Broadway Scores Three in Ninth, Walk Off Elkton
Broadway trailed 4-2 heading into the bottom of the ninth, but the Bruins were able to plate three in the inning to earn a walk-off win against the Elkton Blue Sox, 5-4.

The game was scoreless heading into the bottom of the seventh, but Broadway would get two runs in that inning on a two-run single off the bat of Jayden Nixon that scored Carl Keenan and Seth Moomaw.

But the Blue Sox would respond with four runs in the top of the eighth and would maintain that lead heading into the bottom of the ninth.

In Broadway’s half of the ninth, Keenan and Moomaw led off the inning with back-to-back singles before Nixon came up and hit an RBI double that scored Keenan and moved Moomaw to third. Peyton Davis and Gavin Cunningham drew walks, with Cunningham’s walk forcing in a run to tie the game at 4-4. Lance Rhodes would then come up and hit a walk-off single to win it for the Bruins.

On the mound for Bruins, Shea Kushner threw the first six innings and didn’t give up any runs. Keenan ended up picking up the win as he threw the final 1.2 innings and struck out three. Elkton got a great start on the mound from Kaden Johnson as he also threw six shutout innings.

Offensively for Broadway, Nixon went 2-4 with three RBIs while Keenan went 3-5 and scored two runs. Cunningham drew a walk in all five of his plate appearances. Elkton was led offensively by Jacob Cude’s two hits and two RBIs.

Broadway (3-0) and Elkton (0-3) play each other again on Tuesday night at Elkton, which is the next game for both teams.

Clover Hill Defeats Bridgewater

Clover Hill scored seven runs in the seventh inning and took care of Bridgewater by the same score as when the two teams played on May 22, 10-1.

Issac Sumpter had three hits for the Bucks, while Kevin Navedo, Christian Harris, and TJ Johnson all had two hits. Nick Stavros had three RBIs had two. The ten runs were more than enough support for the Bucks pitchers in this game. Reid Long threw the first three innings and retired all nine batters he faced. Tyler Truslow then threw the next three innings, while lefties Tyler Conley and Anthony Arrichiello both also had scoreless outings.

Bridgewater was led offensively by Corbin Lucas as the RCBL veteran had two hits.

Clover Hill (2-0) will take on Grottoes on Tuesday on the road while Bridgewater (1-2) will next play on May 31 when they host Montezuma.

Lucas’ Two Home Runs, Seven RBIs Lead Bridgewater Past Montezuma
Bridgewater’s Corbin Lucas smashed two home runs and drove in seven as the Reds won a slugfest against Montezuma, 17-13.

Reigning league MVP Chris Huffman had two hits, drove in three, and scored four times for the Reds. Cayden Clements also had three hits for Bridgewater, who only had eight hits in the game but took advantage of 15 walks and two hit by pitches from Montezuma pitchers.

For the Braves, Wyatt Griffith went 4-6 with three RBIs and also stole four bases. Tyler Smith hit a home run and drove in three, while Dalton Hall had three hits and one RBI.

Bridgewater (1-1) is back in action on Sunday when they host Clover Hill, while Montezuma (0-2) is off until May 30 when they travel to Grottoes to take on the Cardinals.

Broadway’s Bats Stay Hot, Knock Off Stuarts Draft
For the second straight night, Broadway scored over 15 runs. They picked up the win at Stuarts Draft by a final score of 18-4.

Carl Keenan went 4-6 with three RBIs and three runs scored and Jared Neal went 3-4 with three runs scored. Conner Michael had two hits, two RBIs, and scored three times for the Bruins.

For the Diamondbacks, Zach Roberts had two hits while Will Decker, Maddox Warren, and Ryan Farris each had one hit.

Broadway (2-0) will host Elkton on Sunday night while Stuarts Draft (0-1) will play at Elkton tonight.

Grottoes Defeats Elkton on Opening Night
 
Grottoes got three hits from Clayton Michael and two hits each from Austin Nicely, Jaden Rose, Natty Solomon, and Kevin Saylor as the Cardinals defeated Elkton at Stonewall Memorial Park by a final score of 13-3 in seven innings.
 
The Cardinals (1-0) scored one run in the third inning, but then scored multiple runs in innings four through seven while accumulating 13 hits.
 
Rose hit a home run and had two RBIs, while Grottoes also got two RBIs from Michael and Cam Irvine. Michael, Austin Nicely, Rose, Solomon, and Saylor all scored two runs each.
 
Eli Lam started for Grottoes and went the first four innings and allowed just two hits and one run while striking out seven. Eli Elgersma went the next two innings before turning it over to Cam Irvine who pitched a 1-2-3 seventh inning.
 
For Elkton (0-1), Asher Peterman had two hits and one RBI and the Blue Sox got one hit each from Grayson Smith and Tyler Stobbs.
 
Grottoes is back in action on Saturday night when they host Massanutten while the Blue Sox will also play Saturday when they host Stuarts Draft.

Big First Inning Propels Broadway over Montezuma
 
Broadway scored six runs in the first inning despite not collecting one base hit and cruised from there as the Bruins defeated Montezuma by a score of 15-1 in seven innings.
 
The first seven batters of the game for Broadway reached via walks, and those runs were more than enough for Bruins’ starting pitcher Gavin Cunningham. He went five innings and allowed just three hits, one run, and struck out seven. Landen Lewis pitched the final two frames without allowing a run and gave up just one hit while striking out four.
 
The Bruins had six hits on the night: two from Conner Michael, two from John Copenhaver, and two from Jared Neal. Copenhaver had three RBIs, while Brody Bower had two, and Carl Keenan, Jayden Nixon, Chase Ford, Miguel Fajardo, and Joey McNamara had one each.
 
