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SEC Dominance

Dakota Hudson, pictured in Hyannis last summer, has been dominant for Mississippi State this spring.
Dakota Hudson, pictured in Hyannis last summer, has been dominant for Mississippi State this spring.

 
In his first two years at Mississippi State, Dakota Hudson was on the mound for 34 fairly undistinguished innings. He was a mid-week starter as a freshman and finished with a 4.67 ERA. Last season, he pitched 16.2 innings out of the bullpen and posted some good strikeout numbers, but still had an ERA over four.

With mid-90s fastball, though, he was pegged for big things this year, and the first steps would come in Hyannis. As he had done in Starkville, he pitched both as a reliever and a starter, but the eventual Cape League runner-up Harbor Hawks soon realized what they had on their hands. By the time the playoffs rolled around, he was the de facto ace – and he pitched like it. Hudson posted a 0.64 ERA in two playoff starts and won both. He struck out 13 and allowed only six hits. He pitched eight innings of two-hit ball in game one of the championship series.

After watching from afar and welcoming Hudson back, Mississippi State coach John Cohen said the big summer had Hudson’s confidence blossoming.

One can only imagine where that confidence level is now.

Hudson has been one of the big stories of the college baseball season so far. Pitching as the nationally-ranked Bulldogs’ Friday starter, he’s 4-1 with a 0.92 ERA and has struck out 56 batters in 45.2 innings of work.

And in perhaps the best conference in college baseball, he’s been at his absolute best. In three SEC starts, Hudson owns a 0.00 ERA. And his opposition has included Vanderbilt and Ole Miss, not exactly the dregs of the league. He pitched complete games against both the Commodores and the Rebels. His performance against Ole Miss last Friday was his best yet – 11 strikeouts, four hits, 0 walks.

Hudson’s dominance has been noted more and more with each start, and it’s surely drawing the attention of scouts, too. Hudson may end up as a first-round pick in the MLB draft in June.

But for now, Hudson will try to continue his SEC dominance with his toughest test yet as the Bulldogs take on No. 1 Florida this week.

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Sneak Peek

Ricky Thomas starred for Y-D last summer and is slated to return this year.
Ricky Thomas starred for Y-D last summer and is slated to return this year.

 
It’s very early in the college baseball season, a time for small sample sizes and differing opponent quality, but it’s never too early to take a peek at which future Cape Leaguers are off to fast starts. Not every roster has been posted yet, so this is far from a complete list, but it’s a start.

  • Jeren Kendall hit .253 in 20 games for Cotuit last summer and is ticketed for a return trip this year. He’s off to a roaring start for Vanderbilt, batting .474 with three home runs and 16 RBI through 10 games. He’s also stolen 10 bases. Teammate Alonzo Jones, a highly-touted freshman who is slated to join Kendall in Cotuit, is third on the team with a .333 average. The Commodores are at Stanford this weekend.

  • Future Orleans catcher Riley Adams is hitting .481 for San Diego, against competition that includes powerhouse Vanderbilt.

  • Chatham will welcome in a pair of Seattle University pitchers, and they’ve both been lights out so far. Tarik Skubal is one of the nation’s leaders in strikeouts with 23 in 13 innings. He has walked just one batter and has a 0.00 ERA. Rotation-mate Nick Meservey, who’s also bound for the Anglers, boasts a 0.00 ERA, as well.

  • Florida’s Alex Faedo had one of the most noteworthy pitching performances of the young season when he struck out 12 in 6.1 scoreless innings as the top-ranked Gators scored a marquee win over Miami. The sophomore is slated to play for Y-D this summer.

  • Also penciled in for the Y-D rotation will be returning standout Ricky Thomas, one of the breakout stars of the 2015 Cape League season. Thomas has picked up where he left off for Fresno State, going 2-0 with a 0.75 ERA and 19 strikeouts in 12 innings.

  • Defending national champ Virginia has gotten a torrid start from sophomore infielder Ernie Clement, who is on the Harwich roster for 2016. Clement is batting .515 through eight games and is among the early national leaders.

  • Missouri state preseason all-conference pick Jake Burger is hitting an even .500 and five of his 16 hits have been home runs. Burger is set to play for Falmouth in the summer.

