The Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball League (PGCBL) has announced the first weekly winners of the 2017 season, with Jamestown’s Christ Conley (Canisius) garnering Player of the Week and Geneva’s Brian Reed (RIT) taking home Pitcher of the Week.Due to the shortened week at the start of the 2017 summer season, this week’s awards cover games played from Thursday, June 1, through Sunday, June 11.
Conley, who returned to Jamestown for his second summer, has been awarded the PGCBL’s Player of the Week for the second time; he also was honored during Week 4 of the 2016 season. The catcher from Derby, N.Y., guided the Jammers to a 7-2 start and has been a key cog in one of the league’s hottest offenses. In the first nine games of the season, Conley batted .462 (12-for-26), tied for the second-highest average among qualifying batters, with four doubles, seven RBIs, and league highs in both runs scored (12) and walks (12). Thanks to his 12 free passes and five hit-by-pitches, Conley also sits atop the PGCBL with a whopping .644 on-base percentage.
The 6-foot-1, 230-pound Canisius backstop produced at least one hit in seven of nine games during the first week-and-a-half of the 2017 PGCBL campaign, including four multi-hit performances. His best outing of the young season came on June 5 against Geneva, when he went 3-for-4 with a double, two RBIs and two runs scored in a 10-6 victory. He then reached base safely in all five plate appearances on June 9 in a 7-1 win over Onondaga, going 2-for-2 with a pair of two-baggers, two runs and a trio of walks.
On the mound, Reed has helped the Red Wings jump out to a fantastic start in 2017, as they sit just a half-game behind the Jammers in the West Division with a 6-2 record. The 6-foot-6 righty, who is also in his second season in the PGCBL after suiting up for the Victor RailRiders in 2016, began his summer by going 1-0 with a minute 0.69 ERA, the second-lowest among qualified starting pitchers, and a league-high 20 strikeouts in two starts.
In his season debut against Newark on June 2, the rising senior from RIT hurled 6.0 innings and allowed just one earned run while striking out eight. Although Reed did not earn a decision, his Red Wings went on to defeat the Pilots by a final score of 4-3 that night. In his second start on June 10, the Rochester, N.Y., native twirled a gem with 7.0 shutout innings at Dunn Field against Elmira. He scattered three hits and a pair of walks while striking out a dozen, the most in a game by a pitcher so far this season. Reed’s dominate performance featured six consecutive strikeouts in the third and fourth innings, as the Red Wings blanked the Pios, 7-0.
2017 PGCBL Weekly Award Winners
Player of the Week
Week 1: Christ Conley (Canisius) – Jamestown Jammers
Pitcher of the Week
Week 1: Brian Reed (RIT) – Geneva Red Wings
About the PGCBL
The Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball League is a 13-team summer collegiate baseball league in Upstate New York. Since its inaugural season in 2011, the PGCBL – which annually draws talent from some of the best NCAA, NAIA, and junior college programs – has quickly evolved into the premier wood bat league in the state of New York, while becoming one of the most widely respected summer leagues in the country. The PGCBL is affiliated with Perfect Game, the nation’s largest independent amateur scouting bureau. Last year, there were more than 1,500 players in the pros who either wore the uniform of a PGCBL team or participated in a Perfect Game event. For more information, please visitwww.pgcbl.com.