Texas Collegiate League

The Weatherford Wranglers pounded out 16 hits in a 9-3 win at Coppell in the only TCL game on Monday. The contest was a makeup of a previous rainout.

Robbie Winn homered twice and Joe Newman also went deep as the Wrangler moved within a half game of second place Graham in the Rogers Hornsby Division. Bobby Bell was the starter and winner, allowing one run in five innings. Kyle Nickerson, Donald Furrow, and Hart Hering combined to stop the Copperheads on two runs over the final four frames.

The loss cut Coppell's lead in the Tris Speaker Division to one game over idle McKinney. The Copperheads and Marshals play a doubleheader on Tuesday night at Coppell.

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Catcher Josh Banda of the Denton Outlaws and righthander Austin Creps of the McKinney Marshals have been selected as the D-Bat Texas Collegiate League Player and Pitcher of the Week for July 18-24, it was announced Monday by the league office.

Banda, who hails from Lakewood, California, hit .385 (10-26) with six runs, four doubles, two homers, and 11 rbi in six games last week. He went 4-5 with a pair of homers and a league record eight rbi on July 19 versus Weatherford.

This is Banda’s second Player of the Week Award this summer as he was previously named for the week ending July 10. The junior who played this spring at Orange County College is batting a league best .418 with seven homers and 26 rbi in 23 games for Denton.

Creps was outstanding in a 3-1 victory versus Euless on July 21. The righthander from Spring, Texas issued just two hits and one run in seven innings with one walk and 11 strikeouts. Creps, who will enter his sophomore year at Texas A&M in the fall, is 5-1, 1.57 in nine games/eight starts for McKinney this summer.

PARKER DALTON NAMED MOST OUTSTANDING PLAYER OF DR PEPPER FUTURES GAME

Second baseman Parker Dalton of the Mineral Wells Steam was selected as the Most Outstanding Player of the second annual Dr Pepper Texas Collegiate League Futures Game, which was played on Sunday afternoon at Ameriquest Field in Arlington.

Dalton, who will enter his junior year at Texas A&M next month, was 2-4 with two rbi in the Gray Team’s 7-0 victory over the White Team. He had a two-run single that keyed a four-run second inning and staked the Gray Team to a 5-0 lead.

The White Team was held to just three singles by 12 Gray Team pitchers. Eddie Degerman of the Denton Outlaws and Rice University worked a scoreless first inning to earn the victory. The Futures Game featured 52 of the TCL’s top prospects as selected by Major League scouts.

GRAHAM ROUGHNECKS PRODUCE RECORD-SETTING NUMBERS

The Graham Roughnecks put together some record-setting offensive numbers in consecutive games over the weekend. The club established a TCL record for runs scored in a game with a 19-5 victory at Mineral Wells on July 22.
The Roughnecks followed that performance with an 18-4 rout of Weatherford on July 23 in Graham. In the two games, Graham produced 37 runs, 38 hits, and 12 extra base hits.

Prior to Graham’s achievements, a team had scored 18 runs in a game only twice in TCL history, Colleyville-Grapevine, June 17, 2004 vs. Coppell and Highland Park, June 21, 2005 vs. Mineral Wells.

In the June 22, Graham’s Jess Buenger hit for the cycle, going 4-5 with a grand slam and six rbi.

TCL SEASON ENTERS FINAL WEEK OF REGULAR SEASON

The Texas Collegiate League begins its final week of regular season play on Monday when Weatherford travels to Coppell for a makeup of an earlier rainout. As the week begins, the Denton Outlaws hold a 4-game lead in the Rogers Hornsby Division over the defending champion Graham Roughnecks. The Tris Speaker Division has the 2004 TCL champion Coppell Copperheads ahead of last year’s regular season champ, the McKinney Marshals, by 1.5 contests. The best of three Division Playoffs begin on Monday, August 1 at the home of the first place teams.

TCL NOTES: Ben Burum of Mineral Wells homered twice on July 22 to tie the TCL record for home runs in a season at 12, the number Colleyville-Grapevine’s Matt Spencer had in 2004…Graham’s Keanon Simon has scored 43 runs, one shy of the league record set by Coppell’s Matt Young last season…Bryce Cox of McKinney has earned seven saves, one more than 2004 TCL leader Hart Hering compiled…Coppell’s James Russell leads the TCL with 6 wins, one shy of the total for 2004 leader, Cameron Johnson of Weatherford.