Two former RCBL players have been selected in the Top 5 rounds of the 2019 MLB Draft. The Colorado Rockies selected outfielder Brenton Doyle in the fourth round before the Toronto Blue Jays took Tanner Morris one round later.

Doyle played in 10 games of the 2017 season for the New Market Shockers. He batted .256 with two home runs and seven RBIs on the season. In the playoffs he hit .482 with one home run and seven RBIs as the Shockers took the Clover Hill Bucks to Game 5 of the 2017 semifinals.

Doyle played his college baseball at Shepherd University in West Virginia. In 2018 he spent the summer playing for the Wilson Tobs of the Coastal Plain League, hitting .313 with three home runs.

Doyle’s selection marks the second-straight year that a Shocker has been taken in the MLB Draft. The Warrenton, Va. native will join former New Market pitcher Colton Harlow, who was drafted in the 30th round of last year’s draft, in the Rockies’ farm system. Harlow is currently playing with the Grand Junction Rockies of the Rookie-level Pioneer League.

Morris, also a 2017 RCBL alum, was taken by the Blue Jays with the 147th overall pick. He played 15 games with the Stuarts Draft Diamondbacks before reporting to Charlottesville at the end of the summer to begin practicing at the University of Virginia. Morris batted .508 for the Dbacks with three home runs and 20 RBIs. He led the league in batting average at the time of his departure.

Following his freshman year at UVA, Morris played for the Harwich Mariners of the Cape Cod League, where he was named Team MVP. During his two seasons in Charlottesville, he batted .323 with seven home runs and 58 RBIs for the Cavaliers.
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The RCBL would like to wish congratulations to Brenton Doyle and Tanner Morris as they continue their baseball careers!

Bridgewater starting pitcher Tucker Garrison and Grottoes catcher Dylan Nicely have been named the RCBL Players of the Week for the week of May 27-June 2.

Garrison is the Journeys Crossing RCBL Pitcher of the Week following a 3-2 win over Grottoes on June 2. The Reds’ hurler tossed a complete game at Shifflett Field, leading his team to their second win of the season. Garrison struck out 14 batters on the night, allowing just two runs to come across the plate.

The win was Garrison’s first outing of the season for Bridgewater, who improved to 2-3 with the victory at Grottoes. Garrison and the Reds will be back on the field Tuesday night at Montezuma.

Facing Garrison at the plate on Sunday night was Cardinals’ catcher Dylan Nicely, who has been named the Timberview Crossing RCBL Player of the Week. Nicely batted .571 in two games this week, hitting one home run and driving in five runs.

Nicely and the Cardinals played on back-to-back nights this week, taking on Broadway on Saturday before facing Bridgewater on Sunday. Nicely went 2-for-3 with a home run and four RBIs in Saturday’s loss to the Bruins.  

On Sunday, Nicely went 2-for-4 with a double and one RBI as the Cardinals fell to the Reds at home. Nicely and the Cardinals will be back in action tonight as they host Broadway in a makeup game at Shifflett Field.  

By Adam Harnish
Even though it’s early in the season, it’s pretty easy to say: it’s a good time to be a Clover Hill Bucks fan.
 
The Bucks won their sixth straight game on Saturday night, defeating the Montezuma Braves by a score of 9-2 to stretch their record to an impressive 6-0 to start the season.
 
“We’re playing good steady baseball,” Coach Cofer of the Bucks said after the game. “We’re pitching the ball really well right now.”
 
The Bucks’ pitching staff kept a dangerous Braves lineup to only two runs on the night, just a few days after that same lineup had erupted for 23 runs against the Blue Sox. Leading that pitching effort for the Bucks was starter Kevin Chandler, who went for six innings, allowing two earned runs on three hits and five strikeouts.
 
“He’s keeping the ball down really well,” Coach Cofer said of his starter. “He’s getting ahead, and he was picking well with his slider on the outside corner...he’s very efficient with his pitches.”
 
Chandler was matched by an equally good start by the Braves starting pitcher, Matt Sykes. Sykes also went six innings and allowed two earned runs on three hits and seven strikeouts. The pitchers’ duel extended into the top of the eighth inning, when the Bucks finally broke the game open with a six run burst.
 
“That’s pretty normal,” Chandler said of his offense’s performance. “They battle and grind, and we don’t get too pressured. We just stay in our game, and the hits will come.”
 
A series of errors in that inning dictated a late game meltdown for the Braves. The frustrating result for them has them at 3-3 on the year, still sitting at a respectable fourth place in the RCBL standings.
 
The Bucks are back in action on Tuesday when they play at home against the Broadway Bruins (3-0). The Braves have another home game on that same Tuesday against the Bridgewater Reds (1-3).