Mountaineer League - End of Season Report
Final Regular Season Standings
Here are the final 2007 Regular Season standings:
Code:
Blue Division W L PCT GB
*Huntington Hawks 73 53 0.579 --
*Parkersburg Patriots 70 56 0.556 3
Beckley Bears 65 61 0.516 8
Bluefield Bullfrogs 60 66 0.476 13
Kanawha Valley Vipers 51 75 0.405 22
Gold Division W L PCT GB
*Fairmont Engineers 73 53 0.579 --
*Morgantown Monsters 69 57 0.548 4
Clarksburg Cardinals 62 64 0.492 11
Martinsburg Spirit 55 71 0.437 18
Wheeling Owls 52 74 0.413 21
* - qualify for playoffs
League Leaders
Below are the final regular season league leaders in selected statistical categories:
Code:
Batting Average:
0.401 D. Lowry, Fairmont
0.377 J. Acord, Kanawha Valley
0.351 G. Rice, Parkersburg
0.344 C. Bagnold, Parkersburg
0.339 S. Hutton, Parkersburg
Homeruns:
39 M. Weaver, Fairmont
33 E. Fernández, Morgantown
33 T. Tarriman, Clarksburg
32 S. Hutton, Bluefield
31 J. Derenberger, Huntington
Runs Batted In:
145 M. Weaver, Fairmont
111 E. Fernández, Morgantown
110 V. Ortíz, Parkersburg
98 D. Thacker, Kanawha Valley
97 T. Tarriman, Clarksburg
Wins:
24 D. Slater, Morgantown
18 A. Cuecuecha, Fairmont
18 J. Williams, Parkersburg
16 O. Pérez, Parkersburg
16 L. Sirett, Bluefield
ERA:
1.09 D. Slater, Morgantown
3.25 L. Sirett, Bluefield
3.26 A. Searle, Clarksburg
3.29 C. Swank, Kanawha Valley
3.33 J. O'Breen, Martinsburg
Strikeouts:
341 D. Slater, Morgantown
205 O. Pérez, Parkersburg
177 S. Squire, Huntington
170 J. Williams, Parkersburg
167 T. Santos, Huntington
Saves:
34 W. Holland, Huntington
32 J. Costello, Martinsburg
32 S. von Tettau, Morgantown
28 J. Reguejado, Beckley
27 T. Crabb, Parkersburg
Engineer Surpasses Magical Mark
FAIRMONT, WV - First it was the Triple Crown, now it's surpassing a magical number. Every season seems to bring a new milestone in the Mountaineer League, and this season is no different. David Lowry, shortstop for the Fairmont Engineers ended the regular season with a .401 batting average, making him the first player in league history to bat over .400 for an entire season.
"I was pretty consistent all year," Lowry remarked to reporters at the conclusion of the Engineer's final regular season contest. "Then I got hurt and kind of got a little rusty. When I came back the ball looked about the size of a pea and I was struggling. Really struggling."
Lowry's average dropped from a relatively "safe" .424 with 20 games remaining in the regular season to a low of .393 with just six games left. A mini-hot streak to conclude the season brought his batting average back above .400 and put him into West Virginia baseball record books.
"I was really sweating it there for awhile, because yeah, it started to mean something to me. This has been a great year for our team, and everyone in the dugout was constantly telling me to get the record. I did it as much for my teammates as I did for me."
Playoff Matchups
The Mountaineer League Quarterfinal matchups look like this:
Morgantown Monsters @ Fairmont Engineers A matchup of the two most bitter rivals in the Mountaineer League, this series has the potential to get nasty. The key to the series is Morgantown pitching (ranked #1 in the ML) versus Fairmont hitting, which is ranked #1 in virtually every major statistical category. If anyone other than David Slater can get hot, Morgantown could be tough to beat. However, Fairmont has a myriad of weapons, lead by shortstop Dave Lowry (a .400 hitter) and league homerun and RBI champion, third baseman Mark Weaver. However, Weaver only batted .200 against Slater in 25 at-bats this season, while Lowry only mustered a .231 average in 13 at-bats.
Prediction: Fairmont in six.
################################################
Parkersburg Patriots @ Huntington Hawks Both of these teams are playoff veterans, with lineups that are virtually the same as last year's playoff clubs. Huntington was second only to Morgantown in pitching in the ML (3.88 team ERA), but like the Monsters, they also have a formidable offense, lead by RF Jeff Derenberger, who batted .310, with 31 HR and 90 RBI this season. Catcher Kevin Kingsley (.329-29-85) provides additional offense. Parkersburg has both pitching (3.97 team ERA) and hitting (.276 team BA), ranking third in both team hitting and pitching, respectively. The Patriots are lead by the super trio of CF Scott Hutton (.339-28-91), 3B Curt Bagnold (.344-20-69 in an injury plagued season), and 1B Victorino Ortiz (.318-15-110). If another player besides Derenberger or Kingsley gets hot, then the Hawks look to have just enough pitching to come out on top, but it should be close.
Prediction: Huntington in seven.