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![]() By Tyler Carney After ending last season by getting swept in round 1 and finishing last in the regular season heads were down in Broadway. After giving up 7 plus runs in each of their two playoff games to the Bucks something had to change and over the offseason the Bruins seemed to have tried to make that change. Selecting long time player Bryce Strawderman as manager who currently has 2 years of assistant coaching experience with EMU. Strawderman is embracing the role. “The excitement to get in there and manage my own team is great… I’ll be coaching some of the guys I used to play with and I have a lot of trust in those guys,” said Strawderman. Broadway has had recent success however. In 2020 they won the league with a sweep in the finals in a team that included Strawderman and now he is using his playing connections to bring successful players back to Broadway. Austin Whetzel, Tyler Ault, and Kevin Rush were all a part of that championship team and we’ll get to see them again in 2023. All are infielders, with Rush being a two way, and is setting up to be an exciting unit that Strawderman has a ton of faith in. Along with the best of the 2022 team Broadway will have some familiar faces. The club is bringing in new faces too with a few very solid James Wood High players to round off the roster. When asked about the new look of the team Strawderman describes it as a “New year” with a “New identity” for the club. This new face idea has come in the form of a revamped pitching staff. The Bruins were 5th in general pitching stats last season and they had the least amount of wins on the mound across the entire league. Only punching in 173 strikeouts and walking over a hundred batters. As a club the Bruins had a poor 6.44 ERA however Strawderman had some idea on how to fix it. “Getting new guys in to really beef up our bullpen and eat up time on the bump,” said Strawderman, “ We are featuring a nearly fifty/fifty split of righties and lefties and we have some sweet lefties coming in” Strawderman is excited to get going with his pitching crew, Jett Shue is a returner on the mound and while he put together some solid hitting will need to keep up with the teams new identity in the bullpen, however as said before Strawderman has a ton of faith in his guys. The Bruins do return a good lineup who finished 3rd in general hitting stats with Jayden Nixon with 16 RBIs from last season and Trevor Thomas who drove in 13. The team should see the same success at the plate. With the league going back to its pre-covid 28 game regular season format the action now spreads farther into the summer leading Strawderman to be worried about his playoff push. “You know I want to play with a full lineup and I may lose some guys to school ball right as the playoff push comes about and maybe some of my best guys can’t be there, it worries me,” said Strawderman. Bruins fans should hope this roster becomes well rounded quickly. The biggest improvement Strawderman wants to see out of his new look club is the heart to compete. “ I wanna go compete for a championship, last year I think guys were just complacent with just being there.. Getting that mentality of going and competing day in and day out.” Lofty goals and a Bruins team with a new identity are set to begin play Tuesday May 23rd against Grottoes at Shifflett Field.
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![]() By Tyler Carney After a year hiatus the Elkton Blue Sox are returning to Stonewall Memorial Park. With a brand new roster and manager Mike Sutton are hoping to make some noise “I want to try and carry a .500 record this year, and cap that with a first round win… I think that’s achievable.” said Mike Sutton, the first year manager of the Blue Sox. Elkton has only won the league twice and not since 2002. In 2023 the Blue Sox have a chance to start anew. In Elkton all eyes are set to the future. Last time we saw Elkton in the RCBL they put together a lackluster 4-17 record and were quickly bounced in 2 games in the 2021 playoffs. A goal of Coach Sutton was to create a team that truly gels and plays for one another and some new faces may help him achieve that. Tyler Stobbs formerly of the Broadway Bruins brings solid hitting and great fielding to Elkton along with Ethan Painter will be a fun utility player to watch. “Beyond that I have a ton of speed threats that can really impact the way games go,” said Sutton. “ A lot of our core guys have played with me in the past, so we will have that familiarity,” he continued. “I think the biggest challenge for me will be managing a 30 man roster for the first time, getting all the playing time out but for the players they’ve stayed active and are ready for the year” said Sutton when asked about the biggest challenges of being a first year team and manager. The team is on the younger end of the RCBL only boasting 9 college players with the rest being high schoolers, which is probably where we will see the speed Sutton has alluded to. The biggest question for Elkton is how quickly these high school players can get up to speed. A lot is unknown about the new look Blue Sox and we’ll get to see them May 22 home against the Braves. With the support of the town and community the team has made huge improvements to the field, dugouts and fan areas. All regular season home games will be free admission this year. By Dean Barker
