Originally Posted: 7.09.2009
GoldenBaseballLeague.com

American Association and United League Sign Arizona Summer League Players
RHP James Kuzniak goes to Coastal Bend and INF Steve Mays go to St. Paul Saints

Yuma, AZ. July 10, 2009 – The Arizona Summer League announced today that two players have already been signed out of the league during just the first week of play. RHP James Kuzniak was inked by the Coastal Bend Thunder of the United League and INF Steve Mays was signed by the St. Paul Saints of the Northern League. Both played for the El Centro Imperials in the inaugural Arizona Summer League which is an instrcutional showcase for released pros or overlooked college grads.

Kuzniak, 23, 6-0, 180 , RHP was a star at Arizona Western College and was recruited to New Mexcio HIghlands Unvirsity to finish his collegiate career. He went undrafted out of NMHU and was signed by the Yuma Scorpions of the Golden League late in the season in 2008. He was with the Yuma Scorpions in spring training before being released and his one outstanding appearance at the start of the Arizona Summer League was enough for Coastal Bend to sign him and fly him to their home location in the Corpus Christi area in Texas.

Mays, 22, 6-2, 190, INF was the northern Nevada high school player of the year as he led his team to the state championship. He went on to play at Mesa JC in Phoenix for one of the top-ranked junior college programs in the country. Recruited by the University of Nevada he played there before transferring to Cal Stave Monterey Bayto finish his collegiate career . A middle infielder/3B with size and power, he went undrafted out of college and joined the Arizona Summer League after an outstanding tryout at the Indy Pro Showcase in Detroit earlier in the summer. Hitting a startling .833 in his first three games at the pitching-dominated ASL he was quickly signed by the St. Paul Saints of the American Association, the most-storied, and considered the premier, franchise in all of independnent pro ball.

About The Arizona Summer League
The Arizona Summer League is in it’s inaugural season as a serious showcase and development league for released professional and overlooked collegiate players to improve and demonstrate their ability in order to get signed by professional teams. The month long season runs throughout July, but all players are free agents and can be signed at any time. Instructors include some of the most experienced independent and minor league coaches and include Dodger great Mike Marshall, Tigers/Marlins minor league and independent managing legend Benny Castillo, Royals pitcher and Nationals minor league pitching instructor Rusty Meacham, two-time National League All-Star catcher and minor league manager/coach Ozzie Virgil, and Boston Red Sox scout and independent league player placement all-time leader Nick Belmonte. The league plays at the Ray Kroc Complex, former home of the San Diego Padres and Yakult Swallows spring training facility in Yuma, Arizona.

More Info on the Arizona Summer League can be found at www.arizonasummerleague.com

06/16/2009
Posted on the USF Dons.com Website

Q&A Session with the Former Outfielder

June 16, 2009

In a USF Summer Baseball Blog special edition, senior outfielder Drew Johnson reminisces about his time at USF and lets us in on his future plans.

What are some of your best memories from USF?

It’s funny to sit down and reflect on the last five years and try to pick out what memories stick with me most. The details of actually playing the games, the good days the bad days, the at-bats, wins and losses seem fade as time goes on. Sure there are a few big moments while playing that will stick with me forever, but most of all I will remember times when we just hung out as a group. The Rookie Show, Christmas dinners at Coach G’s house and Thanksgiving at Zach Kim’s to name few. Some of my favorite memories are sitting around in the dugout or the locker room after games and practices talking with teammates. These were times to let off some steam and temporarily escape the craziness of the life of a college athlete. It was during these times that we got to know each other so well.

What will you miss the most?

Oh man, where do I begin? I will rattle of a few things that really stick in my head. I will miss the long bus rides and the waiting time in airports with the team. It is amazing on how creative we got during these times in order to keep ourselves entertained. When you put twenty-five baseball players on a bus the topics of conversation reach a whole new level of “out there.” I will miss the stupid laughs on busses and planes that came along with being exhausted and delirious after a long day. I will miss bussing back from the Oakland Airport and seeing the San Francisco skyline from the top of the bay bridge. I will miss the pranks that Naks and I played on each other on a daily basis, always keeping each other on our toes. I will miss talking politics and life with Coach Moore…

Most of all, the thing I will miss the most is the daily interaction with teammates and coaches. Being on a college baseball team is a unique experience because you spend so much time with a certain group of people. It’s amazing how familiarized you become with each of your teammates’ tendencies, routines, body language and characteristics. For example, Connor Bernatz and I would challenge ourselves during the pre-game prayer by attempting to identify each person by only looking down at their cleats. We could identify every guy based upon how they tied their shoe laces, the scuff marks on the cleats, and the size of foot. Weird huh? I am not aware of anything else out there that comes close to being on a college baseball team. I will miss being a part of a team, sharing the pains of losing and the joy of winning and every emotion in between.

