By Matthew Atkins
​STUARTS DRAFT - When the Stuarts Draft Diamondbacks take the field this summer, they won’t look the same as they used to. The stars of yesterday are gone, but manager Les Sandridge is happy with the team he’s put together going into 2019.

“We have a good team makeup, we’ll put it that way,” Sandridge said. “We have a bunch of guys that know how to get along, and I’ll take that every day over a couple of guys who try to over carry the load. We’ve got a great group of guys that’ll share the load.”

Former standouts such as Wes Demitt, Brandon Clark, Jay Thompson and Ryan Cooper have all retired, although Sandridge said Cooper could end up playing again this season. The players that led Stuarts Draft to four championships this decade have all hung it up, paving the way for a new generation of Diamondbacks to take their place.

While Sandridge thinks the young players he has will get the job done, he knows it’ll be tough to replace his veterans, specifically Cooper.

The last of Stuarts Draft’s core to play in the RCBL, Cooper was an All-RCBL caliber player right up to the end. He batted .407 last season with five home runs and 18 RBIs. On the mound, he was 2-0 with 26 strikeouts in four appearances. Finding someone to take his place in Stuarts Draft is a tall task.

“Ryan, he’s a special kid. That’s a hard one to replace,” Sandridge said. “You try but that’s just a tough one to replace that’s all. So we’ll see but like I said it might take two guys to replace Ryan if he decides not to come back.”

The lack of veterans could pose some troubles for the Dbacks, but Sandridge says his team is made up of a good group of players that have some experience under their belt.

“We’re young and building, even though some of our guys are out of college, we’ve got a lot of, we’ve got a good mix, I’ll put it that way,” he said. “We’ve got a good mix of high school, some college guys, and a few guys that are out of college, so we’re gonna be pretty well-balanced with that and hopefully we can grow back into that veteran type team very quickly.”

For a team that had so much success at the beginning of this decade, the past couple of years have been rough. Draft won the Eastern Division in 2017 but lost in the first round of the playoffs. The Diamondbacks suffered even more in 2018, finishing under .500 and getting knocked out in the first round again. Sandridge is trying to get his team back to their championship-winning ways, but it’s a process.

“We’re gonna be young. Like I said, just win as many games as you can and continue to build some cohesiveness within the team to where we can be kind of like the Diamondbacks for the 10-year run that they had. That’s kind of where we’re trying to get back to,” he said.

Sandridge wouldn’t point out any specific players that he expects big things out of in 2019, saying instead that he expects the entire team to come out and do their job day in and day out. If he can get his players to buy in and do what they’re capable of, he’ll be happy with the product they’re putting on the field.
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The Diamondbacks begin their 2019 campaign on May 17 when they travel to Clover Hill for a rivalry matchup with the Bucks. First pitch is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. at Buck Bowman Park. 

By Matthew Atkins

ELKTON - The Elkton Blue Sox had a rough season last year, finishing in last place in the Eastern Division for the second consecutive season. Despite impressive performances at times, the team was never able to put together a run long enough to improve on their standing, and ended up getting knocked out in the first round of the playoffs.

Manager Dave Loker is hoping to turn things around in 2019.

“Hopefully we’re gonna have a better season than we did last year,” Loker said. “Last season we finished at the bottom, so we’re hoping to improve. I think we are. We have a lot of young new players that I think are gonna be real good.”

In addition to bringing in plenty of new talent, Loker has the core of his pitching staff coming back for this season, including Mark Arrington and Kris Lalk.

Arrington went 3-2 last season with a 3.60 ERA for the Blue Sox, pitching a complete game in every one of his five appearances. Lalk was even more impressive, despite posting a 1-4 record. The first-year pitcher finished the season with a 2.39 ERA and 87 strikeouts, winning Pitcher of the Year for his efforts. Now as they turn their attention to 2019, Loker feels confident in his staff.

“He had a good year. Like I said, we didn’t back him real well,” Loker said about Lalk. “I think this year we’ve got a deeper team than what we had last year.”

One of the biggest issues that the Blue Sox faced in 2018 was attendance. The team would regularly show up to games with only nine or 10 players, barely enough to play that night’s game. Loker thinks that the new guys he’s bringing in will be more motivated to show up night in and night out for the 28-game season.