After coming within one game of the RCBL Finals last season, the Clover Hill Bucks will hope to take the next step in the 2023 season. Last year, the Bucks fell 10-0 at home in game five of the RCBL Semifinals to the eventual champion Bridgewater Reds. The Bucks have won a total of 18 RCBL Championships, second only to Bridgewater with 19. “In the past couple of years, we’ve lost to the same team, three times in a row, so (there’s) definitely an added chip on the shoulder this year,” Bucks pitcher Sam Imeson said. Clover Hill is looking for their first RCBL title since 2019, which was also against the Bridgewater Reds. Last year was their first time advancing past the first round since 2019, an oddity for a Clover Hill team who seems always to be in competition for the league title. In order to get it done this year, Head Coach Kevin Chandler says the key will be to do the little things well. “It’s little things, you know, making the right throw, making the right cut, doing the right base running, things that maybe not everybody sees that are little, but margins of error that, when you get to the playoffs, are small,” Chandler said. “So you make the wrong read, you make the wrong decision, that could be an out, and the difference in the ballgame.” The Bucks return a pitching staff who led the RCBL with 228 strikeouts last season. Clover Hill was led by Steven Woerner, Waring Garber and Tucker Hrasky, who had 35, 33 and 28 strikeouts, respectively. Two other key parts of that rotation were Bridgewater College grad Sam Imeson and junior Reid Long. Imeson led the team with four wins, and was twelfth in the league with a 4.13 ERA. Long threw for 25 strikeouts in 26.1 innings pitched. “When it comes to playoff time, hopefully we can continue that run of strikeouts, and pitching to contact, too,” Chandler said. “That’s the other thing we talk about, you know, we had a lot of strikeouts, but pitch to contact, let your defense play.” Clover Hill returns a powerful lineup for 2023. Infielder Kevin Navedo led the team with a .408 batting average and four home runs (fifth in the RCBL), and was second in hits (20) and RBIs (15). He is joined by third baseman Luke Shifflet, who was first on the team in hits (22) and third in RBIs (14). Also coming back is first baseman Cody Swisher, who led the team in RBIs with 17. “It’s always nice having big bats in your lineup as a pitcher, because, you know, when they can pad on those extra runs and give you that sort of comfort, when you’re on the mound, it makes your job a lot easier,” Long said. “You know that if you’re gonna score at least four to five runs every game, it gives you a lot more comfort, and it makes your job easier and less stressful on the mound.” The Bucks will open the season at Buck Bowman Park on Monday, May 22, when they host the Stuarts Draft Diamondbacks at 7:30 pm. The Diamondbacks have been to the finals the last two years, and came within one game of the title last season. Coach Chandler said that to hold off a powerful D-Backs team, Clover Hill will have to utilize the opening day motivation, while doing the little things on the field. “I think the main thing, you know, will be pure excitement for being here at the Dome, and having all our fans and support back,” Chandler said. “(Head Coach) Les (Sandridge) runs a good program down in Stuarts Draft, they hit really well, so (the key) will be keeping them off base, keeping them off balance at the plate, and then doing what we need to at the plate.” By Dean Barker