  • From Alabama to Texas to California, Chatham’s roster includes three hitters who have been red-hot. UC Irvine’s Keston Hiura is batting .500 with four home runs, on the heels of earning Perfect Game Summer All-American honors in the West Coast League. Texas Tech’s Tanner Gardner is hitting at a .429 clip, and Samford’s Austin Edens is at .364 with three home runs.

  • Rhode Island’s Tyler Wilson, who is slated to play for Harwich, has already picked up one Atlantic 10 award and will likely pick up a few more. The reigning A-10 Pitcher and Rookie of the Year was named A-10 Pitcher of the Week after striking out 11 in seven shutout innings against a good Maryland team last weekend.

  • Future Falmouth Commodore Kyle Nelson has already appeared in five games out of the UC Santa Barbara bullpen and has struck out 17 in 10.1 innings, while allowing no earned runs and only three hits.

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    Opening Weekend

    Eric Lauer led the Cape League in strikeouts last summer and will be part of a marquee pitching match-up on college baseball's opening day.
    Eric Lauer led the Cape League in strikeouts last summer and will be part of a marquee pitching match-up on college baseball’s opening day.

    Friday is a major milestone on the march to a Cape League summer – and a great day in its own right.

    Division I college baseball opens with 137 games on the schedule. Cape League stars past and future will be on diamonds across America. If you’re in the mood to watch, Watch ESPN has 13 games streaming Friday, beginning at 4 p.m.

    Without further ado, some Cape League-centric notes on the opening weekend proceedings . . .

    • Friday’s game between Virginia and Kent State at the Caravelle Resort Tournament in Myrtle Beach could be one of the highlights of the weekend. The Cavaliers are the defending national champs, while the Golden Flashes are a perennial mid-major contender and aren’t far removed from a 2012 trip to Omaha.Friday, the Golden Flashes will send former Orleans Firebird Eric Lauer to the hill, and he figures to give them a chance. Lauer had a terrific sophomore season last year, putting up a 1.98 ERA with 103 strikeouts. He didn’t slow down much on the Cape, leading the league with 50 strikeouts while posting a 2.04 ERA. MLB Pipeline lists Lauer as the 38th-best prospect for the 2016 Major League Baseball draft.His opponent Friday is Virginia’s Connor Jones, MLB Pipeline’s 11th-best prospect. Interestingly, Lauer and Jones were slated to be teammates in Orleans, but Jones sat out the summer after a heavy workload for the CWS champ Cavaliers. (Also an initial member of the Orleans pitching staff? No. 2 draft prospect A.J. Puk of Florida. Just a crazy collection of arms had it panned out).

      Lauer says he’s more confident than ever after his summer on the Cape, and he’ll need to be confident against the Cavaliers.