And of course I will miss the game itself. But mostly the people that baseball has brought into my life…

How has baseball impacted and influenced your life?

I think that this game has had a huge impact on my life. It has brought me places I would never go otherwise. It has given me the opportunity to spend summers in Hawaii, Vacaville and the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia. I have met people from all over the country and from different backgrounds. This has helped me put perspective on my life and where I came from.

The game has taught me how to deal with adversity. My freshman year in college I was exactly 1 for 23 on the year. My first college hit came in the last game of the year. It was a challenging time to say the least. Throw in a broken jaw and two shoulder surgeries during that time and it made for a great opportunity to respond to adversity. After receiving WCC All-Conference Honors in 2009 it’s rewarding to reflect on the challenging times knowing that you battled through them. I will continue to draw strength from these experiences as I move on to the next chapter of my life.

What are some things you have learned from coaches, professors, teammates, and/or friends while playing here that you will take with you into your next endeavor?

Credit is due to many of my professors for helping me find something that I am passionate about other than baseball. My professors were always there for extra office hours, and were flexible with the crazy baseball travel schedule.

I learned a great deal from Coach G as well. He has taught me so much about the game, but I have a gut feeling that I won’t be asked how to hit a breaking ball at a job interview anytime soon. More importantly Coach taught me a great deal about life, and how some of its lessons can be learned through the game of baseball. In post game speeches Coach would relate the struggles and successes of baseball to life. This is what I cherish the most out of everything he taught me.

The coaching staff has taught me more than any person with a PhD. I have never met a harder working and more committed group of individuals than the coaching staff. The gear we are supplied with, the restaurants we eat at, and the hotels we stay at are all made possible by our coaches. I have been witness to the way they go about their business on a daily basis. Watching them inspired me to challenge myself and see what I was capable of. They would never take credit for this but I feel I would have never been able to accomplish what I have, had they not had this influence on me. The culture that they create within the program is the reason for my success on the field and what pushed me to earn the opportunity to go to graduate school. I want to be great like them.

What was it that made you want to transfer to USF?

In the summer of 2006 I met Rigo Lopez, an alumnus of USF baseball and a former assistant coach. I was looking for place to play and our paths happened to cross in Honolulu. After spending some time with Rigo and speaking with the coaches over the telephone I knew that I wanted to be a part of the Family. If someone would have told me that I will spend my college years in San Francisco, I would respond by saying “you’re nuts man.” It couldn’t be any more different than my hometown of Reno, NV. It seemed crazy at the time, but I grew to love the city and I am so thankful to have been part of the program; it changed my life.

What’s next for you?

Well, I have met the love of my life, put a down payment on my first home, have a great paying job with great benefits and will be getting married at the end of this summer. I have everything mapped out to the last detail. The reality is, none of that is true. I am still a broke, single college kid, trying to figure out what to do with my life. In the meantime, I am living with my parents in Reno and rehabbing my shoulder from recent surgery. In August I am moving to Texas pursue a Master in Professional Accounting at the University of Texas at Austin. I will be working as a teaching assistant at the McCombs School of Business while studying toward my masters.

Any advice to your former teammates?

Enjoy it. Work hard, get crazy and challenge yourself. Push yourself in school and find out what inspires you. I probably don’t need to say work hard in baseball, because we most likely all share the same passion for the world’s greatest game. Learn to laugh, especially at yourself. Mess around often and make it fun; it got me through the everyday grind.

To upperclassmen: Try to give back to the program anyway you can. Best way I found is to pay it forward by helping the younger players. The only way to leave your mark is to instill what you have learned in those that will come after you. You are never too good to help out a younger guy. And before going to the field everyday, take a second to ask yourself: “How do I want to be remembered?”

Posted: 05/01/2009
Gazette Times

Oregon State gets 10 hits, including a grand slam by John Wallace, in a 10-2 victory Tuesday, April 28, over Oregon. It was the first Civil War baseball game played in Corvallis in 28 years.

Guy Clifton in the debut of the ‘Good News Guy’ column
Posted on: 03/20/2009
Reno Gazette Journal

The only thing missing from Drew Simpson’s field of dreams was a cornfield.

On Thursday, Simpson toed the rubber of the pitcher’s mound at Reno High School’s Zunini Field and stared in at Huskies’ backup catcher Dylan Smith.

He didn’t need a sign to tell him what pitch to throw. He was bringing the gas.

