Alumni: June 2009 Archives

We're late posting this, but here's an interesting look at the Hairston family from MLB.com reporter Mark Sheldon. Jerry Hairston Jr. reflects on hanging out at the old Comiskey Park while his father played for the White Sox:

"Back then, it was great, but now as I'm older, I realize I got a chance to be around Carlton Fisk, Harold Baines, Greg Luzinski and all those great players," Hairston Jr. said. "There was camaraderie they had on that team -- the older players with kids, too. Casey Fisk, Ryan Luzinski, my brothers and Doug Rader's kids, we always went out and played.

"My father didn't want us running around wild in the clubhouse. He stressed that the clubhouse was a sacred area. Just make sure you respect everybody. He said, 'I'm your father but you have 24 other guys here that have to get ready to play.' I understood at a young age that those guys were there to do a job."

UPDATE: Cincinnati Enquirer reporter John Erardi has more on the Civil Rights Game and its connection to generations of Hairstons.

On Saturday the DuPage Dragons will host "Benet Baseball Night" at Benedictine. Former Redwings pitcher Bryan Roberts is scheduled to throw and Benet graduate Matt Kleifges is also expected to be in the starting lineup.

According to Redwings coach Jeff Bonebrake, portions of the proceeds from ticket sales will go to the program when you mention Benet baseball.

Harvard man Dillon O'Neill has been named to ESPN The Magazine's Academic All-District 1 second team. The sophomore outfielder, who also plays on the school's soccer team, was honorable mention All-Ivy League after leading the Crimson with 49 hits and a .410 on-base percentage. The Benet graduate hit .322 and made 38 starts in 41 games.

The numbers can be misleading when you're working out of the bullpen. Relievers sometimes take cheap wins and losses they didn't deserve and maybe it all balances out. It depends on whether or not the next pitcher bails you out.

Colin Bates - profiled here in a Sunday column - faced only two Arizona State batters on Sunday in the 10th inning of North Carolina's opening game in the College World Series. The Naperville Central graduate got the first to pop out and then gave up a single down the right-field line before giving way to Brian Moran, who entered with an 88-8 strikeout-to-walk ratio.

Then the Tar Heels unraveled in what became a 5-2 loss. Lee Barfknecht picks up the action in the Omaha World-Herald:

Moran got Arizona State's Jason Kipnis, the Pac-10 player of the year, to fly to right. But North Carolina's Garrett Gore, fighting the sun, dropped it for an error.

But this time, he lifted a pitch to left center that the 15-mph breeze grabbed and slung into the fourth row of the bleachers.

So in the final accounting Bates (4-3) is charged with the loss, and North Carolina is one more loss away from elimination. Throughout the tournament, Adam Lucas of TarHeelBlue.com is providing daily links to College World Series coverage.

North Carolina reliever Colin Bates (Naperville Central), who's busy preparing for the College World Series, was selected by Oakland on Thursday in the 37th round of the first-year player draft.

Infielder Jack Walker, a four-year starter at Concordia University Chicago, was selected by the Washington Nationals on Wednesday with the first pick of the 20th round (592nd overall).

Walker, a Naperville North graduate, was a career .352 hitter at Concordia, good for fourth on the school's all-time list. He's the program's career leader in five categories, including games played (176), hits (235) and runs scored (211).

The Blue Jays picked St. Louis right-hander Dave Sever on Wednesday with the draft's 490th overall pick. The 6-foot-4-inch, 195-pound Benet graduate was chosen in the 21st round last year by the Dodgers, but he opted to return for his senior season and rose to the 16th round this time around.

Sever improved his stock by going 6-4 with a 3.60 ERA for the Billikens. He ends his St. Louis career as the program's all-time wins leader with 22.

Connor Powers was scheduled to work out for the Dodgers on Monday in Los Angeles. The Mississippi State first baseman must have done something right.

The Dodgers chose the 6-foot-2-inch, 220-pound Benet graduate on Wednesday in the 11th round of the first-year player draft.

For more on the 337th overall pick, click here.

North Central College baseball players Matt Abraham (Naperville North), Michael Corrigan (St. Charles North) and Joe Turek (Lincoln-Way East) have been selected to the 2009 NCAA Division III All-Central Region Teams, as chosen by the American Baseball Coaches Association.