    • Lauer’s Orleans teammate Mitchell Jordan gets the start for Stetson Friday at 6:30 p.m. against Delaware. In a Stetson uniform last spring, Jordan was solid, with a 3.28 ERA. For the Firebirds, he was transcendent, posting a 0.21 ERA on his way to Cape League Pitcher of the Year honors. It’ll be interesting to see what Jordan’s big summer means for him this season. The Atlantic Sun named him a preseason all-conference pick.
    • The Volunteer State gets a cool baseball showcase when Tennessee and Memphis square off in Chattanooga this weekend. Tennessee will be led by a pair of 2015 Cape League standouts in infielder Nick Senzel and pitcher Kyle Serrano. Senzel earned league MVP and top prospect honors for Brewster and is projected to be one of the top players in the country this year, as well as a first-round pick. Serrano, another Orleans pitcher, will be an anchor for the Vols’ pitching staff.
    • Oklahoma State is ranked as high seventh in national preseason polls, and a guy who won big on the Cape is a major reason why. Donnie Walton, a key part of Y-D’s championship club, is one of seven starters back for the Cowboys. They face UT Arlington and Stephen F. Austin this weekend.
    • Matt Krook’s comeback started in Wareham, and it will continue Saturday when Oregon faces San Diego State. Krook was a supplemental first-round pick in 2013 who had Tommy John surgery. He missed all of the college season last spring before getting back on the mound for the first time with the Gatemen. And it could prove to be the beginning of a great comeback. Krook is MLB Pipeline’s 23rd-ranked prospect for the 2016 draft, and he was reportedly at the top of his game in Oregon’s final preseason scrimmage.
    • Andrew Calica’s season for UC Santa Barbara begins Friday at 5 p.m. against San Francisco, as the former Gatemen tries to build on hitting .400 on the Cape. As with the aforementioned Jordan, it’ll be very interesting what a terrific Cape League season will mean.
    • The series between Arizona and Rice shapes up as a good one. We’ll see if Bobby Dalbec’s ridiculous Cape League home run rate carries over to the spring.
    • Few players on the Cape last summer helped themselves more than Dakota Hudson in Hyannis. The Mississippi State flame-thrower delivered the production to match his projection and will be a big prospect to watch this spring. He’ll start for the Bulldogs Friday against Florida Atlantic.
    • Some future Orleans Firebirds will be on opposite sides when San Diego and Vanderbilt get together this weekend. San Diego catcher Riley Adams and Vandy’s Chandler Day, Donny Everett and Ethan Paul are all set to play in Orleans. Day was recently named the top freshman prospect in America by D-1Baseball.com. With a crowded staff that includes Cape playoff hero Ben Bowden, Day is likely to pitch out of the bullpen for the Commodores. Vanderbilt’s roster also features some future Cotuit Kettleers, including standout pitcher Kyle Wright and freshman infielder Alonzo Jones.
    • Consensus preseason No. 1 Florida is a little light on Cape League flavor after a ton of their rising juniors played for Team USA last summer. As for popular No. 2 pick Louisville, the Cards have plenty of Cape League roots. Brendan McKay and Nick Solak, who played for Bourne last summer, are poised for big years. Kyle Funkhouser, a Chatham Angler in 2013, is back after he was drafted in the first round by the Dodgers but didn’t sign. Louisville faces Southern Illinois-Edwardsville to open its season.

     

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    Warming Up

    Devin Smeltzer pitches for Hyannis last summer.
    Devin Smeltzer pitches for Hyannis last summer.

    Baseball season doesn’t hit the Division I ranks until Feb. 19, but bats are already pinging for Division II and junior-college teams.

    And for a pair of 2015 Cape Leaguers, it’s already been a good start.

    Former Hyannis Harbor Hawks Devin Smeltzer is 1-0 with a 2.89 ERA for JUCO powerhouse San Jacinto while Chatham Angler Brandon Miller dazzled in 6.2 shutout innings for D-II Millersville University in its season opener.

    Smeltzer arrived in Hyannis last summer from Florida Gulf Coast and announced his presence on the Cape League scene with a no-hitter against Harwich June 20. It was the first single-pitcher no-hitter in the league since 2010, and it validated what scouts knew but hadn’t necessarily seen in the rising sophomore’s collegiate career to that point. Smeltzer had an ERA over six for FGCU, but the potential was there.

    Smeltzer had a few ups and downs on the Cape the rest of the way, finishing with a 3.48 ERA, but his summer was good enough to land him on several league top prospect lists.

    He also left the Cape with a new destination. Smeltzer transferred from FGCU to San Jacinto. He has committed to attend Texas Tech next year, but as a junior-college player, he will be eligible for the 2016 draft.

    This spring, Smeltzer is part of a San Jacinto team that looks to be raising a bar that was already quite high. The preeminent power in junior college baseball has an alumni list that includes Roger Clemens and Andy Pettite.

    Smeltzer is 1-0 for the Gators in two starts. He has struck out 13 and walked three in 9.1 innings of work. Friday, he out-dueled LSU commit Kyle Weatherly and his powerhouse Grayson CC team.

    As for Miller, Baseball America tabbed him as the 10th-best prospect in the small college ranks (D-II, D-III, NAIA). Folks in Chatham would agree, after Miller quietly delivered a terrific season in the Angler bullpen. Miller had a 1.50 ERA and struck out 27 while walking just a single batter the entire summer. Also from the remarkable stat department, the Anglers were 13-0 in games in which Miller pitched.

    Miller started the opening game for Millersville Thursday and struck out nine in 6.2 scoreless innings as the team beat Winston-Salem State. Baseball America has a scouting report from the win.
     

