Four Durango players and one Bayfield athlete will try and help the Strike Zone Cardinals stay alive in the Connie Mack World Series when the Cardinals resume play Wednesday.
Former Durango High School standouts Danny Rowley, Connor Dugan, Sean Blanchard and current DHS player Ben Wiley and former Bayfield High School ace Clay Miller have helped steer the Cardinals to a 1-1 record so far in the tournament, which is held annually in Farmington.
The Cardinals are based out of Farmington and qualify annually as the tournament’s host team. They typically accrue talent from the Farmington area with a handful of athletes from Southwestern Colorado joining the fray.
Strike Zone fell in its opener last Friday, losing 7-3 to D-BAT Leach, a national qualifier from Dallas. The Cardinals, however, stayed alive in the double elimination event with a 9-5 victory over the Arecibo Lobos, the qualifiers from Puerto Rico.
After the third round wraps up Tuesday, the tournament will reset pairings as dictated by American Amateur Baseball Congress rules.
Rowley graduated from DHS in 2012, hitting .303 with 14 runs batted in as a catcher and going 4-2 with a 2.85 earned-run average on the mound. He spent last year at Eastern Arizona College, where he hit .304 in 39 games, driving in 10 runs.
Dugan, Blanchard and Wiley helped Durango to the final four of the CHSAA Class 4A Baseball State Championships this season. Dugan primarily played third base and hit .447 with 42 runs scored and 24 driven in, while Blanchard, an outfielder, hit .282 and drove in 16 runs. Wiley, a junior pitcher last season, went 3-5 with a 7.00 ERA for Durango in 38 innings pitched over 13 appearances, leading the team with 37 strikeouts.
Miller, a 2013 BHS graduate, was selected in the 35th round of the Major League Baseball Draft by Kansas City but opted not to sign, instead heading to college, where he’s committed to Colorado Mesa. The left-handed pitcher went 10-0 with a 0.59 ERA and 137 strikeouts as the Wolverines again advanced to the Class 3A state tournament. He also hit .578, homered 10 times and drove in 63 runs.
heraldsports@durangoherald.com
