From blowout to shut out.
 
Friday night, the Princeton Rays belted out four home runs – three from 17-year old shortstop Adrian Rondon – in a 16-2 rout of Burlington. Less than 24 hours later, the P-Rays mustered only six hits as the Royals blanked them, 5-0, Saturday night in front of 3,827 fans at Burlington Athletic Stadium.
 
The Royals prevented Princeton from sweeping their three-game, season-opening series, and dealt the P-Rays just the third loss in their last 12 games on Burlington’s home field.
 
Royals starting pitcher Garrett Davila – who grew less than two hours from Burlington – sparkled in his professional debut. The 19-year old left-hander allowed only three singles over 5.2 innings, walking three and striking out five, while about 30 of his family and friends watched from the stands.
 
Princeton starter Jose Disla gave up only three hits over 4.1 innings, but walked three, and was lifted 69 pitches. Reliever Brian McAfee allowed five hits and one run in 1.2 innings before giving way to Peter Bayer. The hard-throwing right-hander worked the final two innings, striking out five but surrendering a solo home run to Chris DeVito in the 7th.
 
DeVito’s homer aside, Burlington relied on what historians used to call “inside baseball.” The Royals scratched out their first run in the bottom of the 1st, when Nicky Lopez led off with a walk, stole second, moved to third on a wild pitch and scored on Zane Evans’ sacrifice fly.
In the 4th, DeVito drew a leadoff walk, advanced to second on another wild pitch from Disla, went to third on a flyout and scored on Vance Vizcaino’s infield single.
In the 5th, Tyler Straub led off with a single, advanced to second on a passed ball and to third on a groundout by Lopez, and scored on Jonathan McCray's single. Evans moved McCray to third with a well-placed hit-and-run single, with McCray coming home on DeVito’s fielder’s choice.
 
Blake Grant-Parks – a 2014 P-Ray back with Princeton – led the lineup by singling twice and reaching on a fielder’s choice.

If Adrian Rondon ever becomes a legend, tonight will be part of it.
 
The highly-touted Princeton Rays shortstop had the best day of his young career Friday night, belting three home runs and driving in nine runs in the P-Rays’ 16-2 road rout over Burlington.
 
Rondon drew international attention when he signed a $2.9 million free agent contract with the Tampa Bay organization on July 7, 2014 – his 16th birthday. He never found his footing in his first professional season, posting a .166/.256/.234 slash line for the Rays’ Gulf Coast League affiliate in 2015.
 
Rondon doubled, drove in a run and scored twice in his Appalachian League on Thursday night, a 7-4 win at Burlington Athletic Stadium. Friday, in front of 1563 fans gathered for the Royals’ fireworks night, Rondon was explosive.
 
The 17-year old went the opposite way for his first home run, lofting a 1-2 pitch from Burlington starter Andre Davis just inside the foul pole in the right field corner, a two-run blast the put the P-Rays ahead 4-0 in the top of the 1st.
 
Rondon most definitely pulled his second homer, turning an 0-1 fastball from reliever Jose Veras into a laser-beam three-run shot to left that staked Princeton to an 8-1 lead in the 6th.
 
Rondon saved his best for last. With the bases loaded and two out in the 8th, he caught up to a 2-1 pitch from Anthony Kidston and crushed it into a grand slam that closed out the scoring.
 
The home runs were the first three of Rondon’s career.
 
Rondon’s fireworks display obscured a big night from catcher Rafelin Lorenzo, who finished a triple short of the cycle – including a two-run homer in the 7th -- driving in three runs and scoring three times. Right field Eleardo Cabrera reached base four times in six plate appearances and scored four runs.
 
The Princeton pitching staff flourished with the run support. The starter, 18-year old left-hander Resly Linares, lasted four innings, allowing one run – a solo home run by Zane Evans in the 4th -- on two hits with three walks and one strikeout. Nineteen-year old Sandy Brito worked two solid relief innings – giving up only a solo homer by Chris DeVito in the 6th – and returning P-Ray Ethan Clark finished with three hitless innings, allowing only one baserunner.