“I’m hoping the young guys are gonna show up for us. I think we’ve got a lot of real good ones,” Loker said. “I’ve got quite a few high school guys that are playing this year.”

Loker has brought players in from East Rockingham High School, Madison County High School and Orange County High School to name a few. The young players mixed with the veterans of the team should provide a good core group of guys to lead Elkton to their hopeful resurgence this year.

“Hopefully it’s just a different atmosphere,” Loker said. “We’re just looking to have a whole different approach to the team this year than what we have. Last year we just got a little lax and guy stopped showing up and just a lot of different things went wrong. This year we’ll try to start out better and hope things go well for us.”

Other players returning to the Blue Sox for another season include Lee Carneal, who batted .426 with four home runs and nine RBIs last season, and Connor Lilley, who batted .288 with five RBIs.

Bradley Hanner, Jacob Slaughter and Trent Miller will all be returning as well, providing some stability to a team full of new faces.
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The Blue Sox will kick off their season on the road this Saturday against Grottoes. 

By Matthew Atkins

NEW MARKET - Nolan Potts is in his first year as the manager of the New Market Shockers, but the new head coach isn’t completely unsure of what to expect.

“I had to fill in for Chris [Rush] a couple times last year so it’s not completely unfamiliar territory and I’ve been a JV head coach at a high school for three years. So the coaching side of it’s not new,” Potts said.

While he knows how to handle coaching baseball, there’s a lot more that comes with the job that he was not aware of.

“It’s been a little different this year as far as the behind the scenes stuff that’s going on because in the past I would just help with bringing guys in and help Chris make a lineup and now I’m on the financial side of things and knowing the bylaws and getting all that stuff squared away for the season,” Potts said.

Despite the new tasks that come with being a manager, Potts is ready to take on the challenge of leading the Shockers into the 2019 season.

“I’m excited. When Chris went to Montezuma and Lisa offered me the job I couldn’t say no,” he said. “I think we’ve done a lot of good things at New Market the last couple years.”

Coming off their first ever Eastern Division championship, the Shockers are bringing back most of their core players for this season. They’re expecting guys like Pat Wingfield, Nate Jaye, Robbie Marcell, Ty Bennett and more to return to the field and make an impact again. They’ve also brought back Nick Goode, who was the Shockers’ lone All-RCBL team member in 2018. Goode hit .465 with four home runs and 20 RBIs last season, finishing second in MVP voting.

New Market has featured plenty of players from Shenandoah University over the past couple of seasons, and this year is no different. The only downfall of that is the fact that Shenandoah is currently playing in the NCAA Tournament, and the RCBL season starts this weekend.

“We’re starting the year shorthanded because a lot of the Shenandoah guys are dressing and they’re going to a NCAA regional this weekend,” Potts said. “As far as starting the year off, Saturday and Sunday we’re not gonna be at full strength.”

Once Shenandoah wraps up its postseason, Potts expects the players that will be joining the Shockers to make an immediate difference and help the team repeat the success of last season.

“We’re hoping once hopefully Shenandoah goes all the way - wins a national championship, that would be nice - once we get those guys back and we get to full strength around the beginning of June, we’ll be able to make some noise cause I think we’ve got a lot of talent this year compared to years past” Potts said.

The league got rid of the divisions format for the 2019 season, so New Market will have to work even harder to have a successful season. Part of the formula for building the team into a contender is bringing in a lot of arms on the mound.

“One of the things we’ve struggled with the last couple of years is finding guys who can consistently throw strikes,” Potts said. “I brought in a bunch of guys who are gonna get an opportunity to compete and show that they can pitch in this league as far as consistently getting the ball over the plate and getting guys out.”

Potts hopes to find the right combination of pitchers to make New Market a threat in the league, and he thinks the Shockers are close to being where they want to be.

“I think we’ve been real close to turning the corner as far as you know being one of the powers of the league, competing with the Clover Hills and the Bridgewaters of the world,” Potts said. “And I’m hoping this year is the year we finally hit our stride and consistently put a good season together.”
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New Market begins its season this Saturday at home against Broadway. First pitch is at 7:30 p.m. at Rebel Field.