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    Big summer, big spring?

    Nick Solak
    Nick Solak
    Nick Solak starred for Bourne last summer and was tabbed as a first-team All-American by D1Baseball.com

    A breakout summer in the Cape League has served as a launching pad for many a professional baseball career. Lost in the shuffle of that trajectory is what a breakout summer on the Cape can mean for a guy before baseball becomes his full-time job.

    Last season’s All-America teams were dotted with guys who followed Cape League breakouts with big springs, like Donnie Dewees, Garrett Stubbs and Andrew Stevenson.

    Who are the guys poised to do it this year? D1Baseball.com’s preseason All-America teams include a host of candidates.

  • Kyle Lewis technically had his breakout last spring, when he hit 17 homers on his way to Southern Conference Player of the Year honors. But with a strong summer in Orleans, Lewis officially put himself on the national map. D1Baseball has him as a first-team All-American outfielder.

  • Also on the first team are Nick Solak and Errol Robinson, two of the Cape’s best middle infielders last summer. Solak hit .329 for Bourne while Robinson hit .312 and stole 15 bases in leading the charge for West champ Hyannis.

  • Reigning CCBL MVP Nick Senzel is the second baseman on the second team All America squad. I had kind of forgotten how great Senzel was for Brewster last summer. He slashed .364/.410/.558 and led the league in RBI with 33.

  • Bryan Reynolds and Bobby Dalbec joined Lewis in making Orleans probably the most talented team in the league last year. Both are second-team honorees.

  • The best breakout by a pitcher on these lists probably belongs to Dakota Hudson. A key part of Hyannis’ run to the Cape League championship series, Hudson leads the third team All-America squad.

    • We’ll see what the season holds, but it’s a safe bet these guys will be on target this spring. That’s the other thing about a Cape League breakout — it usually isn’t followed by a slump. If you can do it on the Cape’s sandy shores, you can do it anywhere.
     

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    Spring has Sprung

    Reigning Cape League MVP Max Pentecost leads Kennesaw State into an opening weekend series with Middle Tennessee State.
    Reigning Cape League MVP Max Pentecost leads Kennesaw State into an opening weekend series with Middle Tennessee State.

    So winter’s been fun, huh? For the vast majority of you, it’s been long, cold, snowy and icy.

    Today, a reprieve.

    While the rest of the world celebrates pitchers and catchers reporting to Major League Baseball spring training, college baseball delivers the real thing this weekend, with games getting underway this afternoon in – we hope – sunny locales.

    For Cape League fans, the start of college baseball season seems to begin the march to summer, even when spring seems far off.

    If you’re looking for a game, ESPN3 has a pair – Niagara vs. Florida State on Friday at 6 p.m. and LSU vs. New Orleans on Saturday at 3 p.m. You’ll see a good crop of 2013 and 2014 Cape Leaguers in both games. LSU once again features shortstop Alex Bregman, likely the best sophomore in the country. He’s on the Harwich roster for 2014.

    As always, Baseball America brings the heat with its College Preview. Take note of the list of the top sophomores in the country, which has 2013 CCBL breakout star Ian Happ in the No. 2 spot.

    And to whet your appetite on the Cape League, we’ve got eight of ten 2014 rosters posted online, with only Chatham and Wareham missing. Check them out:

    Bourne
    Brewster
    Cotuit
    Falmouth
    Harwich
    Hyannis
    Orleans
    Y-D

    A couple of CCBL related things to watch on opening weekend:

  • Former Hyannis Harbor Hawk Jeff Hoffman of East Carolina, the reigning top prospect in the CCBL, is the likely opening day starter for the Pirates as they take on James Madison. Hoffman is a likely first-round pick in the 2014 draft.

  • Cape League MVP Max Pentecost had a tremendous summer for the Bourne Braves, and we’ll see if his bat is still scorching six months later when Kennesaw State opens its season against Middle Tennessee State.

  • Sophomore James Kaprielian takes over as the ace for the defending College World Series champion UCLA Bruins. Kaprielian pitched for Y-D last summer and was Baseball America’s third-best CCBL prospect.

