Alumni Roundup: Week 13

May 14, 2024


This past weekend was the second-to-last weekend of the regular season for most programs. In Division II-JUCO, postseason play has already begun, and we’ll list some players and programs positioning themselves for a deep May run.

Alum of the Week

First, we start with our alum of the week. Liam Peterson, a Top Tier Roos alum, had a pair of outstanding outings last week. He faced South Florida in a midweek and Kentucky on Saturday. He threw a combined seven innings and allowed just one earned, striking out six. He escaped some big moments throughout the week, one specifically where he left the bases loaded and escaped a threat against USF.

Peterson, despite a few bumps along the way, has put together a stellar freshman season thus far. He and the Gators will finish up against No. 9 Georgia in Athens.

 

Notable Performances


Daniel Pacella (Illinois State) had himself a Sunday back near his hometown at UIC. He went 4-for-5 with six driven in. He also homered in the win. The Redbirds won the series and now sit at 26-23 entering a final weekend meeting with Belmont.

Wes Mendes (Ole Miss) is another arm that threw twice last week. He pitched a combined four innings against Texas A&M. Most notably, his performance on Friday evening earned him the win. He threw two innings and struck out four. He allowed just a pair of baserunners. The Rebels would win that game by a narrow 4-3 margin.


 

Luke Napleton (Louisville) homered and drove in a trio of runs against UNC on Saturday. He’s now at a .327 average as he finishes up his senior season with the Cardinals.




Vytas Valincius (Illinois) has hit safely in 11 of his last 12, and he continued to swing it well against Iowa in a series win. Valincius tallied a hit in each of Illinois’ three games against the Hawkeyes and he drove in a total of five runs on the weekend. Homering twice in the series, he extended his season total to 11.



Illinois is 15-6 in the conference, 30-17 overall. They are a game ahead of Nebraska for the regular season title.

Brendan Summerhill (Arizona) and the Wildcats are finishing the 2024 regular season strong, winning six of their last seven. Summerhill collected five hits last week with his biggest game coming against Utah on Sunday. He went 3-for-4 with a homer and drove in four.



Arizona is ranked No. 14, according to D1baseball.com and finishes conference play with a home series against Oregon State.

Nick Monile (Niagra) is putting an exclamation mark on his freshman campaign. He’s hitting .371 and had a pair of knocks on the weekend. Monile has helped the Purple Eagles to a 17-4 conference record, sitting in second place in the MAAC to Fairfield.

 

DIII-JUCO

Colin Husko (Dubuque) set the program record for hits beating his previous record just a season ago. He had 68 total hits this season and finished at a .398 clip. He accomplished this feat on the final day of the season, in his final game against Luther College. He went 3-for-5 to set the record again.

Sohrab Rezaei has contributed steadily for the Wabash Valley Warriors. They just secured the Region 24 Championship and will look to make another deep run in JUCO postseason play.

Morton CC’s season has come to an end in the Region IV tournament but a few Panthers took home some accolades from an impressive 2024 season. Luke Brabham was All-Skyway Honorable Mention with a .417 BA in conference play. Angelo Luna was All-Skyway 2nd Team. Throughout the entire 2024 season, Luna hit 12 homers and drove in 66 while hitting .391.

Jordan Vazquez (UW-Concordia) received All-Conference HM in his freshman season in the NACC.

DJ Morand (Iowa Western) are 50-7 and just won the NJCAA Region 11 tournament. Morand, so far this season has thrown 22.2 innings and has a 3-0 record. He’s appeared in 12 games and K’d 19.

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