ASU Sophomore Drew Stankiewicz attempts to field a ground ball at second base as a runner from UCLA slides into second base. Stankiewicz is spending his summer on an amateur camp (Photo by Dominic Valente)With the conclusion of the college baseball season, summer league baseball has returned in full force.
Eighteen ASU players are already competing across 10 teams and five leagues. Although it’s still early in the season, the Sun Devils are making an impact away from Tempe.
Three Sun Devil hitters are batting over .300 thus far, led by sophomore catcher R.J. Ybarra (Bellingham Bells), who posted a .333 average and a pair of RBIs in eight games.
Junior first baseman Rouric Bridgewater (Battle Creek Bombers), who batted only .222 during his sophomore season, is hitting at a solid .327 clip over 13 games while also driving in five runs.
Junior outfielder Jake Peevyhouse is the other plus .300 hitter, totaling a .324 average over his first eight games for the Laconia Muskrats.
Sophomore first baseman David Graybill (Newport Gulls) is hitting .281 in nine games and hit his first home run on June 23.
Sophomore outfielder Johnny Sewald (Bellingham Bells), who is a strong candidate to replace the departed Kasey Coffman in center field, has hit only .238 in eight games, but has drawn a team-high 11 walks.
A pair of Sun Devil hitters, junior shortstop Drew Stankiewicz (Hyannis Harbor Hawks) and sophomore outfielder Cullen O’Dwyer (Bend Elks), have struggled so far.
Stankiewicz is hitting only .160 through seven games while O’Dwyer is at .176 with a home run in his first 11 games.
On the pitching side, only three Sun Devils have made significant contributions, notably sophomore Brett Lilek (Newport Gulls).
Lilek is 2-0 with a 1.28 ERA in his two appearances and picked up a win in his first career summer league start on June 20, throwing five innings and allowing only four hits and one earned run while striking out three.
Junior Darin Gillies, teammates with Lilek in Newport, has a 5.14 ERA in three appearances, but has struck out nine and walked only one in his seven innings of work.
Sophomore Eric Melbostad (Bend Elks), who appeared in only seven games during his freshman season, has a 3.52 ERA in four outings.
One Sun Devil, sophomore first baseman Tony DiMartino, has already returned home after a five-game stint with the Okotoks Dawgs of the Western Major Baseball League.
Reach the reporter at dsshapi1@asu.edu or follow him on Twitter @Danny__Shapiro