Opening Night was a good start for the Princeton Rays.
 
The offense got started early, pitcher Willy Ortiz started strong, and the P-Rays started the 2016 Appalachian League season with a 7-4 win at Burlington.
 
The Princeton lineup struck Royals starter Cristian Castillo for three runs – two unearned -- in the top of the 2nd. Bobby Melley led off with a double and scored when second baseman Gabriel Cancel booted a groundball off the bat of Adrian Rondon. Isaac Benard doubled to bring in Rondon; Benard got to third on a wild pitch and scored on Blake Butera’s sacrifice fly.
 
In the top of the 4th, Benard coaxed a leadoff walk but looked to be stranded at first until Butera and Eleardo Cabrera delivered back-to-back two-out singles, the latter making the lead 4-0.
 
Princeton staged another two-out rally to stretch its lead to 7-0 in the 5th. Consecutive doubles from Melley and Rondon brought in the first run; after Benard walked, Jean Ramirez and Robbie Tenorowicz each provided an RBI single as the P-Rays appeared to be in control.
 
Meanwhile, Ortiz retired the first seven Royals batters and allowed only two singles over the first four innings, on an economical 43 pitches. But he faltered in the 5th. With one out, Vance Vizcaino sliced a spinning infield single and Emmanuel Rivera lined a single to left. Ortiz fell behind 3-1 to Jonathan McCray, who launched the next pitch over the wall in right to get Burlington within 7-3.
 
Ortiz retired Cancel, but walked Nicky Lopez, inflating his pitch count and putting the Princeton bullpen in gear. But the 20-year old got Christhian Vasquez to ground out and turned the game over to the bullpen.
 
Rays reliever Hector Lopez retired five of the first six batters he faced. But, with two out in the bottom of the 7th, Lopez walked Cancel, gave up an infield single to Lopez and walked Vasquez, prompting a pitching change. Reimin Ramos replaced Ortiz and promptly walked Nathan Esposito to force in a run, but induced a groundout from Chris DeVito and the Rays held a 7-4 lead.
 
Burlington’s bullpen kept the game close. The trio of Justin Camp, Alex Close (a converted first baseman/catcher making his pitching debut) and Vance Tatum allowed Princeton only three hits over the last 4.1 innings; Close and Tatum combined to strike out five of the last seven Princeton batters.
 
The Royals got the tying run to the plate in each of the last two innings. In the 8th, with one out, Vance Vizcaino singled and Emmanuel Rivera reached on an error by Rondon at shortstop. But Ramos struck out McCray on three pitches, and escaped when Gustave, in center field, nabbed a rocket line drive from Cancel for the final out. In the 9th, Ramos got Lopez and Vasquez to ground out before giving up back-to-back singles to Esposito and DeVito. But Ramos fanned Logan Gray to end the game. It was Ramos’ first professional save; Ortiz, who got the win, improved to 12-5 for his career.
 
Benard led the lineup by reaching base four times in five appearances and scoring three runs. Melley doubled twice, drew a walk and scored twice. Cabrera singled twice and walked, Gustave singled twice and Rondon scored twice.
 
Princeton has won eight of its last ten games at Burlington Athletic Stadium, where the P-Rays and Royals meet again Friday night for the second of their three-game series. First pitch is scheduled for 7:00.

Att: 2677

Yahoo! Sports’ Jeff Passan is waging a campaign against the misuse (or abuse) of pitchers at the youth and high school levels, standing up for those who aren’t allowed to stand up for themselves. This story out of Kansas is noteworthy, but far from isolated.
 
This past spring, I called high school games in which starting pitchers, working six or more innings, piled up pitch counts of 110 or more – in one case, as high as 127.
Then there were games in which shorter outings by a starter or reliever still resulted in uncomfortably high pitch counts. In one instance, a starter on a second-division team hoping for an upset logged 77 pitches over two innings. Another kid in a similar circumstance put in 74 pitches over 2.1 innings. Those are per-inning pitch rates in the neighborhood of 32 to 38 – more than double what’s followed by many professional organizations.
 
