North Carolina State University Athletics
Forest City Advances To CPL Finals
8/11/2010 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Aug. 11, 2010
(Note: This is the seventh of periodic reports on current NC State players in summer baseball. All regular-season stats are final.)
RALEIGH, N.C. — Andrew Ciencin snapped a 1-for-16 playoff funk with three hits and two RBIs Tuesday night to lift Forest City to a 7-3 victory over Peninsula in the deciding game of their best-of-3 semifinal series in the Coastal Plain League playoffs.
The Owls won the series opener 6-4 on Sunday at Hampton Roads, thanks in part to a single, triple and two RBIs from Wolfpack outfielder Tarran Senay. The Pilots evened the series at a game apiece on Monday with a 3-1 victory in Forest City before Ciencin’s heroics helped send Forest City back to the league finals. The Owls will face the Edenton Steamers starting Thursday in Edenton.
Forest City is unlikely to repeat as summer baseball’s mythical national champions after winning the honor last year, but the Owls are red-hot and very much on track to repeat as champions of the CPL.
Dating back to the end of the regular season, Forest City has won 11 of 12 games and now sports an overall record of 41-20. The Owls, 37-19 in the regular season, cruised through their first playoff series, sweeping Asheboro 5-0 and 7-2 before defeating Peninsula in the semifinals.
While Ciencin and Senay had big games against Peninsula, Wolfpack catcher Danny Canela has quietly pieced together a 15-game hitting streak that dates back to July 3. Canela is 21-for-53 (.396) with eight doubles, two home runs and 12 RBIs during the hitting streak. He finished the regular season hitting .290 with 12 doubles, two homers and 16 RBIs. He was second on the Owls with a .458 slugging percentage. Canela is 4-for-13 with a double and a home run in Forest City’s two playoff series.
Ciencin wound up the regular season hitting .286 with two doubles, two home runs and 11 RBIs in 17 games after joining the Owls on July 10. Senay batted .274 with eight doubles, three home runs, 15 RBIs and a team-leading seven steals in 36 games.
PerfectGameUSA, which publishes the weekly summer baseball rankings and awards a national championship to the top-ranked team at the end of the summer, annointed Forest City the 2009 summer national champions after the Owls steamrolled the CPL, winning 46 of 55 regular-season games and then sweeping the Petit Cup playoffs in five games for a final record of 51-9.
The Owls are ranked No. 9 in the current PerfectGameUSA rankings but the odds are stacked against them repeating as national champions.
Haymarket Eliminated In The Valley League Playoffs
One of the teams currently ranked ahead of Forest City, the seventh-ranked Haymarket Senators of the Valley League, should fall out of the top 10 entirely after losing three games to one to Front Royal in the second round of the Valley League playoffs.
Wolfpack lefthander Grant Sasser made one appearance in the playoffs for the Senators, starting and pitching five innings Monday in a 6-5 loss to Front Royal. Sasser allowed three runs, only one of which was earned. He struck out two and did not issue a walk. The Haymarket bullpen coughed up the lead in the late innings.
Sasser, who was the Valley League’s top pitcher in 2009, didn’t report to Haymarket until late June this summer and played a lesser role for the Senators. He made six appearances, including five starts, and had no decisions and a 4.50 ERA in 22 innings. He allowed 25 hits, walked just three and struck out 20.
Y-D Ends Cape League Summer For Maynard
The team most likely to replace Forest City as summer national champions, the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox of the Cape Cod League, began the 2010 playoffs by sweeping the Harwich Mariners 7-2 and 6-1, ending the season for NC State catcher Pratt Maynard.
Maynard was the starting catcher for the East Division in the Cape League All-Star Game and was named Harwich’s team MVP after batting .241 with seven doubles, two home runs and a team-leading 20 RBIs in 38 games. Maynard, who set a school record for walks during the spring, led the Cape League in bases on balls with 32 and finished with a .414 on-base percentage.
On the other side of the Cape League playoff bracket, Cotuit swept Falmouth in the first round, ending righthander Rob Chamra’s summer. Chamra made 12 appearances for the Commodores, including two starts, and went 2-2 with a 3.45 ERA. He allowed 27 hits, walked 12 and struck out 19 in 31 1/3 innings.
Riggins Finishes Northwoods Season
First baseman Harold Riggins left the Madison Mallards of the Northwoods League after Madison’s 7-4 victory August 7 over Eau Claire. Riggins had a big summer for the Mallards, batting .337 with 10 doubles, eight home runs and 32 RBIs in 45 games.
With six games left in the regular season, Riggins was second in the league with a .542 slugging percentage and eighth with a .433 on-base percentage. He was tied for second in the NWL with eight home runs and was fourth in batting average.
Lefthander Nick Rice ended his summer at Madison with a 1-2 record and a 2.79 ERA. He made 13 appearances, including one start, working 19 1/3 innings.
