Legends Enter CCL Play After a Strong Showing in Opening Week
Joshua Quinn, one of two returning players, readies himself at shortstop on June 6 at the College of San Mateo. He has recorded at least one RBI in each of the Legends’ wins thus far.
The Menlo Park Legends began their 2024 season with eight games in 10 days, and are off to a 6–2 start overall, including a 2–1 record in California Collegiate League (CCL) play.
It is a fresh edition of the team, with IF Joshua Quinn and OF Rowan Felsch the only two returners from 2023. For the most part, these Legends have just recently arrived and gathered from schools across the state and country, and are now on the field competing together.
The Legends took on the West Coast Kings Grey in their Friday evening home and season opener at the College of San Mateo, where a six pitcher effort and early offensive outburst carried them to a 10–6 win. Menlo put five runs on the board their first time through the lineup as they batted around in the first inning, and went on to tally nine runs in the initial four frames.
They followed that up the next afternoon with a 6–3 defeat of the visiting Chico Nuts before heading out to the center of the state to face the Fresno Athletics, another non-league opponent. A tight 4–3 victory over the A’s at Chukchansi Park featured five scoreless innings of relief from RHP Richard Kiel, a seventh inning go-ahead solo home run from Quinn, and marked a 3–0 start for the Legends.
Dutch right-hander Dorian Lippens delivers a pitch in his June 6 start against the Alameda Merchants.
Kiel has appeared in three games and yielded just two earned runs over 11 ⅔ IP while striking out 18, proving himself a standout thus far. He attended Menlo College, but Kiel’s hometown is Ferntree Gully, Australia outside of Melbourne, making him one of two international players on the team along with RHP Dorian Lippens from Bovenkarspel, Netherlands. Kiel was also friendly enough to serve as public address announcer for part of the game versus the Nuts.
To complete a three game set, Fresno and Menlo split a doubleheader Tuesday. Five Legends pitchers combined for a shutout in game two to bounce back from being on the wrong end of a walkoff in the earlier game. The A’s 5–4 win in game one was the club’s first ever over a CCL opponent.
In five non-league matchups to start the summer, Legends hitters logged an impressive .824 OPS, and the pitchers a sterling 2.93 ERA.
The Legends entered league competition on Thursday evening at home versus the Alameda Merchants, whom they are scheduled to confront in five of their first seven CCL tilts. They went in front for good in the second on a two-run double by Quinn, the returning infielder, that made it 2–1 at the time.
Quinn has played in every game to date and been a barometer for the Legends’ success. He has at least one RBI in each of their wins, but none in their losses.
By sundown in San Mateo, the lineup had rallied its way to a 13–7 triumph over Alameda, highlighted by a six-run third inning and eight total steals.
Menlo runners have already been flying around the base paths. Thursday’s game saw 14 Merchant wild pitches and passed balls in addition to those eight stolen bags. Through six games, the Legends had notched 19 steals in 24 attempts.
Catcher Ben Seminara slides in safely on a stolen base attempt June 6 versus the Merchants.
Friday, the Legends fell, 3–1, to the Sonoma Stompers. The first half of the game was a pitcher’s duel between Kiel and the Stompers’ southpaw Destin Allen-Fox, before Sonoma broke a 1–1 tie and pulled ahead for good on a Jack Scheri solo shot.
The Merchants and Legends met again Sunday at Laney College in Oakland, and the Legends once again claimed the victory, this time 4–2.
In the coming week, the Legends will deal with the Merchants three more times, at home Wednesday and away on Friday and Sunday evening. In between those road games, the SF Seagulls host the Legends on Saturday at 6:05.
