slideshow - California Collegiate League (CCL)

Each season CCL teams try to recruit the best collegiate players from the best colleges in the country, and each season the CCL teams inevitably have to wait for some of those players to show up because the College World Series, the pinnacle of the college experience, goes on until late June. Such is the case this year with the San Luis Obispo Blues who are waiting, and excitedly watching the CWS like all of us, for 3B Bobby Wernes to report for summer duty.

A junior, Wernes was selected by the Houston Astros in the 30th round in the MLB draft earlier this week. He was named to the All- SEC Defensive team and has made two appearances on SportsCenter’s #SCTop10 this season, including the No. 1 play on March 18, and in this gem caught on a Razorback broadcast.

At the plate, Wernes is hitting .280 with seven doubles, six triples and five home runs. He ranks second on the team in runs scored during the NCAA Tournament, while his six triples on the year is the most by any Arkansas player since the 2002 season.

The Blues are also waiting for two more Razorbacks, C Tucker Pennel and RHP Cannon Chadwick, and Chad Spanberger, the first baseman in the embedded video, is set to play with the Conejo Oaks. And, by the way, the teammate pictured with Wernes above? That’s last years’ CCL all-star second baseman Rick Nomura who played for the Conejo Oaks.

June 9, 2015 Well, it happened: The first (and second) official rainout in CCL history. Today’s scheduled game in Santa Barbara between the host team Foresters and the Neptune Beach Pearl has been postponed due to rain and rescheduled for Thursday at 1PM. Shortly thereafter a second game between the visiting San Luis Obispo Blues and the home Conejo Oaks was also called. The rainouts mark the first time in the 22-year history of the CCL that a league game has had to be postponed due to rain. But, considering, what California is going through in terms of our severe drought, we are thankful to have the rain. Let it pour! Baseball will be waiting.

Southern California Catch outfielder Chance Gusbeth (Cal St Bakersfield) had a great game versus UCLA in the opening game of the Regionals, including hitting a homerun and throwing out a runner at the plate. See complete story Bakersfield vs. UCLA Coverage Courtesy: CSU Bakersfield Athletic Communications – Release: 05/30/2015

From the Stockton Ports: A.J. Griffin, one of the most successful performers in CCL history when he pitched for the Santa Barbara Foresters, is working his way back to MLB after being sidelined since 2013 and is expected to pitch tonight (June 2) in a rehab start in Stockton, CA. Read the press coverage here.

Academy Barons’ Alum Dillon Tate (RHP, UC Santa Barbara) was selected 4th overall in the 2015 MLB First Year Player Draft by the Texas Rangers. Watch the video MLB.com when he talks about his time with the Academy Barons

Danny Muno, infielder for the New York Mets and formerly of the CCL’s Conejo Oaks, was called up briefly this season to fill in for an injury-depleted Mets infield. Muno played in four games for the Mets before reassignment and in his first MLB at bat, recorded a hit. See video here

Twelve years in the big leagues and CCL Alum Chad Qualls is still bringing it. The Former Santa Barbara Forester has logged time with eight different MLB clubs and 730 relief appearances, and counting.

The Los Angeles Brewers come into the 2015 season with two consecutive CCL titles under their belt. Last year they beat the Neptune Beach Pearl twice on the final day of the CCL Playoffs to claim the championship, and in 2013 they beat the Santa Barbara Foresters in a two-out-of-three winner-take-all championship series. What will 2015 hold?

WICHITA, Kan. – The Santa Barbara (Calif.) Foresters had defeated the Seattle (Wash.) Studs twice in previous National Baseball Congress World Series (NBCWS) championship games in 2008 and 2012.
The Foresters would not be denied a third time Saturday (Aug. 9) in the 80th annual championship, overcoming deficits twice before prevailing 3-2 in 12 innings to win their fifth NBCWS title and the third in the past four years.

Santa Barbara (5-1 in tournament play) scored single runs in the sixth and eighth innings to tie the game, and went ahead for good in the 12th on Granger Studdard’s two-out double which scored Ford Stainback from first.

Jaylin Davis led the 15-hit attack with four hits, including two doubles, and scored twice.

Troy Cruz, the fourth of four pitchers for Santa Barbara, earned the win with three innings of shutout relief, allowing two hits and being helped out when Davis threw out a runner trying to score on a single in the 10th that prevented the Studs from scoring the winning run.

Seattle (5-2), which broke a three-game losing streak in championship games last year with a win over Wellington (Kan.), was stymied in its effort to win back-to-back championships.

-Mike Dean, NBC Statistician