Month: October 2015

Team Italia calls on St. Louis Cardinals’ pitching prospect Trey Nielsen to make impact in Premier 12

Roberto AngottiLeave a comment
24-year-old Salt Lake City native Trey Nielsen pitched for Single-A Advanced Palm Beach Cardinals in 2015.
Salt Lake City native Trey Nielsen pitched for Single-A Advanced Palm Beach Cardinals in 2015.

Premier-12_fibs_baseball The top 12 nations in the world of baseball will square off in the inaugural 2015 Premier 12 in Japan and Taiwan. In the first round of play, eleventh-ranked Italia faces ninth-ranked Puerto Rico on November 10th, fourth-ranked Chinese Taipei on November 11th, fifth-ranked Kingdom of the Netherlands on November 12th, seventh-ranked Canada on November 14th and third-ranked Cuba on November 15th.12193718_1060196603992882_474438229732393826_nPremier-12-Ranking A welcome addition to the Team Italia pitching staff is MLB prospect Trey Nielsen from the St. Louis Cardinals organization. The crafty right-hander was originally selected by the Chicago Cubs in the 42nd round of the 2010 Draft out of Salt Lake City’s Skyline High School. Highly-touted as a 2010 Preseason Rawlings honorable mention All-American and two-time first-team all-state player, Nielsen chose not to sign with the Cubbies in favor of becoming a student athlete at the University of Utah. Playing his first two seasons exclusively as an infielder, he returned to the mound during his junior year and made four pitching appearances. Under the guidance of former MLB player and father Scott Nielsen, Trey opted out of his senior collegiate season in favor of a professional baseball career when taken in the 30th round of the 2013 MLB Draft by the St. Louis Cardinals. Postponing his minor league pitching debut due to Tommy John surgery, Nielsen pitched well for the 2014 NY-Penn League Champs State College Spikes by posting a 3-2 record with 49 strikeouts, 14 walks and a 2.50 ERA in 50 1/3 innings of work while holding opponents to just a .201 average.

24-year-old pitcher Trey Nielsen
24-year-old pitcher Trey Nielsen can help Team Italy.
Trey Nielsen was among the elite invitees to the 2015 Cardinals Spring Training Early Program Camp. In each of his seven starts for Single-A Advanced Palm Beach Cardinals between May 19 and June 26, he limited his opponents to no more than one earned run. After recording six shutouts this summer, the fast-rising Nielsen moved up to number 19 in the Cardinal Nation’s Top 40 prospect ranking. With the spotlight on him now in the Premier 12, Trey is ready to give underdog Team Italia a big boost with quality starts on the international stage.

Heidenheim Heideköpfe capture 2015 German Baseball Championship with help from abroad

Roberto Angotti1 Comment
Oregon native Luke Sommer, shown here pitching for the German National team in 2013, picked up the win in Heidenheim Heidekoepfe's decisive game 5 victory over Buchbinder Legionäre Regensburg on October 3, 2015.
Oregon native Luke Sommer, who pitched for Germany in the 2013 WBC Qualifier and the Euro All-Stars in the 2015 Samurai Japan Series, picked up the win in Heidenheim Heideköpfe’s decisive game five championship victory over Buchbinder Legionäre Regensburg on October 3, 2015.

After Buchbinder Legionäre Regensburg took the first two games of the best-of-five German national baseball championship series by slim one run margins, Heidenheim Heideköpfe came back strong with a 4-0 shutout in game three and a 12-2 blowout to even the series. With German passport in hand, thirty-year-old Luke Sommer flew overseas from America to join his Heidenheim Heideköpfe teammates for the sold-out decisive game five at Armin Wolf Arena in Regensburg, Germany on October 3, 2015. Vying for a second championship in the German Baseball-Bundesliga, Heidenheim Heideköpfe struck first in the second inning and led 1-0 until late in the heated battle. Both starting pitchers, Buchbinder Legionäre Regensburg’s Mike Bolsenbroek and Heidenheim Heideköpfe’s Peter Sikaras, went deep in the game before the offensive onslaught ensued in the top of the seventh inning and Heidenheim Heideköpfe tacked on three insurance runs to lead comfortably 4-0. Buchbinder Legionäre Regensburg wasted no time in fighting back with a five-run rally highlighted by a three-run home run by Philipp Howard to take a 5-4 lead into the eight inning. Heidenheim Heideköpfe’s Simon Guehring answered back with a homer to even the score. Home team Regensburg looked like they were going to run away with the game when they scored twice to take the 7-5 lead.

Drafted in the 2007 MLB amateur draft by the Chicago Cubs out of the University of San Francisco, lefty Luke Sommer reached AAA in 2010 and later received MVP honors in Holland and Germany.
Selected by the Chicago Cubs in the 2007 MLB amateur draft out of the Univ. of San Francisco,
lefty pitcher Luke Sommer reached AAA in 2010 before pitching in Europe. The two-time
European MVP has since led his teams to national championships in Holland and Germany.
LukeSommerCardHeidenheim Heideköpfe called for their lefty specialist Luke Sommer from the bullpen to stop the bleeding. The former Chicago Cubs prospect received the win after a remarkable three-run rally by Heidenheim Heideköpfe in the last inning and putting away the final three Regensburg hitters in the bottom of the ninth. With their come-from-behind 8-7 victory, Heidenheim Heideköpfe denied Buchbinder Legionäre Regensburg from registering their sixth German baseball championship title in dramatic fashion.