2010 Cal Ripken League Season Awards
Carhart (Orioles), Knowles (Aces) earn top honors in the Ripken League
2010 CRCBL All-League Team
September 1, 2010
The Cal Ripken Collegiate Baseball League announced its 2010 season awards today, including the Most Valuable Player, the Most Outstanding Pitcher, and the All-League Teams as voted upon by the teams. Benjamin Carhart of Youse's Orioles and Stetson University was named the Cal Ripken Collegiate Baseball League's Most Valuable Player for the 2010 season. Max Knowles of the Alexandria Aces and North Carolina Wesleyan College was named the Cal Ripken Collegiate Baseball League's Most Outstanding Pitcher.
The Cal Ripken League RBI king in 2010, Carhart drove in 28 runs for the regular-season champion Youse's Orioles (29-13). The third baseman/relief pitcher was one of just seven Ripken League players to play in all 42 regular season games in 2010, and he hit safely in 29 of them. Carhart posted 16 multi-hit games and amassed 48 hits, second most in the League. His 11 doubles were most on the Orioles and tied for third most in the League, and he also tripled once and hit two home runs. An on-base machine, Carhart walked 22 times (7th most in the League) to just 15 strikeouts, fewest of any player to play in all 42 games. His on-base percentage was an even .400, tied for sixth best in the League, and he scored 22 runs. Carhart also posted the eighth-best slugging percentage in the League (.429) and was tied for eighth in batting average (.308).
Carhart was also a Second-Team All-League reliever and led the Orioles in saves, converting all six of his opportunities. The righthander did not allow a run in 18.1 innings-pitched out of the bullpen, going 3-0 in 13 appearances. He struck out 15 batters and walked just five, posting a WHIP of 0.927. Over his final 12 appearances of the regular season, Carhart allowed just four hits and four walks in 14.1 innings.
Knowles accounted for more than a third of his team's wins, going 6-2, 1.23 for the Aces in 2010. He started nine games and made one relief appearance, and tossed a League-high four complete games and two shutouts. Knowles struck out a League-best 60 batters --- 13 more than the next highest --- and walked just 14 in 65.2 innings. With that kind of control, Knowles did not uncork a wild pitch all season. Knowles allowed just eight extra-base hits, tied for third-fewest among pitchers with at least 45 innings-pitched. Opponents hit just .220 off of him. Of his nine starts, Knowles pitched fewer than seven innings only once, on July 7, and he did not allow a run in that contest. After posting a nine-inning shutout in his second start, against the Braves on June 9, Knowles saved his best outing for last, when he shut out the Braves again, striking out a season-high 13 batters in seven innings. He never walked more than three batters in a game, and struck out fewer than six batters in a start only twice. Knowles allowed just one run in his final 18.2 innings of the season.
2010 CRCBL All-League Team
First Team
C, Will Davis (Aces/Pennsylvania)
42 games, .315/.398/.470, 47 H, 16 R, 9 2B, 1 3B, 4 HR, 25 RBI, 21/36 BB/K
