois, and will be a senior this fall at Northern Illinois University.
The Player of the Week Award goes to second baseman Ben Wolgamot of the Danville Dans. Ben led the league in hitting at .458; led in doubles with 4; tied for the lead in on-base percentage at .500; tied for the lead in runs scored with 6; tied for the lead in total bases with 15; was 2nd in hits with 11; 3rd in slugging at .625 and stole 3 bases during the week.
Wolgamot is from Danville, Illinois, and just finished his career at Danville Area Community College.
For the abbreviated first week of the 2007 season, Connor Sestak of the Danville Dans is the Pitcher of the Week and Jon Myers and Scott Hauber of the Quincy Gems share Player of the Week honors.
Sestak made one appearance, starting the Dans game against the Dubois County Bombers in Huntingburg, Indiana, in which the Dans eventually won by a shutout score of 5-0, the Dans' only victory for the week. Sestak went the first 5 innings, allowing only 2 hits and no runs, fanning 5 and walking 4. The Left-handed Sestak is from Springfield, Illinois, and will be a sophomore this fall at Purdue.
Jon Myers had a league-leading slugging percentage of 1.000 for the Gems' first 3 games, going 5-11 (.455) with 2 homers to lead the league, 4 RBI and led the league in total bases as well. Both homers and all 4 RBI came in the Gems' thrashing of DuPage Saturday night by a score of 12-1. Myers will be a sophomore this fall at Meramec CC and hails from St. Peters, Missouri.
Scott Hauber had the best batting average for the short week at .583 (7-12), led the league in hits and tied for the league lead in on-base percentage (.667) and doubles (2). Hauber is from Villa Park, Illinois, and will be a senior this fall at Quincy University.
Myers and Hauber were instrumental in the Gems 2-1 record for the week.