In both instances, the pitchers had command problems – issuing, respectively, five and six walks. But a lack of control is a sign that a pitcher just doesn’t have decent stuff that day, and no amount of extra pitches will help him find it.
 
I’d wager that anyone who played baseball in high school and beyond knows at least one guy who has a bad arm, that bothers him every day, years or decades after he last took the mound. Little League already has pitch count rules in place. High school and other amateur association need to follow suit, if they haven’t already. Parents also have to realize that the dream of a college scholarship or a professional career means nothing if their sons are need Tommy John surgery at age 16 or 17.
 
Coaches who overuse their young pitchers sentence them to a lifetime of pain. Causing irreversible harm to a major limb is about more than winning a summer ball or high school game – it damages a pitcher's quality of life. Forever.

The end of the 2016 academic year is the perfect time for a preview of the 2017 Big 7 baseball season. Note that this comes from the perspective of right now, and can't account for unexpected developments like injuries, coaching changes and transfers. The team capsules are based on the reverse order of their finish this spring.
 
VOLUNTEER (4-21, 0-12)
When he took over as the Falcons’ head coach, Justin Hite knew the rebuilding project he faced would take longer than one season. He appears to be right.
Hite wasn’t named head coach until February but had clear ideas about his lineup and personnel going into year one. With a full offseason, year two should be easier, even as he faces having to replace a core group of six seniors while continuing to change the culture while trying to move up in a conference with a top half that’ll be tough to crack.
Hite will have a strong group to build around. Prospective returnees include seniors-to-be P Camden Markham, C Lucas Adkins, 2B Logan Larkins, 3B Preston Heard and P Jason Fields, and rising junior CF Heath Douthat. But it will take years of consistent development for Volunteer to become a conference contender. It’s not inconceivable to see the Falcons move up, although progress will be measured in steps, not leaps.
 
SULLIVAN CENTRAL (6-20, 3-9)
The B7G’s other program with a first-year coach, the Cougars showed incremental progress under Clay Colley – a season sweep of league peer Volunteer, two near-misses against Three Rivers power Sullivan South and respectable non-conference wins against Unaka and Elizabethton. But the season ended with 12 straight losses, the last three by the ten-run rule, ending with a 12-2 defeat to Tennessee High on Elimination Saturday of the district tournament on Sullivan Central’s home field.
Colley’s offseason priorities mirror Justin Hite’s – finding successors to a large contingent of seniors while revamping the culture while seeking a foothold higher on the conference ladder. Seniors-to-be P/OF Andy McKittrick (who’s shown ace stuff on the mound) and 2B Holden Light will shoulder the largest expectations, but Colley’s best hopes rest on this year’s sophomore class, which features C Parker Mumpower, RF Matt Long, SS Blake Lucas and 3B/P Greg Akard. Behind them is a quintet of freshman who were part of this year’s roster, but didn’t play. All of which means 2017 may end up as another long season, but a bridge to 2018, when the Cougars might be in a stronger position to contend.
 
DAVID CROCKETT (9-23, 3-8)
The Pioneers were ranked among the contenders going into 2016, but started the season with consecutive run-rule losses to Dobyns-Bennett and Tennessee High and finished 5th in the conference, mostly by going 3-1 against Volunteer and Sullivan Central.
Crockett’s 2015 success (16 wins, 3rd place in the B7G) came in large part from its 11 seniors. So it was no surprise when 2016 was a setback. But head coach Scott Hagy is staring at another significant roster turnover – eight of the 15 players on this year’s roster are seniors, and their departure leaves holes throughout the lineup, most notably in a pitching staff that allowed eight runs a game.
The Pioneers have the makings of a solid keystone with C Will Long, SS Ethan Burger and 2B Will Leonard set to return. But there’s not much depth after that. 2017 could find David Crockett fighting to hold on to 5th.
 
