Huskers in Summer Leagues

With summer leagues hitting the halfway point of the season, it is a good time to check on the Huskers playing around the country as they prepare for the 2010 college baseball season.

The largest contingent of Huskers is in the Northwoods League, which has six Nebraska players in the wood-bat league. The group is led by pitcher Sean Yost, who was selected Tuesday to play in the Northwoods League All-Star game on July 21.

Yost has been a starter for Duluth, posting a 3.07 ERA in seven starts, but has just one win to show for it. He has fanned 31 over a team-high 47.2 innings, as he is second on the team in strikeouts and leads the squad in both innings and starts. Cody Asche joined Yost in Duluth and made 10 appearances before a broken bone ended his summer league action.

A trio of Huskers have helped La Crosse jump out to an 8-2 record and a South Division lead during the second half of the Northwoods League slate. Kash Kalkowski is 1-1 with a 0.79 ERA in four games, fanning nine and allowing just four hits over 11.1 innings of work. Boomer Collins is hitting .189 with two homers and eight RBIs, while Cory Burleson is hitting .185 with a homer and 10 RBIs.

Kale Kiser rounds out the Husker contingent, as he is playing for the Wisconsin Woodchucks. Kiser is hitting .252 with six RBIs and 19 runs scored in 35 contests.

Up in Alaska, Casey Hauptman has been a major reason why the Anchorage Bucs are 23-14 on the season. The rising junior is 4-1 with a 3.92 ERA, fanning 23 and walking four in 36.2 innings. Hauptman leads the team in innings and is second in wins.  He is one of two Huskers pitching in Alaska this summer, as right-hander Matt Freeman is throwing for Athletes in Action, but has been limited to three appearances.

In the Jayhawk League, Eric Rose has been a workhorse out of the bullpen for Hays, making a team-high 13 appearances in 27 contests. Rose is 0-1 with a team-high four saves, fanning 22 over 17 innings and holding opponents to a .239 average. The left-hander has allowed only one extra-base hit to the 67 batters he’s faced during the summer.

In the Cape Cod League, Mike Nesseth is pitching for Cotuit, where he is 0-2 with a 7.16 ERA in six games. He has fanned 11 over 16.2 innings seeing time as both a starter and a reliever.

Another group of Huskers are spending their summer playing for the Beatrice Bruins. Offensively, Tyler Farst is hitting .311 with two homers and five RBIs in just 16 contests, while Adam Bailey joined the team two weeks ago and is hitting .231 with three homers and seven RBIs in 15 contests. The Bruins, who have won their last five games to move into second place in the M.I.N.K. League, have been led by a couple of strong pitching efforts. Left-hander Jordan Roualdes is 1-2 with a 3.07 ERA, and comes off his best outing of the summer, a 14-strikeout, three-hit shutout over Clarinda on Friday night. Right-hander Michael Mariot is 2-3 with a 3.65 ERA and fanned 11 in a complete-game 3-2 win on Sunday. Mariot and Roualdes rank 1-2 for the Bruins in innings and strikeouts. This is the last season for the Bruins, as Head Coach Bob Steinkamp is retiring after 40 years.

In Junction City (Kan.), left-hander Nate Kerkhoff is 2-1 with a 3.31 ERA, highlighted by a six-inning effort against MINK leader St. Joseph, which featured eight strikeouts, as he handed the Mustangs their first home loss of the summer.