In preparation for the 2023 season, I sat down with Shockers head coach Nolan Potts to get his thoughts. 1. Last year’s team was unable to defend the 2021 team’s RCBL title. What will this year’s team need to work on in order to get back on top? I think we just have to be more consistent in every aspect of the game. We were in the Finals in 2020, and won the whole thing in 2021, so to get eliminated in the first round of the playoffs last year kind of humbled us as a group because it’s something we hadn’t experienced in years. We also have to get our main guys to the majority of the games over the summer, and sometimes that’s a challenge with vacations, jobs, etc. We've lost some key players from past seasons who had a ton of collegiate and RCBL experience and helped us tremendously, but I'm really happy with the group of returners we have coming back and also the new guys that we've been able to add in the offseason. 2. As always, this year’s team is stacked with Shenandoah University players. However, it looks like this year’s SU team is poised to make the NCAA tournament. Obviously, you’re rooting for your alma mater, but do you worry about possibly not having a large portion of your players when the season starts? I'm just planning on not having them for the early part of the season. It's something that we've kind of planned for every year, so when we're building out the roster it's important to have guys who are available right away. It’s going to allow other guys an opportunity to play early on and show what they can do while the SU guys are still playing. There are roster limitations as to how many players can travel in the NCAA Tournament and we have 5 current SU players on our roster. My guess is that 3 or 4 of them will probably be on the travel roster for the duration of their postseason run, but we’ll find out soon.I would love nothing more than to see them go all the way to the D3 World Series, even if that means that we aren't at full strength to start the season. We might also have to contend with that issue with some of our high school players, depending on how far their teams advance in the postseason. 3. This year you’re getting back catcher Dawson Russell, who led the league with a .411 batting average, and Matt House, who was fifth in the RCBL with a 2.73 ERA and 36 strikeouts. How heavily will you rely on these experienced players, as well as your other returning players, to make a run this summer? We're bringing back most of our offensive production from last year. Dawson Russell won the batting title at .411, but Luke Keister, Connor Houser, and Harrison Madagan all hit over .325 for us. Pearce Bucher has made himself into a household name in the RCBL because of the success he's had in the league the last four summers, and he's coming back. We've got some guys in Bodie Pullen and Ethan Burgreen-- who are both freshmen at Shepherd, and Nate Brookshire -- a senior at Millbrook who is playing at Shepherd next year -- who all played a little bit for us last summer that will step into increased roles this season. We've also got Matt House, Kaden Spaid, Ty Bennett, and Jaden Click who are back and have all proven that they can all help us at the plate. We've got some power, some guys who can hit for average, and some speed on the bases, so I think if we can get those guys to the majority of the games, we'll have a solid offense. On the mound, we're going to be pretty young. Kirk Messick and Matt House are going to be the two main guys we lean on. They're by far the most experienced pitchers we have coming back, so they're going to have to be workhorses for us. Jaden Click has seen a lot of action on the mound and in the field as a freshman at Lehigh Carbon Community College this spring and has had success, so he will be in the mix for us on the mound. Pearce Bucher is going to see more time pitching than he has in the past. We've got Kaden Spaid who has pitched a good amount for us the past two seasons, as well as Brayden Hovatter and Nick Foltz who both saw a little bit of time last year. We've also added two players from Hood College in Blaine Smith and Mason Sawyers who both can pitch and can play multiple positions in the field. After that, we've got some young guys I'm really excited about. Mason Lynn is currently a junior at Broadway High School and is having an outstanding season. He's a sidearm pitcher and really has some run on his ball, so I'm really excited to see him in action. Cam Cominsis a senior at Millbrook HS who is going to Shenandoah in the fall and can really throw the ball hard. Cole Orr is a senior at Sherando who is going to Ferrum in the fall who is more of a control pitcher, but he struck out 17 guys in a game earlier this spring. We don't have nearly as much experience as we have in the past outside of Kirk and Matt, but I like the pitching staff we've built and I'm excited to see how they do this season. 