Just over a month stands between college baseball’s biggest stars and ruthless NCAA conference tournament play. With the season’s pressure peaking soon, athletes are either hitting their stride, or fighting to find a rhythm. Brewster’s own played out of their minds this past week, with four players headlining Whitecaps Top Performers.
These future Whitecaps are putting up some video-game-esque numbers at critical times in their college seasons
Jamie Laskofski, William and Mary, INF
Jamie Laskofski stays hot with another week of terrorizing opposing pitchers. A .772 OBP kept defenses busy, but the seven runs Laskofski scored over the weekend buried in-conference opponent North Carolina A&T.
Baseball fans can argue which is more impressive: six stolen bases in a weekend or zero strikeouts. Thankfully for the William & Mary Tribe, and Brewster Whitecaps fans, no choice is needed. A season of good jumps and a grounded approach has pushed Laskofski’s batting average up to .375, about 15 points higher than last season.
The Burke, Virginia, native has clearly improved over his sophomore campaign. Beyond the average, the most noticeable jump is in his slugging and overall strength. Laskofski more than quadrupled his home run total and added more than 100 points to his slugging percentage.
Gritty infielders are a tale as old as time; think Dustin Pedroia or Ozzie Smith. Laskofski will take his style to the Stony Brook dirt in Brewster this summer.
Charlie West, UConn, LHP
If Whitecap’s fans at home aren't screaming from the rooftops for Charlie West, it’s time to start. The UConn left-hander threw his best game of the season.
UConn is right in the middle of a Big East race, and Charlie West is pitching like he knows it. The Huskies entered this week at 10-5 in conference play, tied with Xavier and riding a six-game winning streak. West helped drive that push by carving up Georgetown for 13 strikeouts across eight innings in a 14-2 win, his third straight double-digit strikeout start.
Contending teams rely on their starters covering major innings in conference games, in order to ease bullpen stress. West’s dominance has been more valuable to his teammates' success than many would credit. Win or lose, the South Setauket, N.Y. native keeps his team in games.
West has already shown up in Brewster’s Top Performers writeups three different times this spring, and this latest performance feels like the clearest picture of who West is becoming. Earlier in his career, he was a limited bullpen piece. Now he is sitting near the front of UConn’s push toward May baseball with real momentum behind him.
Rohan Lettow, San Diego State, RHP
San Diego State is deep in a Mountain West dogfight, and Rohan Lettow has become a major reason why the Aztecs are still fighting. The squad enters this stretch 10-5 in conference play and recently pushed its winning streak to eight games, with a crucial run still ahead against Nevada, San Jose State and UNLV.
Right in the middle of it all was Lettow, who tossed six innings of one-run ball with seven strikeouts and no walks in SDSU’s extra-inning win over Fresno State. He gave the Aztecs a firm start to a weekend they would eventually sweep, which is a must-have for a team trying to stay near the top of the standings.
This is Lettow’s fourth Brewster Top Performers mention of the spring, after earlier appearances in Weeks 2, 6 and 8. That checks out for a pitcher who already owns Mountain West Pitcher of the Week honors and has spent most of the year near the top of the conference in strikeouts.
Good Friday starters are valuable. Good Friday starters in a playoff race are gold.. Lettow is looking more and more like one of those guys, and that brand of competitiveness should fit in with Brewster just fine this summer.
Blaine Brown, Tennessee, OF/LHP
For his third Top Performers mention, Blaine Brown went 3-for-3 with two home runs and four RBIs in the second game of the Vols’ doubleheader sweep over Alabama, turning a tied game into a Tennessee win with one loud swing and then adding another for good measure.
Brown has been productive all season. Through 44 starts, he’s hitting .254 with 12 home runs, 35 RBIs and an .843 OPS. Despite his strong numbers, Brown has not shown as much of the two-way profile as projected. The Tennessee sophomore was named to the John Olerud Award watch list as one of the country’s notable two-way players, and has handled only limited work on the mound so far this year. That opens a potential opportunity for Brown to pitch on the Cape; to revive the side of his game that has taken a back seat to his offensive talent this season.
The Whitecaps have talent all across the country, from San Diego to Connecticut. As summer gets closer, the swings are getting louder and the arms are only getting sharper. Brewster fans have plenty of reason to be excited, because this group looks more than ready to bring home some CCBL hardware.
Matt Ford-Wellman can be reached at mfordwellman.media@gmail.com and followed on X @MattFW_4*
Title photo credit to Kayla McCullough.
