Hurler earns team award
The following are updates on local baseball players at the minor league level.
Ryan Sherriff (Glendale Community College, 2011) starting pitcher, Palm Beach Cardinals: Plenty has gone right throughout the season for the former Glendale Angeleno, who is thriving with the St. Louis Cardinals’ class-A Advanced affiliate. Sherriff, a left-hander, was selected the St. Louis Cardinals Minor League Pitcher of the Month for June.
In four June appearances, Sherriff went 3-0 with a 1.98 earned-run average and struck out 14. Sherriff went at least six innings in each of his four starts, yielding two runs or less. He became the second Palm Beach pitcher to pick up the award this season, as Seth Maness earned the accolade in April.
Sherriff (5-1) suffered his first loss Monday. He surrendered four runs (all earned) and seven hits in Palm Beach’s 4-0 home loss against the Lakeland Flying Tigers. Sherriff struck out five in seven innings. He faced 29 batters, getting 16 ground outs.
Sherriff, who helped Glendale college advance to the state tournament in 2011, sports a 3.51 ERA in nine starts. He’s struck out 27 and allowed 10 walks, 25 runs (22 earned) and 47 hits in 56 1/3 innings.
The Cardinals are 11-13 and in fifth place in the Florida State League’s South Division.
Trevor Bell (Crescenta Valley High, 2005) starting pitcher, Salt Lake Bees: After missing nearly two months because of a right-elbow strain, Bell appeared sharper in his most recent outing Saturday. Bell, a former All-Area Baseball Player of the Year, went five innings and allowed one run and three hits in Salt Lake’s 4-3 road victory against the Reno Aces on Saturday. Bell, who didn’t factor into the decision, threw 44 of his 71 pitches for strikes and faced 18 batters.
The right-hander is 1-5 with a 6.46 earned-run average. In eight appearances, Bell has struck out 15 and walked 18 covering 30 2/3 innings. He’s allowed 32 runs (22 earned) and 47 hits.
Salt Lake, the triple-A affiliate of the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim, entered Monday’s game against the host Colorado Springs Sky Sox at 46-49 and in third place in the Pacific Coast League’s Northern Division.
Christian Bergman (St. Francis High, 2006) starting pitcher, Modesto Nuts: The right-hander has won four starts in a row for the Nuts, a class-A advanced affiliate of the Colorado Rockies. Bergman, a former All-Area Baseball Player of the Year and a UC Irvine graduate, struck out seven and allowed four hits in seven innings to help Modesto pick up a 9-0 home victory against the San Jose Giants.
Bergman, who was scheduled to start Monday night against the host Lancaster JetHawks in a California League contest, retired the first 14 batters he faced to improve to 12-5 and lower his earned-run average to 2.91 after turning back San Jose with an 87-pitch performance. He’s won eight of his last nine starts and leads the league in victories.
“He is our ace and to start the season he wasn’t intended to be,” Modesto Manager Lenn Sakata told the Modesto Bee. “But he keeps us in games and he heats it up when he needs to. I can’t say enough about what he’s done.
“He’s a crafty pitcher who battles his butt off and it’s not pretty sometimes. He can throw strikes with all his pitches, and that will give us a chance to win every time he goes out there.”
Modesto is 14-10 and in second place in the league’s North Division.
Fernando Valenzuela, Jr. (St. Francis High, 2000) designated hitter/first baseman, Leones de Yucatan: Valenzuela, who also played at Glendale Community College before transferring to UNLV, had two doubles and drove in a pair of runs Thursday to lead Leones de Yucatan to a 5-3 victory against visiting Olmecas de Tabasco in the second game of a doubleheader. Valenzuela had a two-run double in the sixth inning to give Leones a 5-2 advantage.
Valenzuela has hit safely in six of his last 10 games.
Through Sunday, Valenzuela is batting .322 (106 for 329) with seven home runs and 51 runs batted in. He’s notched 27 doubles and scored 31 runs for Leones de Yucatan, which is 40-59 and in seventh place in the Mexican League’s Sur Division.
