North Carolina State University Athletics
Summer Playoffs Getting Underway
8/6/2010 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
Aug. 6, 2010
(Note: This is the sixth of periodic reports on current NC State players in summer baseball. All stats are through games of August 5.)
RALEIGH, N.C. — Playoffs in the Coastal Plain and Valley leagues began earlier this week, and the Cape Cod League playoffs start Friday evening. NC State players could figure prominently in several playoff series.
The CPL playoffs began Wednesday night with Forest City taking game 1 of its best-of-3 series vs. Asheboro by a 5-0 score. Rising sophomore outfielder Tarran Senay homered and drove in two runs for the Owls, who won their last six regular-season games and eight of their last nine to finish at 37-19 and nail down the top seed in the eight-team Petit Cup playoffs.
Senay, catcher Danny Canela and infielder Andrew Ciencin all have played key roles for Forest City, the defending Coastal Plain League champion.
Canela, a rising sophomore, went 1-for-2 in the opening game of the Asheboro playoff series, extending his current hitting streak to 12 games. Canela finished the regular season hitting .290 with 12 doubles, two home runs and 16 RBIs in 32 games. He was second on the Owls with a .458 slugging percentage. During his 12-game hitting streak, Canela was batting .429 (18-for-42) with seven doubles, one home run and 11 RBIs.
Ciencin, who began the summer with Harwich in the Cape League, joined Forest City the second week of July and batted .286 with two doubles, two homers and 11 RBIs in 17 games with the Owls. Ciencin was the starting second baseman for Forest City’s 2009 juggernaut, which went 51-9 and won the PG/Crosschecker summer national championship.
Senay finished the regular season hitting .274 with eight doubles, three home runs, 15 RBIs and seven steals in 36 games. He led the Owls with 36 walks, which gave him a team-best .465 on-base percentage.
While Forest City moved to within a game of advancing to the second round of the playoffs, the Morehead City Marlins fell to the Edenton Steamers in the first game of that opening-round series, 4-3 in 12 innings. Rising senior catcher Chris Schaeffer went 1-for-4 in the loss.
Schaeffer finished the regular season hitting .245 with two doubles, two home runs and 24 RBIs in 33 games. He was tied for second on the squad in RBIs and finished second in walks with 22 (to only 18 strikeouts) for a .400 on-base percentage.
Haymarket Takes Opener In Valley League Playoffs
The top-seeded Haymarket Senators eliminated the New Market Rebels two games to none in their first-round Valley League playoff series. NC State lefthander Grant Sasser did not pitch in either game for Haymarket.
Haymarket will play the winner of the Front Royal vs. Winchester series in the second round of the Valley League playoffs.
Maynard, Chamra Both Involved In Cape League Playoffs
Pratt Maynard and the Harwich Mariners open play in the Cape League’s East Division playoffs Friday afternoon against the top-seeded Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox.
Harwich features one of the most talented teams in the Cape League, with a league-best seven Cape League All-Stars on the roster. Despite that, the M’s struggled along at the .500 mark most of the season and finished the regular season at 22-21-1. Harwich’s longest winning streak was four games, and its longest losing streak three games.
Maynard struggled early for Harwich before moving into the starting lineup for good in late June. He finished the regular season hitting .241 with seven doubles, two home runs and a team-high 20 RBIs in 38 games. One of his home runs was a walk-off grand slam in a 4-3 win July 13 vs. Hyannis. Typically, Maynard led the Cape with 32 walks, six more than anyone else in the league, and finished fourth on the Cape with a .414 on-base percentage. He finished ninth in RBIs. At the conclusion of the regular season, Maynard was named the Harwich team Most Valuable Player.
Harwich will face a tough test in the opening round. Y-D, ranked No. 1 in the latest PG/Crosschecker poll, won 11 of 14 games in one late-season stretch to take overtake Brewster for the top spot in the Cape League’s East Division standings. Y-D finished the regular season at 27-17, best in the Cape League. The Sox won four of six games from Harwich during the regular season.
Speaking of Maynard, ESPN’s Keith Law listed him as the No. 15 prospect in the Cape League, saying. Click here for Law’s top 30 Cape Cod League prospects.
In the Cape League’s West Division playoffs, the second-seeded Falmouth Commodores will square off with third-seeded Cotuit. Wolfpack righthander Rob Chamra had a solid season for Falmouth, posting a 2-2 record with a 3.45 ERA in 31 1/3 innings. He made 12 appearances, including two starts. He finished the regular season with his best outing of the summer, allowing three runs on seven hits in six innings in a 6-3 win over Hyannis.
Falmouth won six in a row in one late stretch to nail down the two seed, while Cotuit has lost six in a row heading into the playoffs. Cotuit defeated Falmouth four times in six games in the regular season, including the last three.
Madison, Riggins Fighting For Playoff Berth in NWL
The Northwoods League playoffs don’t begin for another two weeks, but with 10 regular-season games to play, the Madison Mallards are in fourth place, five games behind the Eau Claire Express for the second-half lead in the NWL’s South Division. The winners of each half-season meet in the first round of the playoffs. Madison would have to leapfrog over two other teams in order to catch Eau Claire, meaning the Mallards’ playoff hopes are pretty much on life support at this time.
That doesn’t diminish the season turned in by Mallards first baseman Harold Riggins, a rising junior for NC State. Riggins was hitting .333 with 10 doubles, eight home runs and 31 RBIs in 43 games. Riggins was third in the league with a .547 slugging percentage and 10th with a .430 on-base percentage. He was second in the league in home runs and 12th in RBIs, despite missing the first 15 games of the season.
Nick Rice, a rising senior lefty for the Wolfpack, has not played quite as prominent a role for Madison as Riggins, but has pitched well. In 12 appearances, including one start, Rice is 1-2 with a team-best 1.86 ERA.
