July summer ball update: Gasper still hitting, Wrighter dealing

SMITHFIELD, R.I. – With the last week of July beginning, Bryant Athletics takes another look at how the members of the Bryant University baseball team are performing in their respective summer leagues.

Rising junior Mickey Gasper (Merrimack, N.H.) has continued to tear up the Futures Collegiate League this summer. Playing for Nashua, Gasper is hitting a league-leading .449, which is 38 points higher than the next player in the league. Gasper also leads the league with 19 doubles, a .756 slugging percentage, a .539 OBP and an astounding 1.295 OPS. He has six home runs, 35 RBI, 32 runs scored and has walked 25 times. Defensively, he's made just one error on the season in 191 total chances.

Gasper had an incredible two-day stretch on July 14-15 in which he went 7-for-8 with three doubles, a home run, eight RBI and six runs scored. He was 4-for-4 with three doubles, six RBI and three runs scored in a win over Torrington on the 15th.

Bryant's two incoming freshmen in the Futures League, Ryan Ward (Grafton, Mass.) and Jimmy Titus (Stafford, Conn.) also had a good month of July. Ward has been on fire for Worcester, hitting .393 which would rank third in the league if he had enough at-bats to qualify. He is 33-for-84 with three doubles, 10 RBI, 18 runs scored, 14 walks and just eight strikeouts. Ward has produced six multi-hit games in the month of July, including a stretch of four straight from July 18-21. Worcester is currently 30-14, the best record in the FCBL.

Playing for Bristol (Conn.), Titus has turned it on at the plate and is currently hitting .293 (22-for-75) with five doubles, a triple, 10 RBI and 11 runs scored. He has posted at least one hit in 10 of the 12 games he has appeared in during the month of July, and he also pitched a 1 2/3 scoreless innings of relief.

Also in the Futures League, John Nollet (Storrs, Conn.) and Craig Lacey (Westfield, Mass.) had strong showings in July as members of the Pittsfield Suns. Nollet is 7-for-59 and hit his first home run of the summer on July 15. Lacey is currently 2-2 with a 6.03 ERA in 28 1/3 innings. He posted two dominant starts in July, tossing seven scoreless innings on July 5 before tossing 5 2/3 hitless innings in his next start on July 17. Lacey would have better numbers if not for two rough starts in which he allowed 15 runs over 9 1/3 innings.

Rising senior Jacob Marotta (Bridgewater, Mass.) is also in the Futures League and is 12-for-65 with five RBI and 10 runs scored for Brockton.

In the NECBL, all six Bulldogs have their respective teams in the playoff hunt as the regular season winds down. Rising sophomore Nick Angelini (Bedford, N.H.) is hitting .264 (28-106) with five doubles, eight RBI and 17 runs scored for Ocean State. He also leads the team with 23 walks and 12 stolen bases. Rising junior Logan Lessard (Cromwell, Conn.) has a 7.71 ERA in 14 innings, posting 19 strikeouts for the Waves who are in third place in the Southern Division.

In Danbury, rising juniors Justin Snyder (Georgetown, Mass.) and Ross Weiner (Woodbridge, Conn.), and rising sophomore Tyler Panno (Rivervale, N.J.) have the Westerners a half game out of a playoff spot in the Southern Division. Panno is hitting .286 (14-49) with five RBI and 11 runs scored, while Snyder is 1-0 with a save and a 4.80 ERA in a team-leading 16 appearances. He tossed three scoreless innings of relief against Keene to earn his only win on July 22. Weiner is 1-0 with two saves and a 4.33 ERA in 18 2/3 innings. He had his longest outing of the season on July 15 at Mystic, allowing an unearned run on two hits over 3 2/3 innings.

Rising senior Cole Fabio (Mahwah, N.J.) has helped Newport turn things around in July and the Gulls find themselves second in the Southern Division with a week to go. He's hitting .281 (36-128) with six doubles, 19 RBI, 17 runs scored and a team-leading 13 stolen bases. Fabio has posted seven multi-hit games in the month of July, including six of his last nine games.

In the Perfect Game Collegiate League, rising sophomore Nathan Wrighter (Windsor, N.Y.) and rising redshirt-freshman Jack Owens (Scituate, R.I.) have both continued to dominate on the mound. Owens has made a team-high 14 relief appearances for Albany and has a 3.17 ERA in 11 1/3 innings. He has allowed just six hits, has walked 10 and struck out 17 on the year. Owens allowed three hits over 1 2/3 innings of relief on July 24, matching the amount of hits he had allowed in his previous 13 outings.

Wrighter is 2-3 with a 2.26 ERA in 10 appearances, six starts, for Oneonta. He has allowed 36 hits, walked 10 and struck out 23 in 39 2/3 innings. He made four starts in the month of July, allowing two earned runs or less in all four. Wrighter allowed a run on six hits over 4 2/3 on July 4 before tossing five shutout innings and allowing just one hit on July 10. He has also struck out three or more batters in each of his last five starts.

Rising sophomore Steve Theetge (Cicero, N.Y.) is 1-2 with a 9.00 ERA in nine innings for Savannah in the Coastal Plains League. He has walked six and struck out nine on the year. Theetge earned his only win on July 2 when he struck out four and allowed just one hit over two scoreless innings of relief.