April 6, 2009
River Bats add 10 more to roster
The River Bats have nearly filled their roster by recently announcing the signing of 10 more players. The Bats also announce two players who will not return in 2009.
The River Bats pitching staff has increased by three with the signing of Kyle Ottoson, Nick Sutherland and Michael Ruvolo.
Ottoson, a freshman left-hander at South Mountain Community College in Arizona is 7-0 in nine appearances. Sutherland, a sophomore right-hander from Viterbo is returning to the Bats after being on the roster the two previous seasons. Ruvolo, a junior right-hander from Air Force is 2-0 with an ERA under 5 through 14 appearances.
Three outfielders were also announced this week, Danny Oh, Eric Marzec and Nick Longmire.
Oh, a freshman at California was hitting .326 through 26 games with the Bears. Marzec, a junior at Youngstown State was hitting .329 with four homers through 20 games this season. Finally Longmire, a sophomore at Pacific is a 2007 draft pick of the Oakland A's and is hitting .341 for the Tigers.
Infielders signed include Jonathon Roof who was a 39th round draft pick of the Boston Red Sox two years ago and is hitting .286 through 27 games with Michigan State this season. Tony Renda, the youngest of the infield signees, is a senior at Juniperro Serra High School in California and plans on attending California-Berkeley next fall. Travis Meiners is a junior infielder at Dallas Baptist where he is hitting .353 with three home runs through 13 games this year.
The final infielder signee is Hugo Hernandez, a freshman from College of the Canyons. Through 25 games with the Cougars Hernandez is hitting .292 with three home runs. The signing of Hernandez is bittersweet as the Bats lose Hugo's older brother Brian Hernandez, who was planning on returning for his third season with St. Cloud before being picked up by the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox of the Cape Cod League.
Along with Hernandez the Bats have announced that pitcher John Atteo will also not return in 2009. Last summer with the Bats the left-hander was 7-2 with a 2.57 ERA but will not be able to return due to tendinitis in his arm.
The Bats will continue to fill their roster in anticipation for the 2009 season which begins on May 28th against the Brainerd Lakes Area Lunkers. The River Bats will have their first home game the following night against the Lunkers at Joe Faber Field.
