OTTAWA- After the Junior National Team won silver at the 2012 IBAF 18U World Championships last September in Korea, it was off to school for seven of the graduating players on the team to begin their freshman seasons south of the border.
Now that the college baseball season is well underway, it’s time to look at the impact some of these players are making with their new teams.
LHP Ryan Kellogg (Whitby, ON) – Arizona State
Nobody at ASU could have predicted the impact that Kellogg has had on the Sun Devils this early in the season. The southpaw began the season in the bullpen where he picked-up the win against Bethune-Cookman in his first appearance of the year after tossing 4 shutout innings during the first weekend of the season. Kellogg made the move to the starting rotation the following opening weekend and is 3-0 in four starts with a Pac-12 leading 0.93 ERA in 29 innings on the mound. His 4-0 record is tops amongst ASU hurlers and his 29 innings pitched and 20 strikeouts are 2nd and 3rd, respectively.
RHP Jake Marks (Brights Grove, ON) – Maine
Similar to Kellogg, Marks began the season in the Black Bears bullpen where he appeared in four games, only giving up one earned run. Tasked with his first start of the season on March 12th against Florida Atlantic, Marks was nothing short of dominant tossing a complete-game shutout to earn the win. The right-hander allowed only 3 hits and fanned 8 as he only faced 32 batters during the game and was later named America East Rookie of the Week for March 18th. The Black Bears feature five Canadians on their roster and Marks looks to be fitting in just fine with his new mates.
C Chris Shaw (Winnipeg, MB) – Midland JC
A two-year veteran of the Junior National Team program, Shaw landed at Midland (TX) Junior College last September and has had an instant impact on the Chaparrals 15-7 season thus far. Starting 13 games and appearing in 14 in total, Shaw is 2nd on the team with a .409 average, leads the team with 3 home runs and is 3rd on the team with 19 RBI. Shaw belted two homers and had 6 RBI against Odessa on March 6th and followed up two days later with a home run and 3 RBI against New Mexico JC.
1B/OF Brett Siddall (Windsor, ON) – Canisius
Siddall looks to be continuing a strong tradition of Canadians in Coach Mike McCrae’s (Niagara Falls, ON) Canisius Golden Griffins program. Siddall has appeared in 17 out of 19 games for a Golden Griffins team that is 14-5 and sits in 4th spot on the team with a .386 average. On March 5th, Siddall was named Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference (MAAC) Rookie of the Week after hitting .500 (5-for-10) with 5 RBI in a 3-game sweep of Murray State.
Notes: RHP Brock Dykxhoorn (Goderich, ON) has thrown 2 1/3 innings in 2 games with the West Virginia Mountaineers allowing 3 hits and one walk, while striking out 2 batters…OF Jacob Robson (Windsor, ON) and INF Kyle Hann (Oakville, ON) are fighting for playing time with powerhouse Mississippi State, the 19th ranked team in all of NCAA Division 1 baseball. Both players have started in 9 games for the Bulldogs who carry a 19-4 record overall.
