Summer fun on the diamond

Brian Hernandez and Drew Hillman are among the candidates to win the third base job for the UC Irvine baseball program next season. So it’s convenient, perhaps, that they can keep an eye on one another competing in the Cape Cod League this summer.

Hernandez, who redshirted last season due to eligibility issues, and Hillman, who helped lead Orange Coast College to the state championship as a sophomore in 2009, are among several players with local ties honing their games in various locales, including Alaska and Hawaii.

Also on the Cape is Corona del Mar High product Jake Lemmerman, while Crosby Slaught and Ryan Fisher are representing UCI in the Alaska Baseball League.

Five UCI players, as well as one OCC product, are playing in the West Coast League, while there are two Anteaters in the Hawaii Collegiate Baseball League, and one more UCI player in the Northwoods League.

Hernandez, whom UCI Coach Mike Gillespie said was the best hitter on a roster that went 45-15 and won its first Big West Conference championship, was hitting just .125 through 16 at-bats for the Yarmouth-Dennis Red Sox.

Hillman, a two-time community college All-American who was drafted in the 38th round this month by the Tampa Bay Rays, was hitless in his first 10 at-bats for the Cotuit Kettleers.

Lemmerman, who has started at shortstop his first two collegiate seasons at Duke, was hitting .227 through six games with the Wareham Gatemen. But he had a three-run double to key a comeback win for his team Friday.

Slaught, a right-handed starting pitcher who went 8-0 with a 4.62 earned-run average as a sophomore in 2009, is pitching with the Kinai Peninsula Oilers.

Fisher, who hit .320 with four home runs and 28 RBIs for the Anteaters as a sophomore utility man, is also playing with the Oilers.

Four ‘Eaters who helped comprise a productive freshman class in 2009 are among those in the West Coast League. Freshman All-American Ronnie Shaeffer is joined by teammates DJ Crumlich and Tommy Reyes with the Wenatchee (Wash.) Apple Sox.

Shaeffer, who led UCI with a .388 batting average, Crumlich (.261) and Reyes (.348) all spent plenty of time in the UCI starting lineup this past season. Also in the West Coast League are UCI players Jordan Leyland and Nick Hoover.

Leyland, who will be a sophomore first baseman next season, is with the Bend (Ore.) Elks. He hit .310 in 42-at-bats as a freshman. Hoover, a right-handed pitcher who struggled in limited duty in his first collegiate season as a sophomore out of Riverside Community College, is playing for the Corvallis (Ore.) Knights.

Ryan Dunn, a sophomore second baseman at OCC in 2009, is playing with Bend.

Matt Summers, a freshman pitcher and outfielder for whom UCI Coach Mike Gillespie holds great hopes, is playing with the St. Cloud (Minn.) River Bats of the Northwoods League.

Drawing the enviable assignment of toiling in Hawaii are UCI teammates Scott Gottschling and Brian Murphy, both of whom will be redshirt freshmen next season for the ‘Eaters.

Gottschling, an outfielder, is with the Oahu Paddlers. Murphy, a right-handed pitcher, is with the Waikiki Surfers.

Gillespie said left-handed pitcher Andy Lines and utility player Steven Malcolm, both freshmen who redshirted last season, are also staying sharp in summer competition. Lines is playing for a local Connie Mack team, while Malcolm is playing for Lodi in the California Collegiate League.