  • Nathan Kirby gets a start on Saturday for No. 1 Virginia. Kirby lit up the NECBL last year and is ticketed for Orleans in the summer.

  • The top prospect in the Northwoods League often goes on to Cape League success the next year. Arkansas lefty Colin Poche was Baseball America’s pick in 2013, and he’s set to play for Falmouth in 2014. Poche gets 2014 started this weekend when the Razorbacks host Appalachian State.

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    Regional Watching

    The Cape League season is less than two weeks away but if you need to whet your appetite, you’re in luck. The NCAA tournament begins today with 32 regional games.

    Some Cape notes down below, but first, courtesy of SEBaseball.com, here’s a Friday schedule, sorted by time and with TV info included. Most games are available online at ESPN3.com. Four will be televised on ESPNU: Troy vs. Alabama at 12 p.m., Wichita State vs. Kansas State at 3 p.m., East Tennessee State vs. Vanderbilt at 5 p.m., and Columbia vs. Cal State Fullerton at 11 p.m.

    Friday:
    Noon ET Troy vs Alabama (Tallahassee) ESPNU

    1 ET Coastal Carolina vs Oklahoma (Blacksburg) ESPN3
    1 ET Towson vs Florida Atlantic (Chapel Hill) ESPN3
    1 ET Liberty vs Clemson (Columbia) ESPN3
    1 ET Florida vs Austin Peay (Bloomington) ESPN3
    1 ET Army vs Virginia (Charlottesville) ESPN3

    2 ET William & Mary vs Ole Miss (Raleigh) ESPN3
    2 ET Georgia Tech vs. Illinois (Nashville) ESPN3
    2 ET Oklahoma State vs. Miami (Louisville) ESPN3

    3 ET Wichita State vs Kansas State (Manhattan) ESPNU
    3 ET UC Santa Barbara vs Texas A&M (Corvallis) ESPN3
    3 ET Mercer vs South Alabama (Starkville) ESPN3
    3 ET Jackson State vs LSU (Baton Rouge) ESPN3

    5 ET San Francisco vs Rice (Eugene) ESPN3
    5 ET Savannah State vs Florida State (Tallahassee) ESPN3
    5 ET San Diego vs Cal Poly (Los Angeles) ESPN3

    5:30 ET Connecticut vs Virginia Tech (Blacksburg) ESPN3

    6 ET Canisius vs North Carolina (Chapel Hill) ESPN3
    6 ET Bowling Green vs Louisville (Louisville) ESPN3
    6 ET Elon vs UNC Wilmington (Charlottesville) ESPN3

    7 ET Valparaiso vs Indiana (Bloomington) ESPN3
    7 ET Binghamton vs NC State (Raleigh) ESPN3
    7 ET East Tennessee State vs Vanderbilt (Nashville) ESPNU
    7 ET Saint Louis vs South Carolina (Columbia) ESPN3
    7 ET New Mexico vs Arizona State (Fullerton) ESPN3

    8 ET UTSA vs Oregon State (Corvallis) ESPN3
    8 ET Central Arkansas vs Mississippi State (Starkville) ESPN3
    8 ET Bryant vs Arkansas (Manhattan) ESPN3
    8 ET Sam Houston State vs Louisiana(Baton Rouge) ESPN3

    9 ET South Dakota State vs Oregon (Eugene) ESPN3
    9 ET San Diego State vs UCLA (Los Angeles) ESPN3

    11 ET Columbia vs Cal State Fullerton (Fullerton) ESPNU

     

    CAPE LEAGUE FLAVORED REGIONAL NOTES

  • Cape League mainstay North Carolina is your No. 1 national seed. The Heels have seven players on Cape League rosters, led by freshmen Skye Bolt (Harwich) and Landon Lassiter (Chatham). Bolt has also been invited to Team USA. Also in the Chapel Hill Regional is Florida Atlantic, who’s led by future Bourne Brave Austin Gomber, the ace of the Owls’ staff.

  • Wareham fans will have their pick of Gatemen champions to root for this weekend. Tyler Horan leads Virginia Tech as it hosts a regional, Daniel Palka and Mott Hyde take Georgia Tech to the Nashville regional and Kyle Schwarber will be leading Indiana as it hosts a regional for the first time.

