Neat pitching matchup tonight in West Virginia between two would-have-been teammates at the University of North Carolina, RHP Jason Knapp of the BlueClaws and RHP Quinton Miller of the Power. The top two prospects in New Jersey heading into last year’s draft, Knapp and Miller were slated to be teammates at North Carolina before professional baseball called.

Knapp (North Hunterdon HS) was a second-round pick of the Phillies and Miller (Shawnee HS) was a 20th round pick of the Pirates. Miller would have gone higher but was considered a tougher sign.

Knapp is clearly more advanced at this point, with 106 strikeouts (2nd in league) in 79 innings, having allowed 55 hits this year. Miller, meanwhile, makes just his fourth start of the season (he made two with State College and this is his second with West Virginia) after opening the year in extended spring training.

UNC got gutted by the MLB Draft last year, as they also lost Orioles 3rd round pick LJ Hoes, now the second-baseman for Delmarva, also in the South Atlantic League.

Here are tonight’s game notes…The BlueClaws, by the way, have scored 37 runs in Knapp’s 15 starts this year, or less than 2.5 per outing. Knapp has fanned 20 in his last two starts, including 12 over five innings on Tuesday against Greensboro.

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This entry was posted on Monday, July 6th, 2009 at 10:25 am and is filed under 2009 BlueClaws, South Atlantic League. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.