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 Cole Akins was picked up by the Amarillo Outlaws in the post-season and transitioned to become the team's ace in the NBC World Series. |
Pacific Pitcher Cole Akins Leads Amarillo Outlaws As Most Inspirational Player
Aug. 19, 2008
Stockton, Calif. - During the homestretch of summer play this season, senior pitcher Cole Akins (Seattle, Wash.) dominated as the Amarillo Outlaws' ace in the National Baseball Congress World Series and was named the tournament's most inspirational player.
The NBC World Series is a 44-team double elimination tournament held every year in Wichita, Kan., in which the Outlaws fell in the first round to the Kansas Cowboys, 4-3 on Aug. 2.
That loss dropped the Outlaws into the loser's bracket with hopes of making the championship alive by staving off any further losses. Akins worked his magic from the loser's bracket against the Wichita Sluggers and came out on the high end of an 11-1 victory to carry his team into its third round of play. On just three days' rest Cole gave Amarillo a second quality start, but his team could not hold on to a victory and dropped a 14-inning marathon to the Game Time Rockies that ended their summer and left Akins without a decision in the game.
Cole went 1-0 in the post-season tournament with a 1.76 ERA and a league-leading 20 strikeouts in 15.1 combined innings of work. Batters who faced his pitching could only muster a collective .211 batting average. He also did it all working 20-hour days for the tournament director in exchange for a place to stay while his teammates opted to commute from Texas to Kansas instead of staying at a hotel in Wichita.
On the other end of the World Series bracket, sophomore pitcher Corey Kohnke (Dana Point, Calif.) and senior catcher Kurt Wideman (Fallbrook, Calif.) joined forces on the Maxim Yankees and dropped a 5-2 decision to the San Diego Waves on Aug. 4, placing them into the loser's bracket.
From there the Yankees turned in a six-game winning streak from Aug. 6 to Aug. 12, defeating their first two opponents by 10 runs or more. However, the Yankees could not continue their late-tournament run and fell 12-2 to the Havasu Heat for a seventh-place finish in the 44-team tournament.
Wideman finished his summer with a .304 batting average, 24 hits, six doubles and 14 RBI. From the mound, Kohnke posted a 2.93 ERA in 10 appearances, averaging one strikeout per each of his 30 innings of work.
For the third time in as many seasons, the Santa Barbara Foresters remained the only undefeated team in the tournament and took home NBC World Series rings after a 2-0 victory over the Studs in the championship game.
