Checking in on Danny Otero and Yuri Higgins

FROM PRESS RELEASE
TAMPA, Fla. (Sept. 6, 2007) – Former University of South Florida right handed pitcher Danny Otero is one of four players from the Salem-Keizer Volcanoes to be selected to Minor League Baseball’s Northwest League All-Star Team.

Otero is in his first season with the Class A San Francisco Giants affiliate.

The Coral Gables , Fla., native has posted a 1.21 ERA with a league-leading 19 saves in 22 appearances. He has yielded just three runs on 12 hits with 15 strikeouts. He has not walked a batter in 22 1/3 innings, recording a .152 opponent batting average.

Otero and company have been victorious in more than 75 percent of their games this season, winning the Northwest League West Division after posting a 57-19 overall record, with a stellar 29-9 home mark.

The Volcanoes open the Northwest League Playoffs Sept. 6 against Tri-City from Pasco, Wash. Games One and Two of the first round will be played at Tri-City, and the final contests of the best of five series will be held in Keizer, Ore.

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FROM PRESS RELEASE
TAMPA, Fla. (Sept. 6, 2007) – The University of South Florida’s Yuri Higgins wrapped up his first season with the Boise Hawks on Sept. 5 when the team ended the 2007 Class A Short Season tied for first place in the East Division of the Northwest League.

Higgins played 10 games for the Hawks after one appearance with the Arizona League Cubs earlier in the summer.

In his 11 minor-league appearances, Higgins registered a 3-1 record with one save. He posted a 2.79 ERA, allowing six earned runs from 17 hits. Higgins, who is 15th in all-times strikeouts (194) at USF, recorded 15 Ks in 19.1 innings for the affiliate of the Chicago Cubs.

As the Tri City Dust Devils beat the Hawks in the season’s final game on Sept. 5, both teams finished with 37-39 records to tie for the division title. Because the Dust Devils won the season series between the two teams, 7-5, they won the right to go to the Northwest League Championship series.