College Update: Salud saves, Cal Lutheran baseball wins first NCAA DIII World Series
The following are update on local athletes at the collegiate level.
Miguel Salud (Glendale Community College, 2015) Cal Lutheran baseball senior: With his team holding a precarious one-run lead and nine outs away from realizing the glory of an NCAA Division III World Series championship, Salud took to the mound on Tuesday and took his team home to a title – the first in program history.
Salud twirled a three-inning save on Tuesday in Cal Lutheran’s 7-3 triumph over Washington and Jefferson in the third and deciding game of the World Series in Grand Chute, Wisc.
“Every time I come out, all I see is me and my catcher, there’s nothing else,” Salud said in the postgame press conference.
Salud’s 14th save of the season was no doubt his most memorable as he allowed four hits, two walks and one run over three innings with three strikeouts.
“We were going to go to Miggy late no matter what, or early,” longtime CLU manager Marty Slimak said.
It was Salud’s first appearance in the three-game series and actually snapped a span of six straight appearances covering eight innings in which he didn’t allow a run. The series began with CLU losing, 12-2, on Monday before starting Tuesday with a 12-4 win and ending with a rested Salud shutting the door.
“It was huge that I was able to rest [Monday],” Salud said. “We did get clobbered, but it was a minor setback for a major comeback.”
Salud made 33 appearances for the Kingsmen, posted a 3-2 record along with his 14 saves, totaled 50 1/3 innings with a 3.40 earned-run average and struck out 45. His 14 saves were a school record.
“From the beginning, I didn’t even think I was going to be the closer, I was just the first guy out of the pen,” Salud said. “When they switched me to be the closer … I just stuck to my approach, hit my spots.”
The senior right-hander was an NCAA Division III West All-Region Third-Team pick, the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Newcomer of the Year and a SCIAC second-team pick.
The Kingsmen (40-11) produced the greatest season in team history, which included a fifth straight SCIAC regular season title (the 14th in program chronicle) and the fourth SCIAC postseason tournament win in five seasons.
In the DIII World Series against Washington and Jefferson, CalLu lost the first game, 12-2, which not only put the Kingsmen in dire straits but ended a phenomenal 12-game winning streak that began in the SCIAC regular season and extended through the NCAA West Regional and into the opening games of the World Series.
Salud was phenomenal in postseason play, delivering six saves in 10 NCAA DIII playoff games.
Cal Lutheran baseball won its first DIII title in its third try and joined the 2015 women’s volleyball team as the only two school programs to win NCAA DIII championships.
Jared Akins (Glendale Community College, 2016) Fresno State baseball junior: It was a stellar debut season for Akins with the Bulldogs, one in which he led Fresno State with 23 doubles and 35 extra-base hits.
He also proved clutch, earning Mountain West All-Tournament accolades in the season-ending conference tournament as he hit .409 over five games with four home runs, nine total hits, seven runs batted in and nine runs.
Fresno State went 35-25 this season with an 18-12 mark in the Mountain West, the finale coming in the form of a 5-3 loss to San Diego State on Sunday.
Akins, the team’s starting left fielder, had some big games through the season with season-highs of five hits, five runs and six RBI.
For the year, the former Western State Conference South Division Player of the Year at GCC hit .328 (75 for 229) in 58 games (50 starts) with 48 RBI, 37 runs, 11 home runs and a .581 slugging percentage.
Jonah Jarrard (Glendale Community College, 2015) The Master’s College baseball junior: A phenomenal season was had by Jarrard and the Mustangs, whose campaign closed on Tuesday afternoon with a 16-5 loss to No. 1 seed Oklahoma City in Lewiston, ID. in the Avista-NAIA World Series.
Jarrard, the team’s starting catcher, was a focal point of the Mustangs’ success in the heart of the order.
An All-Golden State Athletic Conference selection, Jarrard led all Mustangs starters with a .406 batting average, tallying a team-high 86 hits in 212 at-bats. Jarrard’s 152 total bases were also tops on the team, as he added 36 runs, 52 runs batted in, 13 home runs, 19 doubles, four triples, a .717 slugging percentage, 25 walks and a .488 on-base percentage to put forth a simply terrific season line.
The Mustangs (41-23) had a dramatically successful season in which they had five elimination-game wins on their way to winning the GSAC Tournament, an NAIA Opening Round series and a pair of games in the NAIA World Series.
The heart of TMC’s order, its No. 2 through No. 4 batters with Jarrard hitting second, went 0 for 11 with a walk in the season finale, but the team’s last win was thanks in large part to Jarrard.
On Monday, the Mustangs staved off elimination with a 9-2 win over Keiser of Florida. Jarrard homered, doubled and walked with four RBI. The Master’s opened the series with a 7-3 victory against Science and Arts of Oklahoma and Jarrard also collected a pair of hits and two RBI in that win.
Daniel Enzminger (Flintridge Prep, 2014) Claremont-Mudd-Scripps baseball junior: Enzminger put together a productive season for the Stags.
Pitching out of the bullpen, he made 10 appearances across 21 innings with a 3.43 earned-run average with a 0-1 record, 14 strikeouts and 10 walks.
Enzminger held the opposition scoreless over his final four appearances over 6 2/3 innings.
Claremont finished the season in the final week of April with a 16-21 record and a 10-14 mark in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.
Andres Kim (St. Francis High, 2015) Pasadena City College baseball sophomore: A bounce-back from the University of San Diego, Kim’s presence was a key factor in Pasadena putting forth one of its greatest seasons and one in which it prospered following years of futility.
PCC advanced to the postseason for the first time in 45 years and captured its first South Coast Conference outright title since 1967.
Kim, an All-SCC first-team choice as a second baseman, hit .335 (52 for 155) through 41 games for Pasadena (26-15) with a team-leading 43 runs and eight stolen bases. Kim added 26 runs batted in, 14 extra-base hits, including 11 doubles, and 20 walks.
Kim boasted a 10-game hitting streak at one point and hit safely in nine of the final 10 games of the campaign.
A 9-2 defeat to El Camino in the Super Regional round of the California Community College Athletic Assn. postseason ended the Lancers’ season on May 13, with Kim connecting for a solo home run.
On Thursday, Kim was named chosen as an American Baseball Coaches Assn./Rawlings Pacific Association All-American Third-Team choice and a CCCBCA All-State First Teamer.
Twitter: @TCNGrantGordon
