Ryan Macdonald	Robby Mang	Julian Moya	Gilbert Puente	Jacob Yousif

Five Scorpions Participating in Summer Wooden Bat Baseball League in Canada
Posted June 23, 2008
Five members of the 2008 UTB/TSC Scorpion baseball team -- two local players and three Canadians -- have signed to participate in the Western Major Baseball League, a wooden-bat summer collegiate baseball league in Canada.

The two local players participating are:

• Julian Moya, pitcher from Brownsville Porter, playing for the Swift Current Indians in Swift Current, Saskatchewan, Canada, about 100 north of the U.S. border in Montana

• Gilbert Puente, catcher from Los Fresnos, playing for the Sherwood Park Dukes in Sherwood Parks, Alberta, Canada, about 400 miles north of the U.S. border in Montana

The three Scorpion players from Canada participating are:

• Robby Mang, pitcher from Saskatoon, SK, playing for his hometown Saskatoon Jackets

• Ryan MacDonald, outfielder from Kennet Cook, NS, playing for the Lethbridge Bulls

• Jacob Yousif, first baseman/outfielder from Surrey, BC, also playing for Lethbridge

The WMBL, Canada’s pre-eminent summer collegiate baseball league, is a wood bat league that boasts a long-standing tradition of creating a showcase for top college and Canadian professional prospects. It offers American college players the opportunity to hone their skills in front of enthusiastic baseball fans in towns and cities throughout Southern Canada.

Scorpion head baseball coach Joel Barta, who is from North Dakota and recruits in Canada, helped the players get noticed by the WMBL. "This is a great league for them to keep playing baseball in the summer and work on their skills with some professional coaches," Barta said. "This will help make them better ball players when they came back to us."

Moya will report to his Swift Current team after June 27, when he completes taking classes early during the first Summer Session at UTB/TSC.

Puente, who arrived at Sherwood Park only a week ago, has already started six of seven games. He has started slowly, going 4-for-32 with four RBI. Puente hit .352 for the Scorpions in 2008 and was the only Scorpion named to the First Team Red River Athletic Conference Team.

Moya, who was named to the All-RRAC Second Team, was 8-7 in 2008 with a 4.08 ERA. He was the workhorse pitcher of the conference, leading in innings pitched with 101.

MacDonald, also named to the All-RRAC Second Team, is hitting .227 after 15 games with one homer. He hit .358 for the Scorpions and was second in the nation in triples with nine and a .167 average per game.

Yousif is hitting .222 in 13 games while Mang is hitless in 12 at bats thus far.

Also participating in summer baseball is Scorpion outfielder Jorge Camorlinga, who is competing internationally for the third time in his life as a member of Team Mexico at the Big League International Tournament in Maracaibo, Venezuela. The tournament began June 20 and concludes June 29.

Camorlinga hit .372 average for the Scorpions during his freshman season, collecting 57 hits in 145 at bats, scoring 52 runs to lead the team in all three categories.