Locals Do Well For Marysville Gold Sox

Baseball writer Mark McDermott has a great story about the success this summer of the Marysville Gold Sox, a team made up of several college baseball players including former Elk Grove High School standouts Patrick O'Rourke, Brooke Brooks and Justin Charles.

I talked briefly with O'Rourke a couple weeks back. He's attending the University of Hawaii, but seeing limited time on the mound and pretty upset about it. He's beginning to tip the jugs gun around 90 mph now and has a year left in college. Brookie is at Eastern New Mexico playing for former Sheldon coach Chris Terry. Charles is a utility infielder at Fresno State.

I also recently talked to Josh McMahon, also a former Herd player, who is at New Mexico Highlands and loves it. His mother, Chrissie, passed away a couple years ago and was one of those ladies who always wore a big smile. We miss her. Dad Tim is doing real well.

Other baseball notes:

McDermott also reports that former Davis pitcher Ben Eckles has signed a pro contract with the Arizona Diamondbacks. He was probably the best right-hander we've seen the last couple years.

Jesuit shortstop Zach Green has also inked a contract with the Phillies. He was a third-round draft choice.

David Freitas (Elk Grove HS) is batting .278 for Potomac of the Class A Carolina League. On June 6 he went five-for-six, all singles.

Former Herd teammate Dwight Childs is playing for the Carolina Mudcats in the same league. He batted.174 in 15 games through the end of May. He was sent to Triple-A Columbus, but is on the disabled list. He reached Triple-A last season, but fractured his hand in his first start for the Clippers and was out for the remained of the summer.

Casey Weathers (Laguna Creek HS) is 3-1 with a 3.24 ERA for the Tennessee Smokies of the Double-A Southern League. He made a two-inning appearance Friday after dealing with an injury that shelved him for about a month.