Cal Ripken League Update: Grays, Redbirds impress, White excels in Northwoods League
The DC Grays (23-18) have rattled off six straight wins and won nine of their last ten to make a late season surge toward the Cal Ripken League playoffs. The league’s top four teams make the postseason and regular season play ends this Monday night. The Grays are in sixth place.
The Redbirds (22-16), the Ripken League’s reigning champions, have the Baltimore area’s best shot at a postseason berth, with Youse’s Orioles (21-18) still in contention.
The Presstman Cardinals (13-25) have fallen off the pace as they close out their inaugural season, but pitchers Michael Austin, Jake Enterlin, and Justin Dreschel stay among the league leaders in several statistical categories. Dreschel has four wins, while a handful of hurlers lead the league with five. Austin is fourth in the league with 42 strikeouts, while Enterlin has 39 and a scheduled start on Saturday night.
Both Dreschel and Enterlin pitch for Johns Hopkins in the spring and have proven that the Blue Jays are producing pitchers at the Division III level that can excel against top Division I talent.
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While the Ripken League heats up locally, Maryland Terrapin Charlie White is representing the university in exceptional fashion in the summer collegiate Northwoods League.
The Naperville, Illinois native plays centerfield for Wisconsin’s Eau Claire Express (11-9), and is coming off a season for the Terps in which he garnered second team all-ACC honors. White is batting .313 for Eau Claire, good for second in the league behind teammate Dalton Bowers. He also has 24 stolen bases, after swiping 39 this spring for the Terps to break the all-time Maryland record.
(Feature photo by Kayla Menzie of the Eau Claire Express)
Tom Flynn has contributed to the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Washington Post. He compiled the photo history, Baseball in Baltimore, in 2008 and has written one novel, Venable Park. Check out Tom’s journal at boxerjournal.com
correction: The Ripken League has two play in games to get to its final four playoff field. Tonight the Baltimore Redbirds and Gaithersburg Giants had a play-in game in Gaithersburg, while Youse’s Orioles traveled to Rockville to play the Express.