Photos by MaxPreps photographers/Graphic by Ryan Escobar
As non-playoff or title baseball games go, they don't get much better than Saturday's nonleague tilt between 11th-ranked
College Park (Pleasant Hill) and
De La Salle (Concord).
The game is so big it was first scheduled at a neutral junior college, and then moved to Evans Field on the campus of Cal.
Joe DeMers, College Park
Photo by Alyson Boyer Rode
The reason for the vast interest is the pitching matchup — De La Salle's 6-foot-8, 230-pound left-hander
Justin Hooper and College Park's four-year standout and leading National Player of the Year candidate
Joe DeMers.
Hooper, projected to be a first-round pick in the 15-to-35 range in June's MLB draft according to MaxPreps baseball editor Kevin Askeland, is 4-2 with a 1.37 ERA. He has struck out 41 in 30.2 innings and allowed 17 hits.
Perfect Game ranks Hooper the sixth-best senior in the country. They described him this way: "Up to 97 (MPH) at Perfect Game All-American Game. Extremely high ceiling LHP. Showed dominant stuff at PG Sunshine West Showcase. Fastball up to 95 mph and good breaking ball to go with it."
"He got off to a slow start, but he's been coming on," Askeland said.
DeMers is perhaps the national POY leader, according to Askeland, because of his dominance in pitching and hitting.
The 6-2, 230-pounder is 9-0 with a 0.22 ERA and 73 strikeouts in 64 innings. He's allowed just 22 hits and recorded three no-hitters, including a perfect game against a very good Monte Vista squad.
At the plate, he's hitting .463 with team highs of 35 RBIs and six home runs.
"DeMers is definitely one of the top candidates for national player of the year," Askeland said.
Heading into the season, Askeland ranked Hooper as the fourth-best senior in the country and DeMers No. 26.
Most mock drafts don't have DeMers as a first-round pick, but that could change after Saturday. There might be more scouts at the game than fans.
Both pitchers fired three innings on Tuesday in lopsided wins, freeing each to pitch seven more innings this week by California rules. If the game goes extra innings, neither will be able to continue.
Besides the two standouts, both teams are loaded with talent. College Park is 18-3 and winners of nine straight, featuring seven scholarship players including the starting outfield of
Trevor Larnach (Oregon State),
Jeffrey Mitchell (Cal) and
Nick Oar (Stanford).
De La Salle (12-6) also has outfielder
Michael McAdoo, who has signed at UC Santa Barbara.
Justin Hooper, a 6-foot-8, 230-pound senior, is a projected first-round major league baseball draft pick in June.
File photo by Ralph Thompson
