Tanner Makes Northwoods League All-Star Game
7/13/2009 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
July 13, 2009
SPARTANBURG, S.C. - For the second season in a row, rising senior Jimmy Tanner (Fayetteville, Ga./Starr's Mill) has earned a spot on a summer collegiate league all-star team, as the catcher earned a spot in the Northwoods League's All-Star Game with the South Division All-Stars, the league office in Rochester, Minn., announced on Tuesday. Tanner, who is playing with the Battle Creek Bombers coached by former USC Upstate assistant coach Tom Fleenor, will play in the game on Tuesday, July 21 at 6:05 p.m. in Thunder Bay, Ontario. The All-Star Game will be streamed over the internet with an enhanced video webcast on NorthwoodsLeague.tv.
Tanner is one of seven Bombers on the All-Star team and is one of three catchers on the South Division team along with La Crosse's Robert Brantly (UC Riverside) and Wisconsin's Ben Long (Wisconsin-Milwaukee). Tanner, who led the USC Upstate by hitting .354 with 41 runs and 34 RBIs as a junior, has continued to play well, hitting .280 with 15 runs, 35 hits, nine doubles, 20 RBI and 19 walks in 35 games for the Bombers, who finished the first half of the Northwoods League schedule with a 21-12 record, good for second in the South Division.
"The biggest thing that Coach Fleenor did was that he told me we were going to have fun this summer," Tanner said. "The hardest part is getting mentally prepared every day. We play 68 games in 74 games and today is my third day off this summer. We got in at 4:30 this morning and we hardly got any sleep on the bus. Normally, we have to be at the field by 3 p.m. to get ready for a game at seven. Coach Fleenor has done a good job of making sure we don't get down and have fun and that has helped us win."
Tanner starred with the Lehigh Valley Catz in the Atlantic Collegiate Baseball League in 2008, helping the team to the regular-season title in the Wolff Division with a 26-12 record, helping him earn a spot on the Wolff Division All-Star team. Tanner finished fourth in the league with a .355 batting average, adding 13 runs, a home run and 12 RBIs in 29 games. The catcher also gunned down 43 percent of would-be basestealers (12-for-28).
Several other Spartans are also enjoying fine summers as part of summer league teams.
Rising senior Matt Branham (Columbia, S.C./Spring Valley), who was drafted in the 47th round by the Houston Astros in June, has continued to pitch lights-out baseball with the Newport Gulls in the New England Collegiate Baseball League. In nine appearances, Branham has pitched 16 2/3 innings and has yet to give up a run. He has a 1-0 record and three saves while pitching mainly out of the bullpen. He has allowed a paltry five hits, struck out 12 and walked nine for the Eastern Division-leading Gulls.
Rising sophomore Adam Waters (Hopewell, N.C./Denver) has continued to develop with the Lake Norman Copperheads of the Southern Collegiate Baseball League. In 10 games in the field, he had posted six hits, two doubles and six RBI while fielding at a perfect 1.000 clip. On the hill, he has picked up where he left off at the end of the spring, posting a 1-0 mark and a 2.35 ERA in two appearances. In 7 2/3 innings, he struck out eight and walked eight.
Rising junior Blake Green (Rock Hill, S.C./Northwestern) has also played well in the SCBL for the Carolina Stingers, appearing in 10 games and hitting .393 with eight runs, 11 hits and five RBI.
Rising sophomore Austin Moyer (Greensboro, N.C./Southeast Guilford) has played in 27 games for the Asheboro Copperheads of the Coastal Plain League, posting nine runs, three homers and 13 RBI. He has a gaudy .378 on-base percentage thanks to a team-high 22 walks. On the mound, Moyer is 0-2 but has a solid 4.15 ERA in 17 1/3 innings. He has struck out 13 and walked eight.
Rising senior Brian Dempsey (Montverde, Fla./East Ridge) has seen action in 10 games with the Waikiki Surfers of the Hawaii Collegiate Baseball League. He has six runs, a double, two triples and seven RBI in the limited action. He has also made five appearances on the hill, striking out eight in nine innings.
Rising sophomore Ryan Fern (Oviedo, Fla./Winter Park) has tossed 21 innings for the Winter Park Diamond Dawgs of the Florida Collegiate Summer League. Although he is 0-2, he has struck out 17 and walked 12 on the hill.
The Spartans finished their second year of Division I play with an overall record of 17-37 and added a mark of 7-23 in the Atlantic Sun Conference under 12th-year head coach Matt Fincher.
