CORVALIS, Ore. -- The West won individual honors but the East won the game. MLB scouts voted LHP Ben Wetzler (Oregon State/Corvalis) top pro prospect for two innings of scoreless pitching and Spencer O'Neil (Oregon/Cowlitz) was named MVP for his three hits including a solo home-run to deep right off of Owen Jones (Portland/Wenatchee). O'Neil also drove in Royce Bollinger (Gonzaga/Bend) in the bottom of the 9th, but it wasn't enough. The East beat the West 4-2 on a sparkling summer evening on the campus of Oregon State University. Next year's WCL all-star game will played in Walla Walla, Washington.
As a co-owner of the Walla Walla Sweets, I'm more than a little biased in my thinking that Elliot Stewart (Cal Poly/Walla Walla)deserved some recognition tonight for his line-drive to right which scored 2 of the East's 4 runs.
His teammate in Walla Walla, Alex Stanford (Gonzaga), drilled a line-drive to right for a triple and an RBI in the 3rd to score Aaron DeGuire (UCLA/Wenatchee). That's right, the Walla Walla Sweets drove in 3 of the 4 runs scored in the East's 4-2 win tonight.
The WCL all-star game drew 2,517 fans and representatives of 24 MLB clubs. Like the Cape League, pitchers dominated but we saw some dynamic defense and some power surges on offense.