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By Leyton Pullin 2020 was a less than stellar year for Manager Les Sandridge and his Stuarts Draft Diamondbacks club as they finished the year 4-16 at the bottom of the league standings. Sandridge admitted ahead of the 2021 campaign he was,” going in blind,” but seemed rather optimistic when he talked about the return of the big bat of Cody Bartley. Bartley returns to Stuarts Draft for his fifth year in a row and becomes one of the veterans on the D-Backs and returns off of a successful 2020 season. Bartley hit 10 homeruns a year ago ranking second overall in the league behind MVP Chase Delauter. Bartley also hit .438 ranking second on the team and in the top ten on the RCBL. Tyler Wilcher also returns to Stuarts Draft for his sixth year under Sandridge. Wilcher, the former EMU Royal, comes off of a 2020 season where he hit .311 with 11 RBI and saw action all over the field. A new face to the Diamondbacks is another former EMU Royal and Riverheads High School standout Zach Roberts. Roberts spent his spring 2021 as an assistant coach for Mary Baldwin University in the first of year of the baseball program at the university. While at EMU Roberts hit .319 during his career and played primarily as an infielder and will bring a consistent bat to the Diamondbacks lineup. When it comes to pitching is where the biggest question mark might be for the Stuarts Draft Diamondbacks. “Managing pitching is going to be difficult this year,” said Sandridge. He mentioned that losing some players may make that a tall order. When looking at the previous mentioned returners both Bartley and Wilcher have pitching experience in the league but not in 2020. Stuarts Draft is set to open up their 2021 season with a road date against the Elkton Blue Sox on June 5 and will then host the Bridgewater Reds at the Diamond Club in the home opener at 7PM.
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By Dean Barker The Bridgewater Reds return to action in 2021 after going 15-14 and falling 1-0 in game 5 of the Rockingham County Baseball League semifinals in 2020. Last year was the first time since 2016 that the Reds missed the league finals, having taken the crown in 2017 and 2018. Returning for the Reds is utility player George Laase, who hit .342 for Bridgewater last season with five home runs and 24 RBIs. This was all done in spite of the fact that Laase was 38 years old, and had not played since 2011. He won the RCBL’s Chris Cofer Person of the Year Award, instituted last year to honor the late Clover Hill Bucks head coach Chris Cofer. "It's been a strange year," Laase said in an interview last year with Staunton News Leader. "To get to play the game of baseball one more time meant so much to me and my family." Laase is joined by OF Corbin Lucas, who had 33 hits and 21 RBI’s last year. Lucas, a Shenandoah University graduate, is returning for his sixth year with the Reds. Strong offense will be necessary for the Reds this season, who led the league in hits (217) and hit .284 last year, the third best in the league. On the mound, RHP Derek Shifflet is back in Bridgewater for his fifth season with the Reds. The 2015 JMU grad went 4-3 with a total of 68 strikeouts last season, following 146 K’s the previous year. Of 13 appearances last year, only seven were starts, as Shifflet threw both as a starter and reliever, gaining a postseason save. Shifflet will lead a solid Reds pitching staff who led the league in strikeouts (200) and had a 5.70 team ERA last season, third best in the RCBL. He will be joined by JMU redshirt sophomore RHP Liam Grubbs, who had 35 strikeouts in five games for the Reds last year, and was second in the RCBL with a 0.84 ERA in the regular season. Currently, the Reds have 18 RCBL titles, and are tied with the Clover Hill Bucks for the most all-time. The Bucks and Reds have gone head to head in the playoffs since 2017, with the Reds beating Clover Hill in the 2017 and 2018 title series, falling in 2019 and sweeping the Bucks in last year’s quarterfinals. Bridgewater will play a total of 21 regular season games in 2021, with 10 at home and 11 on the road. The Reds open at the Montezuma Braves on Saturday, June 5 at 7:30. They will play their first five games away before hosting the Stuart Draft Diamondbacks on Saturday, June 19 at Ray Heatwole Field. The Reds will play three games against each of the seven other RCBL teams. The Reds will be coached by Robert Sherfey. He is returning to Bridgewater for his eighth straight season with the Reds and sixth season as the head coach, having played for the Reds in 2014 and 2015. By Olivia Carson Elkton ended their 2020 season with a loss in the playoff quarterfinals and finished their regular season in 7th place. With some new additions to the roster, the Blue Sox hope to come out with a very competitive nature this upcoming 2021 season. Team manager Dave Loker has confidence that the Blue Sox will come out strong and will be able to compete with the rest of the teams in the RCBL. Loker has some slight concern for some of his new players, as most coaches in the league have not gotten many chances to see their new members play due to the continuation of high school and college ball seasons. The Coronavirus pandemic has caused many high school and college sports seasons to be condensed and delayed so many young players in the league have not gotten a chance to practice with their team within the RCBL. Other than this minor concern, Loker has no doubt that the Blue Sox will be able to perform at a high level this season. Elkton is excited to welcome around 8 or 10 new players to their roster this season including two players from Hampden-Sydney College. According to Loker, Infielder Cameron Shields and catcher Tillman Butler are going to be great additions to the Blue Sox this summer. Loker is confident that his returners Jose Rocha and Koice Quintanilla will help to build a strong fielding group and he believes that the teams’ key strength this season will be with hitting led by Tristan Gordon who batted .241 last season with 14 hits and 18 RBI’s. When asked what was thought to be the Blue Sox greatest challenge this season, Loker said he figures it will be pitching. On the mound, the Blue Sox are relying on good pitching from one of their top pitchers Derek Justice as well as Will Craig. The Blue Sox will take on the Stuarts Draft Diamondbacks at Stonewall Memorial Park on Saturday June 5 to kick off their 2021 season. |
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August 2023
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