1B, Austin Harclerode (Big Train/Towson)
38 games, .308/.412/.423, 40 H, 25 R, 9 2B, 2 HR, 22 RBI, 20/31 BB/K, 6-7 SB
2B, Patrick Blair (Orioles/Wake Forest)
31 games, .348/.420/.496, 40 H, 19 R, 9 2B, 1 3B, 2 HR, 18 RBI, 12/14 BB/K, 5-8 SB
3B, Benjamin Carhart (Orioles/Stetson)
42 games, .308/.400/.429, 48 H, 22 R, 11 2B, 1 3B, 2 HR, 28 RBI, 22/15 BB/K, 1-1 SB
SS, Nick Kime (Braves/Virginia Commonwealth)
34 games, .333/.373/.470, 39 H, 22 R, 6 2B, 2 3B, 2 HR, 12 RBI, 4/24 BB/K, 7-8 SB
OF, Johnny Bladel (Braves/James Madison)
34 games, .317/.385/.439, 39 H, 21 R, 6 2B, 3 3B, 1 HR, 23 RBI, 15/18 BB/K, 29-32 SB
OF, Kasey Culverson (Express/Nicholls State)
28 games, .360/.400/.440, 36 H, 12 R, 6 2B, 1 3B, 7 RBI, 8/13 BB/K, 12-19 SB
OF, Rand Ravnaas (Aces/Georgetown)
34 games, .313/.359/.504, 41 H, 19 R, 8 2B, 4 3B, 3 HR, 26 RBI, 10/30 BB/K, 15-17 SB
UTIL, Mark Rhine (Redbirds/Wake Forest)
37 games, .333/.369/.383, 47 H, 22 R, 7 2B, 13 RBI, 8/13 BB/K, 7-10 SB
SP, Max Knowles (Aces/NC Wesleyan)
6-2, 1.23, 10 games, 9 starts, 4 CG, 2 SHO, 65.2 IP, 60/14 K/BB, 52 H, 14 R (9 ER), .220 BAA
SP, Blake Geiger (Orioles/Richmond)
4-1, 0.63, 8 games, 7 starts, 3 CG, 43 IP, 42/12 K/BB, 24 H, 7 R (3 ER), .162 BAA
RP, Bryan Hamilton (Big Train/Charlotte)
2-1, 0.42, 8 SV, 18 games, 21.2 IP, 31/11 K/BB, 8 H, 4 R (1 ER), .107 BAA
Second Team
C, Dante Rosenberg (Orioles/South Carolina)
39 games, .305/.345/.371, 32 H, 15 R, 2 2B, 1 3B, 1 HR, 20 RBI, 5/14 BB/K, 5-8 SB
1B, Tony Mitchell (Express/Florida Southern)
37 games, .298/.357/.427, 39 H, 12 R, 7 2B, 2 3B, 2 HR, 17 RBI, 9/10 BB/K, 3-4 SB
2B, Danny Stienstra (Big Train/San Jose State)
37 games, .315/.362/.356, 47 H, 27 R, 6 2B, 18 RBI, 10/8 BB/K, 5-7 SB
SS, Alex Frederick (Redbirds/Armstrong Atlantic State)
38 games, .283/.432/.327, 32 H, 15 R, 5 2B, 13 RBI, 27/15 BB/K, 5-6 SB
OF, Ryan Collins (Big Train/Mississippi State)
40 games, .292/.353/.409, 45 H, 25 R, 6 2B, 6 3B, 24 RBI, 14/11 BB/K, 4-7 SB
OF, Jeremy Maas (Braves/Pennsylvania)
40 games, .311/.337/.422, 50 H, 25 R, 12 2B, 2 HR, 15 RBI, 5/20 BB/K, 8-12 SB
OF, Ben Winter (Redbirds/Towson)
42 games, .297/.396/.392, 47 H, 27 R, 4 2B, 4 3B, 1 HR, 27 RBI, 24/18 BB/K, 12-18 SB
UTIL, Cory Jensen (Redbirds/Florida Southern)
38 games, .289/.392/.333, 39 H, 16 R, 4 2B, 1 3B, 14 RBI, 20/10 BB/K, 7-11 SB
SP, Tyler Austin (Redbirds/Towson)
4-1, 2.16, 7 starts, 1 CG, 41.2 IP, 41/18 K/BB, 21 H, 10 R, .151 BAA
SP, Adam Hoyt (Nationals/Bluefield)
3-1, 3.52, 1 SV, 11 games, 9 starts, 64 IP, 47/28 K/BB, 65 H, 28 R (25 ER), .266 BAA
RP, Derrick Brewer (Braves/Radford)
1-1, 0.35, 11 SV, 20 games, 26 IP, 30/5 K/BB, 12 H, 1 R, .135 BAA
RP, Benjamin Carhart (Orioles/Stetson)
3-0, 0.00, 6 SV, 13 games, 18.1 IP, 15/5 K/BB, 12 H, 0 R, .188 BAA
Honorable Mention: Angel Ibanez (Express/Texas Pan American), Fran Whitten (T-Bolts/Maine-Orono), Chris Taladay (Braves/Central Florida), Kyle Zimmer (Aces/San Francisco), Patrick Scoggin (Redbirds/Virginia Tech), Christopher O'Grady (Orioles/George Mason), Dan Tobik (T-Bolts/Tennessee-Martin), Jose Velasquez (Express/Florida International), Steve Visnic (Redbirds/Temple).