  • If East Tennessee State can pull off a monumental upset of Vanderbilt, Clint Freeman will probably be at the center of it. The future Bourne Brave hit .336 with 10 homers this year.

  • Casey Gillaspie, future Falmouth Commodore and brother of former Commodore Conor Gillaspie, will be in action on ESPNU at 3 as Wichita State takes on Kansas State. Gillaspie had a big sophomore season.

  • Former Chatham Angler Kris Bryant has had an incredible season for San Diego and is likely to be drafted in the top three picks next week. He and the Toreros take on Cal Poly at 5 p.m. in the L.A. regional.

  • San Francisco is making just its third regional appearance. The Dons have led offensively by future Cotuit Kettleer Bradley Zimmer, who’s brother Kyle is a former Kettleer and a first-round draft pick.

  • Bryant University, in its first year of D-I postseason eligibility, is in Kansas and will take on Arkansas. Craig Schlitter (Falmouth ’12) has had a big hand in the team’s success this year.

  • Alex Bregman has been invited to Team USA, so he may not make it to Harwich this summer. But the LSU freshman is worth watching anyway. He and the Tigers play Jackson State at 3 p.m.

  • Louisville is sending a huge contingent to the Cape this summer and has quite a few former Cape Leaguers as well. The Cards are hosting a regional and they take on Bowling Green at 6 p.m.

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    A New Power in New England?

    Bryant University has had quite a year in athletics, the kind of year that would have been but a twinkle in the school’s eye not too long ago. Bryant, located in Smithfield, R.I., was a Division II school for many years, like many of its similar counterparts in New England. In 2007, the school – and its full complement of strong athletic programs – was invited to join the Northeast Conference. That year marked the first step in a five-year transition into Division I.

    The 2012-13 academic year was always slated to be the culmination of that process, but I don’t know if anyone expected it to be like this. The men’s basketball team made national headlines when it went from two wins in 2011-12 to 19 in 2012-13. Now the baseball team – which has had plenty of recent success but hasn’t been eligible to compete in the postseason – is in the midst of another eye-catching season.

    The Bulldogs own the nation’s longest active win streak. It currently sits at 19 games. They last lost on St. Patrick’s Day.

    The college baseball world has taken notice, with the Bulldogs getting votes in national polls and Baseball America featuring them.

    Before you write them off as just a nice story, consider this. Bryant plays in the Northeast Conference. So does Stony Brook. And last year, Stony Brook crashed the College World Series. The Bulldogs may not be quite as talented as their conference brethren, but there’s certainly potential for them to make some postseason noise.

    As far as the Cape League, Bryant hasn’t been quite as busy as Stony Brook, which has started to send half-a-dozen every year. But a few Bulldogs have made the short trip, most notably when Kevin Brown (Orleans) and Craig Schlitter (Falmouth) did it last year. Brown has been Bryant’s most productive hitter this year, with a .397 average, four homers, 11 doubles and a team-best 29 RBI. Schlitter is second on the team in strikeouts and has a 3.64 ERA as a weekend starter.

    Sophomore pitcher Kevin McAvoy will be the next to head for the Cape. He’s ticketed for Y-D in 2013.

    No matter what happens to the Bulldogs this season, McAvoy won’t be the last. New England has a new – very new – baseball power.

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    Bluegrass on Cape Cod

    I don’t remember who he was, but I remember my dad getting his attention through the fence. He was from Louisville. So were we. We looked at each other with a bit of wonder. None of us quite belonged at a Cape Cod Baseball League field.

    That’s the way it was for many years. I called Kentucky home for the first 22 years of my life. My parents are originally from Boston. Every summer, we packed up the Chevy Astro van and headed north. We always watched a lot of baseball. We never expected to see many hometown Cardinals. Even Wildcats were few and far between.

    Basketball is king in Kentucky. Just look at the NCAA Men’s and Women’s Final Fours for proof of that.

    But a funny thing is happening – college baseball is taking hold. Louisville made the College World Series in 2007. Kentucky has emerged as a perennial SEC power in the same timeframe, rising to its first-ever No. 1 national ranking last season. When the teams played each other Tuesday night, Louisville’s Jim Patterson Stadium was jam-packed.

