2020 Header BG
541.973.2883

Stay Connected

MEDIA

Rogues in First Place Halfway Through 2017 Season

Jake Hellweg greeted by his teammates after hitting a home run.
07/12/2017 1:00 PM

Article By:

MEDFORD, Ore. – The Medford Rogues (27-11) stand alone atop the Great West League halfway through the 2017 season.

Led by newcomers Clay Valenzuela-Reece (Campbellsville), Jake Hellweg (Bethune Cookman), Davis Delorefice (Utah), and Alex Isola (Utah), and returning veterans Connor Lowrie (Blackhawk JC), Johnny DeLaCruz (Louisiana-Monroe), and Dylan Pearce (Oregon State) the Rogues have one of the best offenses in the Great West League this season.

On July 7th, the Rogues were ranked the #14 collegiate summer baseball team in the nation by collegiatesummerbaseball.com

Manager Josh Hogan says, “The position players, they’ve been awesome… We got fortunate with recruiting them and knowing that they were going to be a group that puts together a lot of quality at-bats. I didn’t know they were going to bang the balls as good as they do, though.”

Infielder Clay Valenzuela-Reece (.378/.446/.407) leads the team in hits with 51. “I think the team has come together really well. We play together really well, and that leads to the W’s that we have.”

The Rogues have at least one player in the top three of every major offensive category listed on Pointstreak, the Great West League stats website.

Pitcher D.J. Wilson (Campbellsville) says, “We’ve been pretty successful so far this year. The team has really gelled nicely. At the beginning of the season, we were just a bunch of guys from individual teams, and now we’re all one.”

Catcher Alex Isola (.346/.415/.535) leads the Great West League in RBI with 40, nine more than the next highest total. Isola also leads the team in home runs (5). “It’s the most fun I’ve ever had playing baseball,” says Isola.

Infielder Davis Delorefice (.356/.469/.561) leads the team in runs (36), and is tied for the team lead in walks (26) with Johnny DeLaCruz. Delorefice says, “I thought the first half (of the season) has been pretty successful. For the most part, we’ve played pretty good offensively, defensively, and the pitching side.”

The Rogues outfield has been a consistent source of production on both sides of the ball. Center fielder Connor Lowrie leads the team in doubles (11) and is tied for the team lead in games played (36) with right fielder Jake Hellweg. Hellweg (.309/.414/.368) has 42 hits and 30 runs on the year. Left fielder Johnny DeLaCruz (.318/.437/.372) has 41 hits and 28 RBI in 34 games played.

All three outfielders are defensive standouts as well. DeLaCruz, Lowrie, and Hellweg have all made spectacular plays in the outfield. The catch that stands out, however, is Jake Hellweg’s catch in deep right field on July 5th against the Portland Pickles that robbed a home run. Hellweg used all 6’2 of his frame plus the length of his glove to make a catch over the three-foot high right field wall at Walker Stadium. He tumbled over it feet over end into the stands, and managed to hold on to the ball for the out.

Coach Hogan says, “The mentality, the culture, the toughness, the brotherhood, that’s all been set. The bullpen has come a long way, I think that’s been our biggest spot of improvement. Early on, it was a little hairy getting guys in their roles, and figuring out who’s going to be where. But right now, I think we’re looking the strongest we ever have, especially with our arms. With (D.J.) Wilson, (Taylor) Frost, (Will) Floyd, and (Colton) Westfall, that’s four closers right there. It’s nice to have four closers in your bullpen.”

Taylor Frost (Southern Idaho) leads the Great West League in saves (5) and has a 0.00 ERA with 13 strikeouts in 10.2 innings pitched. In his first three save opportunities, Frost has come in with the bases loaded and less than two outs in the inning, and in each of those situations, he’s gotten out of the inning without allowing a run scored.

Returning Rogues pitcher Dylan Pearce leads the team in innings pitched (39.1) and strikeouts (38), and owns a 2.75 ERA. Pearce is coming off perhaps his finest outing of the year; he gave up just two earned runs on five hits and struck out seven over six innings on Sunday, July 9th against the Yuba City Bears.

Coach Hogan says, “We’re looking to get more quality starts out of our starters for the second half of the year. Even though we have a strong bullpen now, it would be nice to see them go deeper in to games. A lot of times they’re going four, five, at best six innings usually. We want to get them up to the six-seven innings… get their pitch counts lower and get them deeper in to games. That’s what Coach (Christian) Coronado has been preaching all year; don’t back up balls with balls, pound the zone and pound it early, get ahead early, win those first two out of three.”

Returning Rogues infielder Josh Berman (Clark CC) says, “The first half has gone really well; our record looks really good. But the best thing is, we know we can get a lot better. We all have a lot of confidence that we’re pretty good, but we all know there’s a lot of things we need to work on. Just how much better we can get is exciting.”

Coach Hogan says, “We’ve got to keep putting pressure on other teams until they fold or until we come out on top. We do that, and I really like our chances heading in to the playoffs.”

 

  Team Leaders           League Leaders            Batting Stats            Pitching Stats