Meet the Drakes: Marysville's newest pro baseball team

Jun. 16—Once again, Marysville has invited players from all across the country to invade Bryant Field for a summer in the inaugural Independent professional baseball season involving the Marysville Drakes. The Drakes have been competing since late May in the Pacific Division against Santa Rosa, Lancaster, San Rafael, Martinez, Vallejo, Monterey, Bakersfield and Lancaster.

The winner of the Pacific League and Mountain Division will square off in a world championship in early August. Currently, San Rafael (11-2) leads the Pacific, while Roswell (10-3) sits atop the Mountain as of June 15.

Marysville, as of the conclusion of games on June 15, is 10-7 — 2.5 games back of San Rafael. As a way for the public to get to know its latest edition of its regionwide baseball team, the Appeal asked for short biographies of each of its players.

Marysville is back home Wednesday in the first of a two-game series against Dublin at 6:35 p.m. at Bryant Field in Marysville.

Meet the Drakes

Pitchers — Evan Nakagawa has started four games and pitched 21 innings with a 5.14 ERA. He comes from Santa Clara and has listed Hank Aaron, Roberto Clemente, Ted Williams, Tim Wakefield, and R.A Dickey as his favorite baseball players.

Outside of baseball, Nakagawa enjoys playing ball with his friends and teaching the game.

Future goals include playing the highest competition possible. — Timothy Nichols is a lefty from Woodland who has appeared in eight games and thrown eight innings. He is 1-0 on the year. At the prep level, Nichols played for Pioneer and Woodland Babe Ruth.

When not on the field, Nichols remains active, going hiking regularly, paddle boarding and swimming with his girlfriend and dog, Sophie. — Mike Stellmack is a righty from Illinois who has appeared in 10 games and thrown 16.1 innings. He has a save and is 0-1 on the year. Previously Stellmack played pro ball with the Northern Colorado Owlz. Outside of baseball, Stellmack enjoys cars, Pokémon, League of Legends and metal music.

Interesting tidbit: Stellmack strives to play in the MLB and strikeout his former prep teammate, Nicky Lopez with the Kansas City Royals. — Neil Boudreau has thrown six innings in three games for the Drakes this summer. Prior to Marysville, the Irvine native played at University High School (Irvine), San Diego State University, Morgan State University (Baltimore) and the Boise Hawks.

Boudreau loves the Los Angeles Rams, Boston Red Sox and New York Giants.

Interesting tidbit: Boudreau played D-I football while in college, but never played collegiate baseball. Boudreau returned to the diamond about a year ago. — Garrett Mos has started three games, appeared in five and thrown just over 14 innings. He comes from Sacramento, playing collegiately at Sierra College. Mos loves the Dodgers, going to the beach and snowboarding.

Interesting tidbit: Moss is the head coach for Miramonte High in the Bay Area

Infielders — Erik Mitchell is hitting .333 through 15 games (45 at-bats) and has driven in 20 with a couple homers and five doubles. Mitchell played his prep ball at Sutter Union High School, graduating in 2017. He is from Live Oak. Before Marysville, Mitchell played professionally for the Santa Cruz Seaweed in the Pecos League.

Outside of baseball, Mitchell hits the gym regularly and plays guitar. At the MLB level, Mitchell loves the Los Angeles Dodgers. His favorite player is Mike Trout (LA Angels). — Declan Peterson has played in eight games (12 at-bats), driving in five and scoring six times. Originally he is from Illinois and played collegiately at Concordia University-Chicago and Franciscan University of Steubenville.

Outside of baseball, Peterson enjoys writing, music and conducting podcasts.

Interesting tidbit: Peterson went to the College World Series in 2018 with Concordia Chicago. — Joseph Starick has been one of the stat darlings of the Pecos League, hitting over .500 until recently when he fell to .442. Starick is from Rancho Cordova and played collegiately at Delta College, Saint Mary's, Napa Valley and William Jessup University.

Starick's favorite team is the San Francisco Giants.

Interesting tidbit: Starick survived a head-on collision at 20-years old and was told that he would not play baseball competitively again.

After two years of rehabilitation and four major arm surgeries, Starick returned to hit over .400 in college. — Connor Wytko (utility) has appeared in 11 games (26 at-bats) and is hitting .231 with three RBI. He played at Simpson University in Redding last year and Campesinos de Salem Keizer in Oregon.

Catchers — Tyler Carpenter has appeared in 15 games (49 at-bats) and is hitting .224 with 12 RBI. He is from Katy, Texas and previously played in the Pecos League with Santa Fe Fuego of the Mountain Division. Carpenter loves the Houston Astros and hopes to play in the MLB oneday. — Evan Blum has driven in 18 and is hitting .283 through 60 at-bats. He is from Maryland and played collegiately at Holy Cross. Blum loves the Ravens and Orioles. — Ergin Perovic has appeared in 16 games (43 at-bats) and is .186. Perovic caught for Adelphi University for four years.

After college Perovic transitioned to third base where he plays in Marysville.

Interesting tidbit: Perovic did not start playing baseball until freshman year in high school.

Outfielders — Lyndon Weaver has played 16 games (67 at-bats) and is hitting .343 with 23 RBI. He is from Atlanta and played for the State College Spikes and Florence Yalls — Jalen Gordon has appeared in three games (11 at-bats) and is hitting .182 with a couple RBI. Gordon hails from Sacramento and loves the Red Sox, LA Chargers and Chicago Bulls.

Field manager — Bill Rogan leads the dugout for Marysville. In addition to the Drakes, Rogan is passionate about the NY Rangers, NY Giants and Notre Dame football.

Outside of baseball, Rogan is a writer, biker, hiker and reader.

Rogan hails from New York and is still a Yankee fan to this day.

Interesting tidbit: Rogan has been married for 33 years to someone who puts up with him and allows him to manage baseball.

Other faces — Drake Ayala is an outfielder who is hitting .236 through 16 games and a team-high 10 stolen bases. — Cal Cromwell recently joined the Drakes from Lancaster and is slated as an infielder. — Earl Johnson played with the Yuba-Sutter Gold Sox last summer. The shortstop has played in 15 games (51 at-bats) and is hitting .176.

For more information, including ticket prices, visit http://www.marysvilledrakes.com.