Six between two teams in the Valley League; pair go to Cape Cod

Cullowhee, N.C. - Seventeen members of the Western Carolina baseball team are playing in the various summer leagues around the nation including six that are teammates between two squads in the wooden bat Valley League and a pair of teammates in the prestigious Cape Cod League. All told, the 17 student-athletes are spread between seven summer leagues ranging from southeastern United States to New England, the Midwest and Alaska.

Second baseman Ross Heffley and right-handed pitcher Taylor Sandefur are both playing for the Falmouth (Mass.) Commodores of the Cape Cod Baseball League. It is the second such invitation to one of the nation's premier summer leagues while Sandefur is looking to capitalize on his Cy Young Award from the Valley League last summer.

Six Catamounts will play in the Virginia-based Valley League, which garners its name from the picturesque Shenandoah Valley in the western reaches of the state. Right-handed pitchers Kyle Stewart and Preston Hatcher are joined by infielder Aaron Attaway with the Haymarket team, while hurlers Andrew Blackwell and Adam Curtis will team with outfielder Dykota Spiess with the Waynesboro Generals.

Cameron Dullnig ventures to the Northwoods League to play for the Green Bay (Wisc.) Bullfrogs while catcher Adam Martin will spend the summer in Alaska playing for the Matanuska Susitna (Mat-Su) Miners, which won the 2010 Alaska League Championship.

Tyler White, who closed the season with hits in 12 of his last 13 games including a career-best six in the upset of top-seeded Elon, will spend the summer with the Gastonia Grizzlies of the Coastal Plain League. Whereas he will not see any WCU teammates in the league, White could face former volunteer assistant coach, Bruce Johnson, who is the skipper of the Wilson Tobs squad. With no scheduled regular season meetings, the two would have to square off in the CPL All-Star game or Petit Cup playoffs.

Both Bryant Noteboom (Smokey Mountain) and Macon Smith (Kernersville) will play in the Carolina Virginia Collegiate League while Luke Gragg (Lake Norman) and Cody Jones (Morganton) are playing in the Southern Collegiate League.

Freshmen Julian Ridings (Shelby) and Adam Benfield (Cherryville) will play the summer with their respective American Legion branch teams.