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Local athletes ready to shine at All-Star baseball games
Turlock, Pitman, Turlock Christian and Hilmar represented
Baseball 1
Turlock Christian's Soren Jerner batted .422 this past season and was the only member of his squad to make the Modesto Sunrise Rotary Baseball Classic. - photo by Journal file photo

 

 

The regular season and postseason may be over for high school baseball, but the games are not.

 

On Saturday many of the area’s best talents will gather for an All-Star baseball game. Actually two of them.

 

The 27th annual Modesto Sunrise Rotary Baseball Classic and the Merced County All-Star games will play host to some of the most intriguing talents that the Stanislaus District has to offer and Turlock, Pitman, Turlock Christian and Hilmar are among those schools who will be represented.

 

In the Modesto Sunrise Rotary games, the East team will consist of three Pitman players in Matt Carrigg, AJ Encalade and Colton Evans. Hughson's Walter Fountain and Grant Williams will join the East team as well.

 

Turlock's Blaine Weber, Brandon Booz, Tate Soderstrom and Jon Temple are on the West team along with Turlock Christian's Soren Jerner.

 

The Merced County All-Star game will have Hilmar's five picks in Alex Chavez, Colton Dutey, Jarrod Willis, Tyler Amarante and Preston Costa.

 

Hilmar, who had a tremendous regular season that included a postseason berth, more than doubled its All-Star selections from a year ago when the team only had Willis and Jacob Ahid.

 

Willis has been a scary at-bat every time he steps up to the plate and this year wasn't any different.

The senior batted .486 for the year and was 22 for 32 (.688) in Trans-Valley League play that included 15 RBI, 6 doubles and 8 walks. His team went 8-4 in league.

 

Chavez batted .355 and stole 22 bases for the year and at times looked like the fastest outfielder in the TVL.

 

Costa hit .305 while playing consistently at shortstop and providing the team with at least a hit per game.

 

Amarante batted .368 as the Yellowjackets catcher for the year as a sophomore and Dutey tossed 44 1/3 innings and had an ERA of 2.84, including three complete games.

 

TC's Jerner batted .422 for the Eagles who went 7-7 in league play as a utility player and pitcher.

 

All three of Pitman's selections for this year's Rotary game were top-notch, elite players who led their team to a playoff berth and their numbers speak for themselves, especially since all three of them hit over .412. They also led in nearly every offensive category in the Central California Conference.

 

Encalade batted .440, Carrigg hit .434 and Evans finished with an average of .412.

 

Evans had the fifth best slugging (.564) and batting average in the CCC and was tied with Carrigg for most runs (31). Evans was also second in on-base percentage (.541) and tied with Carrigg for second in the CCC with 12 walks.

 

Carrigg was ranked fourth or better in six major offensive categories in the CCC during league play.

 

Turlock's four players that were chosen, includes two future Pac-12 players in Tate Soderstrom (Arizona) and Jon Temple (Utah), who were above average.

 

Soderstrom batted .420 and had 18 RBI as the Bulldogs first basemen and Temple hit .395 along with five home-runs and 32 RBI.

 

Booz was the team's catcher and batted .360 with 13 RBI and Weber was the most efficient pitcher in league during the year.

 

Weber was 8-1 and finished with an ERA of 1.58 and tossed six complete games in 57 2/3 innings. Only Pitman sophomore Brett Hagen had a lower ERA in league (1.28). Weber was also fourth in strikeouts (42) and first in wins (8).

 

The Modesto Sunrise Rotary game will take place at the California State University, Stanislaus baseball field at 7:05 p.m. Saturday.

 

The Merced game will take place at Merced College at 7 p.m. Saturday.