The College of the Redwoods baseball team saw their season come to a close last Friday but CR still got to celebrate some members of the team being named to the Golden Valley Conference teams over the weekend.
Sophomore infielder Bode Joyner was the Redwoods’ lone First Team GVC selection after a terrific season with CR. Over 33 games, Joyner batted .347 and drove in 30 runs. Joyner led CR with 10 doubles and was second on the team with four home runs, including a walk-off bomb against Butte last month.
“He’s the spark when it comes to the middle of the order,” CR’s head coach John Downey said. “The kid can flat out play. He was ultimately the guy that wanted to be in the situation to carry the team at times. He wanted to be the clutch guy and the clutchness started in that series against Butte where he hit the walk-off home run.”
Three Redwoods players earned a spot on the All-GVC Second Team, with sophomore outfielder Oscar Rudman and sophomore infielders Justin Powell and Seth Grammer each getting the nod. Grammer matched a program record, with his eighth home run of the season last week against Butte, matching the single-season mark set last year by Blake Browning.
Grammer’s eight homers is double the amount of anyone else on the team and was tied for the GVC lead in bombs. Grammer hit an even .300 on the season, and had six doubles and two triples.
“He earned it,” Downey said. “The way that he’s worked and what he’s done all year, he’s deserving.”
Rudman had 13 extra base hits for CR, three shy of Grammer for the team lead, with the freshman leading Redwoods with a .356 batting average and with 34 runs scored over 34 games.
“An absolute star in center field,” Downey said of Rudman. “That guy is a Gold Glove athlete in center field.”
Powell batted .315 for Redwoods, driving in 25 runs while walking 11 times compared to just 13 strikeouts on the season. He added two homers and seven doubles and played each game for CR.
“There’s consistency in baseball and then there’s Justin Powell. If there’s a picture by the definition of consistency, it’d be his picture,” Downey said. “The dude never struck out and if he did, it was a long at bat.”
College of the Redwoods had three more players named as honorable mentions for the conference teams, with freshman pitcher Drew Franklin, freshman infielder Tenoch Tapia and sophomore pitcher Miles Oliver.
All three honorable mentions come from the H-DNL, with Franklin playing at Fortuna, Tapia with McKinleyville and Oliver with Arcata.
“All three of them were guys we relied on in key aspects of the game,” Downey said. “All seven of the guys on that list, not only are they good baseball players, they’re really great individual people.”
Oliver threw a team-high 64.2 innings, with Franklin right behind him at 58.1. Over 14 starts, Oliver pitched to a 7.10 earned run average but had a couple of blow-ups to inflate his ERA despite a strong season from the sophomore. Oliver paced Redwoods with five wins on the mound, with his season record sitting at 5-6 while also having the most strikeouts on the team with 56.
Franklin went 3-4 on the season over 14 appearances and nine starts, working his way to become a mainstay in the CR rotation by the end of the season. Franklin had a 5.86 ERA but his pitching-to-contact strategy was exactly what was needed for the Redwoods.
After a somewhat slow start to the season, Tapia caught fire during GVC play, batting .314 during conference play and .264 on the season. The freshman finished the year with six doubles and 17 runs batted in.
CR will look to improve upon their 12-22 record but they do have a few pieces in Rudman, Franklin and Tapia who will be around next season too.
Dylan McNeill can be reached at 707-441-0526.
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