GCC transfers stand out in Iowa
The following are updates on local athletes at the collegiate level.
Michael Mendoza (Glendale Community College, 2009) senior, Iowa Wesleyan College baseball: In his senior season, the outfielder is turning heads with eye-popping numbers as just one of a handful of Glendale college transfers that are paying dividends for Iowa Wesleyan.
In a 12-1 Midwest Collegiate Conference victory over Waldorf on Sunday, Mendoza hit his team-leading eighth home run of the season.
Mendoza, who’s started a team-high 41 games, also leads the team with 35 runs scored, 48 hits, 18 doubles, 36 runs batted in and a .652 slugging percentage.
Hitting .340 on the season, he’s not the only other former Vaquero putting up stellar numbers, as Christian Arredondo leads the team’s starters with a .349 average (44 for 126) and also owns the team lead with 19 stolen bases. Arredondo’s also scored 22 runs and driven in 21.
GCC product Ryan Daniels has played in 16 games and garnered a .238 average with 10 hits, five RBI and four runs.
And finally, pitcher Erik Allen is turning in an excellent season, tallying a 2.64 earned-run average with a 5-3 record that includes three complete games. Allen pitched well on Saturday in another win over Waldorf, throwing six innings of one-run ball, while allowing four hits, striking out five and walking two.
A winner of five in a row, Iowa Wesleyan (16-28, 9-9 in conference) returns to the diamond Wednesday for a doubleheader at William Penn University.
Nash Hutter (Glendale Community College, 2010) senior, Sheperd University baseball: The designated hitter cranked his seventh home run of the season in an 11-9 win over Alderson-Broaddus in a West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference game on Sunday.
Hutter also drew a pair of walks as Shepherd, which has won eight of 10, improved to 25-13 and 18-6 in conference.
He will carry a .364 average, 33 runs, 32 RBI and seven homers into a Wednesday doubleheader at Bluefield State. Hutter’s started all 38 of his team’s games.
Lainey De Pompa (Crescenta Valley High, 2008) senior, UC Santa Barbara softball: Highlighting the Gauchos’ 3-1 Big West Conference victory over UC Riverside on Sunday, the former Falcons backstop went yard in the top of the fourth for a solo home run and a 2-0 lead.
The victory, the team’s fifth in a row, improved Santa Barbara to 21-25 and 6-3 in conference, as De Pompa has hit safely in each game during the winning streak, going six for 16. Overall, De Pompa has a seven-game hitting streak intact as the team returns home, where it will host Pacific in a three-game conference set beginning Friday.
For the season, De Pompa is hitting .248 through 46 games with 10 runs and four doubles. Her five home runs and 17 runs batted in are both team highs, as is her .400 slugging percentage.
Denise van der Goot (Flintridge Prep, 2011) freshman, Brown University softball: In a reversal of story line from her previous game, van der Goot came on in relief and notched the win as Brown took home a 4-3 Ivy League triumph over Dartmouth on Sunday.
She recorded two outs in the top of the seventh before Brown notched the game-winner in the bottom of the inning. The victory ended a doubleheader sweep that began with a van der Goot start in which she allowed four runs through six innings before being relieved and watching her squad rally for four runs in the seventh and a 5-4 win.
Brown is now 8-20 and 5-7 in league with back-to-back doubleheaders at Harvard, beginning Saturday.
The former Rebels All-CIF and All-Area standout has a team-best 4.62 ERA with a 2-7 record, a save, three complete games, one shutout and 51 strikeouts in 72 2/3 innings.