“Dylan asked me before we went out there, ‘Should I put my gear on?’” said Simpson, 18, a 2008 Reno High graduate. “I told him, ‘Yeah. I don’t know where it’s going, but I’m going to throw it hard.’”

Before we tell you the result of that ceremonial first pitch, which took place before the Huskies’ game against Spanish Springs High School, we need to tell you that this is not a story about baseball.

This is about family and faith and grit and guts.

Seven months ago, Simpson was in a coma in Renown Regional Medical Center after suffering a fall at his brother’s home and hitting the his head on a concrete step. A CT scan at the hospital revealed severe damage to the front, back, left and right sides of his brain. Even after two surgeries to relieve the swelling, the outlook was grim, to say the least, and his family was advised to prepare for the worst. Doctors said there even was a chance that if he did survive, he would have permanent brain damage.

In that darkest hour however, no one gave up — not his parents, Scott and Janet; his brother, Ryan; his sister, Sarah; his coaches, teammates, friends and competitors, who visited the hospital by the hundreds.

And neither did Drew.

Eleven days after the injury, he woke up. Two days later, his eyes started tracking movement. Before long, he was flipping a foam ball given to him by his Reno High coach, Pete Savage, to visitors from his hospital bed. He had two subsequent surgeries to replace the pieces of his skull that were removed to ease swelling of his brain.

The recovery has been, at times, slow, painful, life-changing, miraculous and beautiful.

“Right now, I feel better than I’ve ever felt since the accident,” he said. “I can talk. I can remember things much better. I can do a lot of the things that I used to do. People can’t even tell.”

Simpson said he was excited to throw out the first pitch for his Reno High coaches and teammates.

“Coach Savage, Reno High, they were just there for me when I needed them,” he said. “It’s like a big family for me. It was really the biggest thrill I’ve had in a while.”

The feeling was mutual.

“This definitely transcends anything to do with the game of baseball,” Savage said. “It really taught us all many, many life lessons about dealing with adversity, sticking with your family, faith in God, all those life lessons that way transcend the game.”

So, what happened on that pitch on Thursday?

We’ll let Simpson, who plans to return to Feather River College to play baseball next year, tell you.

“I threw it, and I threw a strike,” he said. “It was just really exciting that I got to throw a strike again. It felt really great. It felt like a dream come true.”

Like a field of dreams.

LOWE’S SENIOR CLASS AWARD ANNOUNCES 30 STUDENT-ATHLETES
NAMED TO THE 2009 BASEBALL CANDIDATE CLASS

(Kansas City, MO) –Thirty NCAA® baseball student-athletes who excel both on and off the diamond were tabbed as 2009 candidates for the Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award today. To be eligible for the award, a student-athlete must be classified as an NCAA Division I senior and have notable achievements in four areas of excellence: Classroom, Character, Community, and Competition.

An acronym for Celebrating Loyalty and Achievement for Staying in School, the Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award focuses on the total student-athlete and encourages those leaders to use their platform in athletics to make a positive impact on their circle of influence.

Lowe’s, an official Corporate Partner of the NCAA®, expanded the award program in 2007 to include numerous NCAA® Division I sports – men’s and women’s soccer, men’s ice hockey, men’s lacrosse, baseball, and softball in addition to men and women’s basketball. With the addition of football this year, the number of sports encompassed by the nation’s premier award for seniors reaches nine.

These 30 student-athletes will be narrowed down to 10 finalists midway through the regular season, and those 10 names will then be placed on the official ballot. The ballots will be distributed through a nationwide voting system to media, coaches and fans, who will select the candidate that best exemplifies excellence in the “Four C’s” of Classroom, Character, Community, and Competition.

The 2009 candidate class has representatives from thirty different NCAA® Division I schools, each of which has outstanding accomplishments on and off the field. The award winner will be announced and recognized at Omaha’s Johnny Rosenblatt Stadium during the 2009 NCAA® Men’s World Series.

“It is a thrill for Lowe’s to recognize these 30 outstanding student-athletes,” said Bob
Gfeller, Lowe’s senior vice president of marketing and advertising. “These candidates work diligently in the classroom, and are also making a difference in the communities where they live. These young men are true role models.”

Sportscaster Dick Enberg, Honorary Chairman of the Lowe’s Senior CLASS Award, first
conceived the idea of an award for seniors in 2001 in response to the growing trend of men’s basketball players leaving school early for the NBA. The award was launched to honor senior student-athletes who remained in college, exhausting their collegiate athletic eligibility, to pursue their college degree.

