Hancock Baseball Hosts Annual Spring Tournament April 11-13, Field Includes Four Teams Ranked in State's Top 20

Allan Hancock College will host its annual Spring Tournament this week from Tuesday, April 11-Thursday, April 13. The eight-team field includes Cuesta, Cerritos, College of the Canyons, Cypress, East Los Angeles, Fresno City and Merced. Four of the teams, Canyons, Cypress, Fresno and Merced, are ranked in the Top 18 in the most recent state poll.

Cypress is 21-10 on the year and ranked No. 12 in California and ninth in the South Region. Cypress has a team batting average of .270 led by Brandon Alamo at .326 and Willie Aguilar with two home runs and a .305 average. Canyons is 20-10 and ranked eighth in the South and 14^th in the last state poll. COC's Cole Kleszcz is tied for the state lead with 12 home runs to go with a .397 batting average. Anthony Lepre is hitting .328 with nine home runs and 32 RBI, while Chris May is hitting .376 with five home runs and 28 RBI. Merced is 21-10 overall and tabbed No. 6 in the North Region and 18^th in the state. Alex Pallios leads Merced with a .398 batting average, 28 RBI, 33 runs and 13 stolen bases. Fresno City is 20-11 on the season, and ranked No. 13 in the state and No.7 in the North.  Eddie Pena is hitting .321 with four home runs and 19 RBI for the Rams, while Kobe Portillo is 6-1 with a 1.13 ERA over 56 innings. 

This season, Hancock is 0-2 against Canyons (5-13, 3-6), and 0-2 against Cypress (0-3, 5-6).

Last week, Hancock split a two-game series with Oxnard. The Bulldogs won the first game 6-0 in Oxnard behind a three-hit shutout from Walker Armstrong (St. Joseph HS). The sophomore struck out five and did not walk a batter in the first complete-game shutout thrown by a Hancock pitcher in three years. Freshman catcher Nash Ackerman (Arroyo Grande HS) collected a career-high three hits to go with 4 RBI. Wyatt Coll (Righetti HS) and Dylan Maiden (Cabrillo HS) had two hits apiece. The Bulldogs lost the second game at home 8-5. Kyle von Tillow (Santa Ynez HS), Armstrong and Maiden had two hits apiece in the loss.

Cuesta vs. Cypress – 2 p.m. @ Cuesta         Cypress vs. Canyons-11 a.m. @ Cuesta

Canyons vs. Merced – 2 p.m. @ Elk              Hancock vs. Fresno-1 p.m. @ AHC

Hancock vs. East LA – 2:30 p.m. @ AHC     Merced vs. East LA- 1p.m. @ Elks

Cerritos vs. Fresno – 6 p.m. @ Elks              Cuesta vs. Cerritos-2:30 p.m. @ Cuesta

Thursday, April 13

Hancock vs. Cerritos- 12 p.m. @AHC

Cuesta vs. Merced -12 p.m. @ Cuesta

East LA vs. Canyons – 12 p.m. @ Elks

Fresno vs. Cypress- 12 p.m. @ Sinsheimer

IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR COACHES, PLAYERS AND FANS

TOURNAMENT:       Round Robin – No new inning after 3 hours, morning game only.

PLAYING SITES:     Allan Hancock College Field, 800 S. College Drive, Santa Maria

                            Cuesta College Field, Highway 1, San Luis Obispo

                            Elks Baseball Field, 615 S. McClelland St., Santa Maria

                           Sinsheimer Park, San Luis Obispo

(Hancock and Cuesta will occupy the 3^rd base dugout at respective sites).

WARM UP/ PREGAME:               

Visiting Team:  10 minutes, to start 30 minutes before game time

Ground Rules:  10 minutes before game time.

No on field pregame BP unless time permits, cages ok.

BALLS:   Each school will furnish half the balls, (Rawlings R100-CCC)

COACHES DINNER/BBQ:

WHEN:                    Wednesday, April 12 @ 6:00 p.m.

WHERE:                  Stevens' House in Santa Maria

DIRECTIONS:        Coming from the North 101, exit Betteravia and turn right.  Take Betteravia to Miller and turn left.  Take Miller to San Ysidro, (its your second signal), and turn left.  Turn right on San Miguel.  Turn left on San Luis Dr. End of street, left hand side.

Home number:  (805) 937-5051            cell:   (805) 720-8387