    Not coincidentally, bluegrass baseball players have been putting down more and more Cape League roots along the way.

    From 2000 to 2003, a total of two Louisville players and seven Kentucky players played in the Cape Cod Baseball League. The numbers didn’t increase much over the next five years.

    Now?

    In 2013, Louisville has nine players ticketed for the Cape, more than any program in the country. Kentucky has six, which is also among the highest.

    It’s not surprising, given their success and the increased profile of their programs, but it’s a unique rise to Cape Cod Baseball League prominence. Look at the statistics from the 2000 season, and you’ll see many of the schools that dominate the league today – Florida State, Cal State Fullerton, LSU. In the early part of the last decade, North Carolina, Vanderbilt and Oregon State increased their Cape presence while building themselves into powerhouses.

    Louisville and Kentucky have come along more recently. For the Cardinals, the symbolic breakout happened on a July night in 2008, when Chris Dominguez blasted three home runs for Hyannis. Since then, it’s been a steady increase in players making the trek, up to a new high of eight last season.

    Collin Cowgill, now a Major Leaguer, set the pace for Kentucky when he helped lead the 2007 Y-D Red Sox to the Cape League championship. Stars like Taylor Rogers have come through since, and five Wildcats played big roles for Cape League teams last year.

    The impact that the Cape League has had on the two programs is difficult to measure, but if it was minimal, I don’t think the teams would send more and more players this way. It’s not a driver of success, but you can’t discount the value of a summer spent playing against the best competition in the country.

    While their schools have been on a quest to prove their mettle as baseball powerhouses, individual Cardinals and Wildcats have been on the same quest 800 miles north. More and more, they’re succeeding.

    My parents still come up every summer, and my dad always wears his Louisville sweatshirt to Cape League games. The players and fans might still be surprised to see it.

    But that’s just a product of geography.

    Bluegrass now belongs on Cape League fields.

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    Breaking Out

    The summer belonged to Sean Manaea. Pre-draft talk revolved around the big three – Manaea, Mark Appel and Ryne Stanek. Kevin Ziomek was there the whole time, not even really under the radar, just not quite turning every head.

    Now he’s officially crashing the party.

    The Vanderbilt junior and former Cotuit Kettleer has been the best pitcher in the country through the first month of the college baseball season, and I’m not sure it’s close. Ziomek is tied for the national lead in strikeouts with North Carolina State sophomore Carlos Rodon, but Rodon’s ERA sits at 5.14. Ziomek’s ERA? Try 0.87.

    Ziomek has struck out 46 and walked only seven in 31 innings. He’s 4-0 and has allowed 12 hits in four starts, for a nice little average of three per game. Opponents are hitting .118 against him.

    And that’s not even everything.

    Ziomek has hurled two absolutely dominant complete games. In a 9-0 win over Illinois-Chicago on March 1, he struck out 15 and didn’t allow a runner past second base on his way to the shutout. The very next week – on the road, against a much tougher Oregon team – Ziomek went nine again, this time allowing just two hits while striking out 13.

    It’s been an amazing start to the season, one that even prompted former Vanderbilt ace and Tampa Bay Rays star David Price to talk of “Nintendo Numbers” on Twitter in response to Ziomek’s stats.

    When you’re getting David Price’s attention, you’re doing something right.

    This level of success has always seemed like a possibility for Ziomek. He starred in high school in Amherst, Mass., and was a 13th-round pick of the Diamondbacks. At Vandy, he pitched mostly out of the bullpen as a freshman and did well.

    Since then, it’s been about waiting for the breakout.

    After his freshman season, he was in Cotuit and flashing his potential. He finished the summer with a 4.35 ERA, though, and almost as many walks as strikeouts. In his sophomore season at Vandy, he struck out a batter an inning but carried an ERA over five.

    This summer, though, while Manaea was dominating, Ziomek showed a few hints of what was to come. He pitched in only five games for the Kettleers, but struck out 36 in 28.1 innings and posted an ERA of 1.27.

    Now, the break-out is happening, in a pretty enormous way. Ziomek’s next start will come this weekend, when Vanderbilt opens up SEC play against Auburn.

    Will it be more of the same? Based on what’s happened so far, I wouldn’t put it past him.