07/22/2008
Daily News Record
Written By Dustin Dopirak

HARRISONBURG – Between games of Monday night’s quasi-doubleheader, Drew Johnson was the definition of the term “unaffected,” sitting on a chair just outside the dugout at Memorial Stadium and singing along as the public address system blared Bryan Adams’ “Summer of ’69.”

It was fitting because Johnson might be the only member of the Harrisonburg Turks who could someday be able to refer to the summer of 2008 as the best days of his life.

The bad luck that has cursed this squad for most of the season apparently decided to spare the outfielder from the University of San Francisco, and Monday night was another example.

After flying out in his first at-bat of the game Sunday night – when a problem with a light fixture forced the game to be suspended after two innings until Monday – Johnson had hits in his next three at-bats, finishing 3-for-4 with a run scored and an RBI. That and a strong performance by left-hander Chris Chapman led the Turks to a 4-3 win over the Fauquier Gators, helping them improve to 15-22 and keeping them in line for the eighth and final playoff spot in the Valley Baseball League playoffs.

“It’s hard to explain,” Johnson said after the first game. “You go through your ups and your downs. Individually, it’s been a pretty good summer for me, but I think a lot of it’s luck.”

The rest of the Turks certainly wish he could spread it around. His performance Monday boosted his average to .349, almost 80 points ahead of the Turk with the second-best mark, Troy outfielder Michael Precise (.270.). It also put him more than 120 points ahead of Harrisonburg’s anemic team average of .226.

Johnson also leads the team in slugging percentage (.500) and on-base percentage (.382). His four home runs rank third on the team behind third baseman Landon Camp (six) and Precise (five), and his 16 RBIs trail only Precise’s 25.

“He’s been the guy that’s been keeping us in a lot of ballgames,” Turks owner/coach Bob Wease said. “He’s been our best hitter so far this year.”

Wease had no reason to expect that, however, considering Johnson’s college performance to date. Until this summer, it was he, not his teammates, who was always struggling at the plate.

Johnson began his career at Nevada, carrying the pressure of being somewhat of a hometown folk hero. In his senior year at Reno High School, he led the team to a state title after suffering a broken jaw by being hit in the face with a throw earlier in the season. As a college freshman, however, he went 1-for-20, getting his only hit of the year on the season’s last day. His sophomore campaign was better, but still rough, as he batted .203.

Johnson saw his competition for playing time at Nevada and realized he’d never get much playing time, so he transferred to San Francisco in 2006, but he had to sit out the 2007 baseball season when he dislocated his left shoulder.

As a redshirt junior for the Dons in 2008, he got more playing time than ever before, but was still a part-timer, and struggled to a .232 average with just 13 RBIs.

San Francisco’s coaching staff, however, believed the 6-foot-3, 195-pounder was primed for big things. Coach Nino Giarratano was out of the country and not available for comment Monday, according to a spokesman at USF, but in April he told the Reno Gazette-Journal: “He’s close. I think he’s really close to having a breakout year.”

This summer has been exactly that. Johnson is hitting more than 100 points higher with a wooden bat then he ever did with metal. The key, Johnson said, is security. With no one on the team pushing him, he’s gone into every game knowing he’d be in it.

“It’s nice to be able to make adjustments and still know that you’re going to be in the lineup on a consistent basis,” Johnson said. “At school, I didn’t have that luxury. If I was hitting, I’d play; if I wasn’t, I wouldn’t play. It’s kind of nice to have enough at-bats to be able to work through your problems.”

Not that there have been many problems to speak of. In fact, his Harrisonburg teammates are so impressed by his approach that they’re stunned he’s ever struggled.

“He’s a tremendous athlete,” said Turks shortstop Mark Brooks. “He’s just kind of a natural hitter. He has an awesome approach. He’s able to hit the ball to all fields. I think that’s the main reason why he’s been so successful. He stays inside the ball so well, he reminds me of Derek Jeter. … It’s very rare to see somebody that athletic not have much success playing Division I baseball. I wouldn’t be surprised for him to have an amazing year this year and get drafted.”

Which would make the spring and summer of ’09 the best days of his life.

John Wallace was an important piece to the Oregon State’s back-to-back national championships in 2006 and 2007. In 2006, he started the majority of the season, despite being only a freshman.

OSU head coach Pat Casey says: “John is really a great role player, and all the things that he does in the game, he does to the best of his ability. John is so versatile he can play anywhere in the outfield and hit anywhere in the lineup.”

Oregon State became the first team in a decade to win back-to-back national championships and only the fifth school to win titles in consecutive years in the 61-year history of the tourney.

Pictured are the national championship rings Wallace earned while playing in only his second season at OSU.