DANIEL BOONE (21-15, 6-5)
The Trailblazers were all over the place in 2016. After a 3-6 start, they won eight straight, then lost four of five, then won five in a row, then ended the regular season with three straight losses. The see-saw continued into the district tournament – a 16-12 slugfest win over David Crockett preceded a run-rule loss to Dobyns-Bennett, followed by an impressive 9-6 elimination of Tennessee High, which came the day before a heartbreaking 5-4 walk-off loss to Science Hill that ended the season.
Like the three teams behind them in this year’s standings, the ‘Blazers lose a large and important group of seniors -- program mainstays Austyn Brown, Ryan Keever, Dean Malenda, Alex Percell and Gabe Sanders are moving along. (Percell was a favorite of mine, going from a good-field, no-hit, bottom-of-the-order shortstop as an underclassman to a reliable .309 batter as a senior.) But unlike the Volunteer, Sullivan Central and David Crockett, Daniel Boone has an equally large contingent coming back.
In 2017, head coach Rob Hoover can pencil in Kade Ferguson, Colt Campbell and Ian Weir at the top of his rotation. That trio joins Jake Chandler, Mitch Peters, Eric Rigsby and rising sophomore Logan Rivers (who excelled when pressed into service at catcher late in the season) in one of the best everyday lineups in the league.
But to break the Science Hill/Dobyns-Bennett stranglehold on the district, Boone will have to find a successor to Brown as a run producer. His 41 RBIs were 20 more than anyone else on the team. But Hoover’s teams traditionally show solid plate discipline – the ‘Blazers struck out an average of just four times a game this season – so even without a big bopper, they could be poised for big things in 2017.
 
TENNESSEE HIGH (23-9, 8-4)
This season, the Vikings were a senior-dominated outfit that felt it would give the program its first Regional appearance since 1991, and was a solid #3 seed in the district tournament. But after a muscle-flexing win over Sullivan Central on the first day, Tennessee suffered a crushing walkoff loss to Science Hill on Sunday and got dismissed by Daniel Boone on Monday, bringing the season to an abrupt end.
Among the players head coach Preston Roberts will have to replace are #1 pitcher Ethan Jenkins, OF mainstays D.J. Marrs and Ryan Little, slugging 1B David Tolbert, and C Deric Graham, the Big 7 Player of the Year. Graham set four school records -- batting average (.543), doubles (17), hitting streak (24 games) and hit by pitch (11) – as the centerpiece of a lineup that hit .361 and had seven players with 30 or more RBIs.
What’s more astounding is that they could have been even better. Junior Zach Hall, the team’s Opening Day starting pitcher, suffered an arm injury in March that relegated him to DH for nearly the entire season (and still hit .358 with 30+ RBIs). A fully healthy Hall could’ve have given the Vikings the edge they needed to claim the conference and the district.
Next year, with Hall, 3B Colby Fields, 2B Nick Wishon, and SS Banks Presson (who set a school record by getting a hit in nine consecutive at-bats) THS might wind up having the league’s best infield. On the mound, Hall will be joined by LHP Gavin Cross, a freshman who was superb in the district tournament, for a potentially lights-out righty-lefty combo at the top of the rotation.
Still, Roberts will have to reconfigure his outfield and rely on unproven players to contend again, and only time will tell if they’ll get past the disappointing end to 2016. But they’ll be in the mix.
 