For Montezuma, Jacob Barber, Wyatt Griffith, Tyler Smith, and Blake Argenbright each had a hit.
 
Broadway (1-0) plays at Stuarts Draft tonight, while Montezuma (0-1) will host Bridgewater tonight.
 
Clover Hills Takes Rematch Of Last Year’s Finals

The defending champion Clover Hill Bucks scored five runs in the fourth inning and three in the fifth as they pulled away from the Bridgewater Reds on opening night and won the game by a final score of 10-1.
 
Bridgewater got on the board in the first inning when Reds’ veteran Corbin Lucas hit a home run on his first swing of the season, but that would be the only run the Reds would muster the rest of the evening. From there, the only two hits Bridgewater collected the rest of the night were both off the bat of Jordan Yankey.
 
Joe Christopher took the loss for the Reds, but got a great relief outing from left-hander Jared Peake who threw 3.2 scoreless innings while striking out four Bucks.
 
Clover Hill got great pitching from four different players. Jaden Isidro went the first three innings and allowed just the home run to Lucas before Clay Guyer, Sam Imeson, and Grant Thomas each threw two innings of scoreless baseball.
 
For the Bucks offensively, veteran Luke Shiflett went 3-5 with 3 RBIs, while TJ Johnson and Issac Sumpter each had two hits. Sumpter drove in three runs, while Josh Eberly drove in two. Eberly, John Siciliano, Colton Harris, and Nick Stavros each had one hit.
 
Clover Hill (1-0) will travel to Bridgewater on Sunday night for their next game, while Bridgewater (0-1) is right back at it tonight as they’ll play at Montezuma.

We sat down with Commissioner Jeremy Washington to talk about the 101st year of RCBL Baseball. After a successful celebration of the 100th anniversary season, the RCBL is set to start play tonight.

With all the excitement and celebration of 100 years, now what? Can the league keep the momentum going? 

I live by this philosophy…’every day is the first day of the rest of your life’. May 22nd will be the first day of the next 100 years of RCBL baseball; the only difference is now we have 100 years of experience. The league has moved into a good place in the last few years.  I feel like we have a good presence amongst the valley baseball players and interest in the league keeps growing.

How do you see the competition shaping up?  

I expect a few changes within the standings this year.  There have been some significant changes to a few teams that may impact their performance.  On any given day, any RCBL team can beat any RCBL team.  All 8 teams in our league are very competitive and have some of the valleys most talented players.  The difference in our 8 teams is not so much who has the most ABILITY as it is who has the most AVAILABILITY.  I can’t wait to see who can field the best team the most often!

Has the league considered expansion? Where would you like to see the league expand?  

We’ve had some interest from a few groups recently.  Location was a big issue that ultimately prevented a new team from joining us last year.  We have a large footprint and lengthy travel to game sites for some players creates a big problem.  I think getting established in the Greene/Madison County area could be a benefit.  There is great baseball in that area, and it is very central to our teams.

The league is playing a 24-game schedule again this year. Is this the new normal? 

Our league uses players from high school and college, as well as a few old guys.  Fitting our schedule into a window that accommodates both sides of that demographic creates a lot of issues for those players.  An earlier start date makes high school aged players not eligible until their high school season is over.  A later end date makes many college players ineligible due to returning to college and starting fall practice.  I expect we have found that 24 games can work well for everyone.

Last year the league switched statistic programs from PointStreak to GameChanger. Now it is switching back. What is the reason for this? Will fans be able to see stats from last year?  

A few years back we implemented a real-time scoring expectation for our teams.  Pointstreak, for some scorers, proved to be difficult to navigate and that created some issues with finding reliable staffing that could accurately use their [somewhat] difficult system.  Switching to Game Changer alleviated some of the staffing issues due to their product being easier to use, but we found that Game Changer did not offer as thorough of a statistical package [or technical support] as the league desires.  2024 stats will only be viewable from Game Changer at this time.

Rosters sizes have been expanded to 35 players. Why? 

For many players within the league, LIFE gets in the way of the ‘most important thing’, baseball.  Increasing to 35 players per team will allow teams with less-than-available players to be more competitive by having more players at the games to create their lineups from.  However, only 30 players of the 35 will be available for the playoffs as teams will be required to cut their roster down at the start of each playoff round.

Last year the league changed to college rules. How did that work out?  

Our league is comprised of a large quantity of college players and many players that will be going to college.  We found that the transition from MLB rules to NCAA rules was very seamless.  The league reserves the right to exempt many of the college rules that do not apply to our style of baseball. We have done a great job identifying those rules. I do not anticipate any issues moving forward.

Are there other rule changes this year?  

There have been very few changes to the NCAA rule book for this year, and I expect to find that those changes will not be very impactful to the league.  One change that may show itself more than others is the batter must be in the box, alert and attentive to the pitchers’ actions by 8 seconds of the 20 second pitch countdown. Last year it was 10 seconds.  The batters will be given a few more seconds to prepare between pitches.

Where will the All-Star game be played this season?  

Elkton will be hosting the All-Star game, and I expect their group will have a great event planned for us.

Any final thoughts?  

My focus as commissioner is to assure that our players, fans, and sponsors are provided the best possible product available.  Our community-based baseball games are some of the finest around and I am very proud to be part of this organization.  The fans and sponsors are as much a part of each team as the players.  I feel we are doing a very good job of providing that quality product!

…………………the 100th anniversary exhibit of RCBL Baseball can be seen on the RCBLBaseball.com website.