Texas Collegiate League

A number of players slated to play in the Texas Collegiate League this summer can be found on the rosters on the nation's highest ranked NCAA Division I schools. And a number of these individuals have played a big role in the early season success of these programs.

Here's a look at some of the contributions from TCL participants in the early-going of the 2005 season. The rankings come from this week's Collegiate Baseball poll (2005 TCL team is listed in parentheses).

TEXAS (#1, 12-0): Freshman righthander Kenn Kasparek (McKinney) is 2-0, 3.18 (6 er/17 ip) in 4 games/3 starts. Bryan Herrera (Coppell) has seen action in the field and on the mound for the Longhorns. He is 1-1 with an rbi double in 5 games and did not allow a run in his lone pitching appearance.

CAL-STATE FULLERTON (#6, 5-1): John Curtis (McKinney) has started all 6 games behind the plate for the Titans. Curtis hit .276 in 20 games for the Marshals last summer.

RICE (#7, 8-1): Of the 82 innings thrown by the Owls pitchers this season, 58.2 have come from TCL bound hurlers. RHP Josh Geer (McKinney) is 3-0, 0.96 with 18 strikeouts in 18.2 innings. RHP Bryce Cox (McKinney) is 1-0 with 3 saves and has not allowed an earned run in 8 innings with 12 strikeouts. RHP Adam Hale (Weatherford) is 1-0 with 4.2 scoreless innings and has also hit .267 in his 6 games in the outfield. RHP Bobby Bell (Weatherford) has worked 5 scoreless innings in 3 appearances. The Rice staff also features RHP Eddie Degerman (Denton), RHP Ryan Tacker (Coppell), and LHP Matt Ueckert (Coppell). 3B Greg Buchanan (McKinney) is batting .308 and OF Tyler Henley (Euless) has a pair of homers and 7 rbi for the Owls. Overall, TCL rosters feature 16 Rice players, the most from any school.

TEXAS A&M (#12, 6-2): Parker Dalton (Mineral Wells) has started all 8 games for the Aggies at 2nd base with a .250 average. RHP Chance Corgan (Euless) has posted a 1.35 era (1 er/6.2 ip) with a save in three outings.

FLORIDA STATE (#14, 12-1): Freshman Nick Francis (Coppell) has been splitting the starting time at short for the Seminoles.

BAYLOR (#16, 5-2): RHP Tyler Bullock (Euless) has posted a 3.38 era in his two outings for the Bears.

WICHITA STATE (#22, 6-0): OF Tyler Hill (Coppell) is hitting .500 (8-16) while OF Blake Hurlbutt (McKinney) has posted a .409 (9-22) average and leads the Missouri Valley Conference with 4 stolen bases. LHP Rob Musgrave (Euless) has not allowed a run with 10 strikeouts over 6 innings in his 2 appearances, recording one save for the Shockers.

ARKANSAS (#23, 6-1): Freshman OF Clint Arnold (Weatherford) has a .393 average and 5 rbi while OF Steve Robison (Euless) is batting .429. RHP Daryl Maday (Highland Park) has not allowed an earned run in 8.1 innings of work with 10 strikeouts.

OKLAHOMA STATE (#25, 7-3): Justin Colbert (Graham) has started all 10 games at 2nd base and been a productive leadoff hitter for the Cowboys after transferring from Seminole St. J.C. Colbert tops the Big 12 Conference with 18 runs scored and is tied for 1st with 5 doubles. He is hitting .349 with 7 walks and just 2 strikeouts in 43 at bats. He takes a 7-game hitting streak into this weekend's action and has committed just one error 43 chances.
Outfielders Steve Ptak (7-21, 7 rbi) and Keenon Simon (8-24), both headed for Graham, have produced .333 averages for OSU.

TEXAS TECH (#28, 8-1): OF Chris Williams (Coppell) is batting .379 with 4 rbi and a Big 12 best 13 walks for the Red Raiders. Matt Smith (McKinney) is at .357.

MORE FROM ACROSS THE COUNTRY:

CINCINNATI: 1B Logan Parker (McKinney) leads the 3-3 Bearcats in homers (2) and slugging (.464).

CLEMSON: Stan Widmann (Euless) has started all 3 games at shortstop for the 1-2 Tigers. Selected by Baseball America as the nation's 14th best freshman and by the Atlantic Coast Conference as its 5th best newcomer, Widmann earned All-State honors last spring at L.D. Bell High School in Hurst, Texas. He is the first Texan on the Clemson roster since 1993.

DALLAS BAPTIST: RHP Randall Taylor (McKinney) is 2-0, 3.86 in 3 starts. His victories include a win over Oklahoma State on Feb. 15 (7 ip, 1 r, 8 so). RHP Stuart Sutherland (Highland Park) is 1-0, 0.96 in 4 games.

EVANSVILLE: CF Kern Watts (Denton) has helped the Aces match their best start ever at 7-0. The sophomore is hitting .400 (10-25).

HOUSTON: RHP Shea Hancock (Weatherford) has posted a 2.08 era in his 2 mound outings.

LAMAR: INF Colin DeLome (Graham) is batting .545 with 7 rbi and INF Will Henderson (Highland Park) has a .345 mark with 7 rbi for the 7-2 Cardinals, who have lost to nationally ranked Rice and Mississippi. LHP Tim Erickson is 1-0, 1.50 in his 2 outings.

McNEESE STATE: RHP Jacob Marceaux (McKinney) has posted a 0.90 era with 19 strikeouts in 20 innings in 3 starts. His best outing was a no decision versus Tulane, one of the nation's top ranked schools, on February 15 when he worked 7 shutout innings with 6 strikeouts. OF Charlie Kingery (Highland Park) leads the team with 7 rbi.

MISSOURI: INF John McKee (Euless) is batting .471 (8-17) with a homer and 5 rbi for the 4-1 Tigers.

OKLAHOMA: 2B Russell Raley (Graham) is hitting .320 (8-25) and ranks 2nd on the club with 6 rbi for the 4-2 Sooners.

PACIFIC: OF Matt Berezay (Highland Park) leads the Tigers with 2 homers and a .605 slugging percentage. RHP Eric Stolp (Graham) has posted a 3.24 era in his 6 appearances.

PENN STATE: Mat Cavagnaro (McKinney) is the starting 3rd baseman for the Nittany Lions, who lost their season opener on Feb. 19 at Charlotte.

SAM HOUSTON STATE: 3B Isaias Garcia (Euless) is tied for the Southland Conference lead with 4 homers and is 2nd with 12 rbi to go along with a .379 (11-29) average. He was 3-4 with a homer and 3 rbi in a 12-6 victory over #29 TCU on Feb. 22. OF Roy Merritt (Graham) has a .261 average and 6 walks for the Bearkats.

WEATHERFORD COLLEGE: The Coyotes, coached by Weatherford Wranglers skipper Jeff Lighfoot, won their 1st 8 games of the season before a defeat to Texarkana College on Feb. 19. 2B Russell Baker (Weatherford) was 8-9 with 3 rbi in a doubleheader sweep of Paris J.C. on Feb. 16.