SCIENCE HILL (26-15, 9-3)
[Full disclosure: I’ve been the “voice” of the Hilltoppers the last four seasons, and thus have seen them far more often than any other B7G team. Everyone in the program is wonderful to work with, the coaching staff is helpful beyond measure, the fans are good to me … so I may have a bit of a bias.]
It’ll take a while to fully decipher the Hilltoppers’ 2016 season. They never completely gelled, and even after an electrifying upset of top-seeded Dobyns-Bennett in the district tournament earned them home field for the first round of Regionals, went one-and-out in a six-error loss to Sevier County.
Confounding late-inning struggles – late leads slipped away in the regular season against Sevier County, Tennessee High, and Dobyns-Bennett twice – prevented Science Hill from a 30-win season and a chance of at least a share of the conference regular season title.
The good news for Science Hill is that it loses only three seniors: C Colton Birchfield, SS Jordan Holly and P/1B Reece Westmoreland. The bad news is that they take a lot with them. Birchfield solidified the catching corps late in the season; Holly swiped 31 of the team’s 78 stolen bases and slugged .465, and Westmoreland made a case to be the B7G POTY.
At the plate, Westmoreland hit .364/.420/.568 with a team-best 35 RBIs and five HRs -- including a walkoff in the district tournament’s Elimination Tuesday classic against Daniel Boone, and a three-run shot in the championship game at Dobyns-Bennett. (And his numbers could’ve been better. Back problems dogged him until mid-April; once cured, Westmoreland posted this finishing kick: 16 games, .458/.481/.792, 4 HR, 17 RBIs.) As the ‘Toppers’ #1 starting pitcher, the lefthander finished 6-2 with a 1.49 ERA and a 1.18 WHIP, with 11 BB and 78 K in 66.0 innings.
Science Hill faces a leadership void with the loss of its three seniors. But there are plenty of candidates to fill that role on a team to which nearly everyone else is set to return. Finding a successor to Holly, as a leadoff hitter and shortstop, won’t be easy. But there’s no shortage of replacements at first base and catcher. A lineup centered around OF/P Jacob Beaird, OF/P Avery Conkin and 3B Bryson Tolley needs complementary pieces but will still be tough.
Science Hill’s pitching staff, even with Westmoreland’s departure, could be the best in the league. Beaird goes into next year as the #1, but fellow left-handers Conkin and Brandon Garland and RHP Brandon Feathers would have that role on nearly every other team in the area. The right-handed Tolley recovered from arm problems to become a fireballing reliever late in the season and could become a starter in ’17. Behind them is a squad of promising youngsters featuring LHP Jackson Hill, a freshman with such promise he could earn a spot in the rotation. If the Hilltoppers hurlers stay healthy, head coach Ryan Edwards will be in the enviable position of having to get enough innings for each of them.
In sum – and this is where my bias shows -- if the Hilltoppers make the year-to-year progress they’re expected to, and get out of their own way, they have a solid chance to reach State for the first time since 2011.
 
DOBYNS-BENNETT (30-7, 12-0)
The Indians were proof that while slumps are bad, badly-timed slumps are devastating.
D-B went perfect in the league and ran roughshod early in the district tournament. But after inflicting run-rule blowouts on Daniel Boone and Science Hill, the Tribe went cold. They let slip the district with back-to-back home losses to Science Hill, then fell to Morristown East on the first day of Regionals.
A squad that posted a slash line of .370/.460/.496 and averaged 8.0 runs in its first 34 games put up just 16 hits and six runs in its last three. Just like that, a season that included winning streaks of six, seven and 16 games had ended.
But the Indians lose only five seniors and look poised for big things next year.
Dobyns-Bennett had a lineup so deep this past season that 2B Keaton Wahlbon, the #9 hitter, went .364/.449/.432. Wahlbon is one of three everyday players who’ve graduated; the others are RF Hunter Jenkins (.326/.423/.522) and 3B Carter Linton, who missed half the season with an ankle injury but still went .367/.396/.367. Also moving on is RHP Drew Pierce, a 6’4” flamethrower who was D-B's #1 starter.
But head coach Ryan Wagner will have the first five of his batting order back: CF Quentin Polinski (.373/.494/.567) at leadoff, followed by LF Evan Mahaffey (.421/.484/.495), SS Parker Hill (.453/.531/.689), 1B Ivan Phillips (.407/.558/.616) and OF/DH Daniel Starnes (.410/.455/.581). Also returning is C Logan Hullette (.273/.418/.295), whose versatility, speed and defense make him a threat greater than his numbers show. Then there’s Kellen Glasscock (.333/.392/.439), a role player who would’ve been a starter on just about every other team in the area.
The pitching staff will be topped by the left-handed duo of Starnes and Tanner Doran. Behind them are RHP Matt Taylor and a group that will be asked to contribute more in 2017.
There’s a reason Dobyns-Bennett won four straight Regional championships from 2012-2015. They’ve set the standard in the league and have very real expectations of returning to State. Based on this past season and their recent history, they’re the team to beat.
The good news for the Big 7 is that there is no shortage of candidates capable of doing just that.