Courtesy of Norfolk State Athletic Communications
NORFOLK, Va. – Norfolk State rising senior outfielder Caleb Ward has been selected to play in the Valley League All-Star Game, the summer collegiate baseball league announced.
Ward will also participate in the VBL Home Run Derby prior to the game.
Ward has enjoyed a stellar start to the wood bat summer league season for the Woodstock River Bandits in the Valley Baseball League, one of the nation's oldest summer leagues comprised of 11 teams in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley. Ward currently leads the league with a .429 batting average. He is third in the league with five home runs and has knocked in 18 runs in 20 games played.
The 2019 Valley Baseball League All-Star festivities will take place on Sunday, July 7 at Veterans Memorial Park on the campus of James Madison University in Harrisonburg, Va.
A Second Team All-MEAC pick as a junior in 2019, Ward is one of a number of Spartans playing in collegiate summer leagues around the country. Ward began the summer with two fellow Spartans joining him on the River Bandits. Soon-to-be-sophomore James Deloatch has made eight pitching appearances and has logged a 2-0 record for Woodstock.
In a brief stint with the team, fellow rising sophomore pitcher Justin Walton was 1-0 with a 3.85 ERA and eight strikeouts in seven innings spanning three appearances for Woodstock.
Rising senior Stephen Baughan, another Second Team All-MEAC performer last season, recently joined forces with the Bismarck Larks in the prestigious Northwoods League. Through six games played, Baughan is hitting .269 with three home runs and nine runs batted in. He was named the league's player of the night in just his second game with the team after recording two homers and seven RBIs.
Four Spartans are playing this summer in the New York Collegiate Baseball League. Rising sophomore catcher Nick Wimmers is batting .328 with 16 runs scored and eight RBIs for the Hornell Dodgers. Classmate Mike Pyers has posted a 3.85 ERA in seven pitching appearances (one start) for the Genesee Rapids, fanning nine hitters in seven innings.
Elsewhere in the NYCBL, rising senior pitcher Ridge Walker and rising junior catcher Kam Holland are teammates on the Cortland Crush. Walker is 1-0 with a 2.57 ERA in four pitching appearances. Holland has hit two home runs and scored seven runs in his 13 games played behind the plate.
Rising junior left hander Tyrin Everette is excelling in the Tidewater Summer League. He has yet to allow an earned run in 12.1 innings pitched. He has recorded 13 strikeouts and a pair of saves to date for the Norfolk Redbirds.