4. On a personal note, you’ve had a wild offseason. If I understand correctly, you got married in the fall (congratulations) and also became the head coach for Heritage High School. How have you managed the changes, and how do you think it’ll impact you this upcoming season? I'm so blessed to have such an amazing wife because she understands just how much baseball means to me, and how much time it takes up. She knows how important the Shockers and the RCBL are to me, so I'm just grateful that she's so supportive of me being involved with the league. I absolutely love being the head coach at Heritage, and we've had a great season so far. I'm in a similar issue as some of our Shenandoah players and high school players. Our first two Shockers games (May 24 & 26) are actually the same day as our District Semifinals and District Finals, so if we’re playing on those days, it means I would miss the RCBL games. Being the head baseball coach where I teach is a dream come true for me, and if there are scheduling conflicts for me at the end of May and beginning of June, that means that we've made a deep postseason run at Heritage, which would be amazing. 5. How will things change for the Shockers, now that you’re no longer playing in New Market? It's definitely going to be different not being in New Market, but we’re hoping the move is a positive experience for us. Unfortunately, we couldn't afford to stay in New Market, and since this is going to be my 10th year with the Shockers as a player or a coach, it's certainly going to be an adjustment for me. I'm interested to see how things go at Spotswood. I'm extremely grateful to Coach Davis, Principal Dansey, and everyone at Spotswood who are allowing us to play there and providing us with a home this summer, because quite honestly if it wasn't for them, the Shockers would've probably folded. Obviously, it will be different not playing at Rebel Park, but the Penn Laird area really loves baseball, so I'm excited to see how many people come out and watch us and cheer us on. We're hoping to put an exciting, successful team on the field this summer. The Shockers open the season on Wednesday, May 24 at the Montezuma Braves at 7:30 pm. They will play seven road games before hosting their first game at Spotswood High School against the Elkton Blue Sox on Wednesday, June 14 at 7:30 pm. ![]() By Dean Barker After winning their 19th RCBL Title, the Bridgewater Reds will hope to add to the trophy case when they return to the field in 2023. This was the first title for the Reds since 2018, and put them on top all-time for RCBL Championships. Bridgewater took the trophy after a back-and-forth seven game series with the Stuarts Draft Diamondbacks. Returning for the Reds is right handed pitcher Chris Huffman, who was a key part of last year’s success. Huffman was the finals MVP, batting .357 with a homer and seven RBIs in the championship, as well as throwing 26 strikeouts in 14 innings. In game seven, he threw a complete game shutout, striking out fifteen and allowing just 2 hits to secure the championship for Bridgewater. Also returning for the Reds is Derek Shifflett, who will be back for his seventh and final season at Ray Heatwole Field. While Huffman was the series MVP, Shifflett made a strong case himself, pitching Bridgewater to three of their four series wins and striking out 36 batters in the process. Shifflet said that part of this was due to adding new pitches to his arsenal. “I used to not be a strikeout pitcher, (I) was more of a ground ball pitcher,” Shifflett said. “But now that I’m older and don’t throw as hard, I’ve had to learn different pitches and different rhythms to keep the hitters guessing.” Shifflett has had a stellar career with the Reds, hitting .275 with 153 hits, as well as being 35-23 on the mound. He is hopeful that his last season with the Reds will be another championship season, which would be his fourth title. A big part of this is that most of the team from last year is coming back. One returning player is Liam Simpson, who led the league with 32 hits and was fourth with a .386 batting average in his first season in the RCBL. This collegiate season, Simpson hit .273 with 41 hits for the Virginia State Trojans. “I feel like we have a great chance every year but any time you can bring back the majority of a championship team, (it) just gives you that much more confidence,” Shifflett said. “I don’t know how much I have left in the tank as this is definitely my last year, but I couldn’t ask for a better group to go out there and compete with one last time.” The Reds veteran says that a big reason behind him staying with the team for so long has been making friends with his team and around the RCBL. “My favorite part has been just being around friends, on my team and on other teams,” Shifflett said. “It’s been a blast to still be able to go out there and compete with some great guys both new and old. Every year brings on some new faces. I love helping the younger guys and seeing them become the best versions of themselves.” The Reds will open the season at the Grottoes Cardinals on Wednesday, May 24 at 7:30 pm. Bridgewater will play nine straight road games before hosting the Montezuma Braves on Monday, June 12 at 7:30 pm. |
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