The Danbury Westerners, the longest tenured team in the New England Collegiate Baseball League, are proud to announce the signing of outfielder Cody Acker and infielder Matt Davis, teammates at Virginia Commonwealth University, for the 2015 season.
Cody Acker is a junior right fielder originally from Silver Spring, MD, and majoring in Business/Finance at Virginia Commonwealth University. Acker is described as an aggressive right fielder with a lot of speed. In his sophomore season, Acker finished with a batting average of .291, and had a total of 27 RBI, 39 runs, and 69 hits, along with 11 stolen bases. He started and played right field in 53 games. Acker’s season highlights included five consecutive multiple hit games, with two three hit days, from March 9 to March 14, and he recorded a team-best 12 game hitting streak. Acker also had an impressive streak of reaching base in 29 consecutive games in 2014.
Matt Davis is a versatile infielder at Virginia Commonwealth University, with an ability to skillfully play all four infield positions. A sophomore, Davis hails from Mechanicsburg, PA., and bats and throws right handed. In his freshmen season, Davis was named to the Atlantic 10 All-Tournament team. Davis also earned Atlantic 10 Newcomer of the week after his first weekend with VCU. In his second college game he went 4-for-4, with two doubles in VCU’s 6-3 win over Old Dominion on Feb. 15. He had his first three-RBI game in VCU’s win 17-5 against St. Bonaventure on March 22, and socked his first home run against Richmond April 13. Davis finished the season with the second most doubles on the team, while hitting .258, and starting 49 games for VCU. Davis is majoring in Engineering.
Paul Schaffer, President of the Danbury Westerners, commented, “Fans will remember the exciting play of another VCU ballplayer from last year’s team, Vimael Machin, and I’m thrilled that we successfully recruited two starters from VCU for our 2015 team. Both Cody and Matt are accustomed to winning (VCU had a .649 won/loss percentage in 2014), and I look forward to strong contributions from both of these ballplayers.”
Upcoming Events:
The third annual “Big Chili” 5k will be held on Sunday March 1 starting at the Danbury Sports Dome. To register, please visit http://www.hitekracing.com/bigchili5k/. Later that day the Westerners will be hosting the annual “Chili-Cook-Off”, also at the Danbury Sports Dome. If interested in competing in the contest, please call Mike Malone at 203-788-3408. Sponsorship opportunities are also available.
The 11th annual Danbury Westerners Charity Golf Outing to benefit the Westerners and Western Connecticut State University’s Melissa E. Fenwick and Harold B. Schramm Justice and Law Administration Endowed Scholarship will be held on July 13th at Richter Park, Danbury. Registrations are now being accepted; to sign up please contact Paul Schaffer, Danbury Westerners President at 203-241-4655 or paul@danburywesterners.com. Sponsorship opportunities are also available.
About Danbury Westerners:
The Danbury Westerners compete in the New England Collegiate Baseball League (“NECBL”), a summer league for college athletes throughout the country to play competitive, wooden-bat baseball in the New England region. The mission of the Danbury Westerners is to provide Major League Baseball-supported summer professional development baseball entertainment in the Greater Danbury CT and NY area to enhance social and economic development and add value to the quality of summer living and vacationing throughout the region. Funded in part by Major League Baseball, in 2015 the Danbury Westerners will be celebrating 21 years in the NECBL. To date 20 former Danbury Westerners have made the Major Leagues, and over 45 former Westerners were playing professional baseball in 2014. All Westerners home games are played at Rogers Park, Danbury CT.