North Carolina State University Athletics
Buchanan Makes All-Cape, 3 Others Win Championships
8/20/2009 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
RALEIGH, N.C. — The 2009 summer baseball season proved fruitful for several NC State players. Several had standout individual seasons and three played for teams that won their league championship.
Rising junior righthander Jake Buchanan topped the list of postseason honors by earning a spot on the Cape Cod League’s postseason All-Cape League team. Pitching for Cotuit, Buchanan went 3-1 with a 0.84 ERA. He made seven appearances, six of them starts, and allowed 33 hits and six walks while striking out 38 in 43 innings. He was once named Cape League pitcher of the week and was written up on espn.com in a blog by Buster Olney. Cotuit lost to Bourne in the Cape League’s championship series.
Meanwhile, rising sophomores Pratt Maynard and Andrew Ciencin helped lead the Forest City Owls to one of the greatest seasons in the history of college summer baseball. Forest City won 22 of its first 24 games and 35 of its first 40 en route to a 45-9 regular season record. The Owls then rolled through the postseason unbeaten in six games to capture the league’s Petit Cup championship with a final overall mark of 51-9, good for an incredible .850 winning percentage.
Maynard was a hitting star for the Owls from the beginning. He played third base every day and finished the season hitting .318 with 16 doubles, four home runs and 38 RBIs in 49 regular-season games. He finished ninth in the league in batting, third in runs sored (42) and second in doubles. Maynard turned it up a notch or two in the playoffs, hitting .526 (10-for-19) with six doubles and five RBIs in five playoff games.
Ciencin joined the Owls at the midway point of the regular season and moved into the lineup as the club’s everyday second baseman. He batted .298 with three doubles, two home runs and 15 RBIs in 28 regular-season games. In the Owls’ five postseason games, Ciencin batted .421 (8-for-19) with two doubles and three RBIs.
In the Shendoah Valley League, Wolfpack lefthander Grant Sasser, a rising junior, was a big reason that the Haymarket Senators won the league championship series over Covington. Sasser was the ace of the Senators staff and was arguably the top pitcher in the league. Sasser went 6-0 with a 1.77 ERA and a save in 12 appearances, nine of them starts. He pitched 61 innings and allowed 43 hits, walked 16, struck out 58 and held opposing hitters to a .196 batting average. He led the Valley League in ERA and opponents’ batting average, ranked fourth in innings pitched and fifth in strikeouts. Haymarket finished with a 29-23 record.
Rising sophomore first baseman Harold Riggins did not play for a league champion, but did all he could to lift the Madison Mallards to a 38-29 record and a berth in the league championship series. Riggins batted .308 with 13 doubles, nine home runs and 48 RBIs in 57 games. He led the league in home runs and RBIs, and he won the home-run derby at the league’s midseason all-star game. Madison lost to Rochester in the finals of the league playoffs.
Cory Mazzoni, RHP, Slippery Rock Sliders, Prospect League
Mazzoni, a rising sophomore righthander, went 2-4 with a 3.91 ERA in 12 appearances, 10 of them starts, for Slippery Rock. He worked 53 innings and struck out 62 with 28 walks. The Sliders finished with a 22-31 record.
Vance Williams, RHP, Outer Banks Daredevils, Coastal Plain League
A rising sophomore righthander Williams had a strong season for the Daredevils and played a more prominent role for the team as the season progressed. Williams won his only two decisions and posted a 3.45 ERA in 16 appearances. He made one start and worked 28 2/3 innings, allowing 18 hits, walking 13 and striking out 33. Outer Banks finished with a 32-23 record.
Russell Wilson, INF, Gastonia Grizzlies, Coastal Plain League
Wilson, a rising junior infielder, was the most talked-about player in the CPL during his half-season in Gastonia. And by all accounts, his final performance was greater than the sum of his individual stats. Wilson batted just .205 while playing second base everyday, but the buzz around the league was that he made solid contact and hit into more than his share of bad luck, which pretty much summarized his entire season.
John Gianis, OF, Rochester Honkers, Northwoods League
Rochester won the Northwoods League championship, but Gianis’s contribution consisted of 18 games at the beginning of the season. The rising sophomore outfielder hit .256 with eight RBIs before leaving the team and returning home for the summer.
John Lambert, LHP, Santa Barbara Foresters, California Collegiate League
Lambert was drafted by the Chicago Cubs in June and came close to signing with the Cubs in August before opting to return to NC State for his senior season. While he was negotiating with the Cubs, Lambert made seven appearances, two of them starts, for Santa Barbara. He worked 14 2/3 innings and had an 0-2 record.
Chris Schaeffer, C, Green Bay Bullfrogs, Northwoods League
Schaeffer was Green Bay’s everyday catcher, playing in 48 games and batting .193 with six doubles, two home runs and 19 RBIs. Green Bay finished the season with a 30-37 record.
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