Young and inexperienced is the way you would chose to describe the 2006 Bellwood-Antis team. Fourth-year head coach Steve Conlon (34-27) will need a lot of patience with the Blue Devils this baseball season and Conlon and his assistants Tim Kovac, Bill Edevane, Tom Partner, Justin Kobuck, John Schmittle and Tom Geishauser will be doing as much teaching as coaching for at least the first portion of the season, if not longer.
One of the youngest area for the Blue Devils will be on the mound. With sophomores Justin Miller, Alan Wertz and Jake Manning and freshmen Nate Gray and Trey Mock, and senior Brian Dougherty doing most of the pitching, none have pitched an inning of high school baseball. Of the returning pitchers, Brandon Beech, Brian Hostler and Josh Kleinfelter collectively have faced a total of only 20 batters. Beech, Hostler and Kleinfelter will no doubt get a few innings in 2006, but the team is better off with those three players patrolling the left side of the Blue Devils defense, with Beech at third base, Hostler at shortstop, and Kleinfelter in left field.
Walks and errors and the inability to get hitters out, have all contributed to just a dozen wins in the last two years, including a 5-14 mark last year. In 2005, opponents batted a hefty .342 against Blue Devil pitchers, who didn’t help themselves with a combined ERA of 8.17, walked 76 batters and pitched in front of a defense that committed 54 errors.
That porous defense is one of the parts of last season’s downfall that Coach Conlon thinks should be much improved this year.
“We should have a solid defensive team this year,” explained Conlon. “We should be strong behind the plate, as well as in the middle infield. Our team speed should also help us this season.”
Hostler who batted .348 last year, but got only 23 at-bats, and Beech should solidify an infield that was an adventure every time a ground ball was hit a season ago. Blaze Winterstein is back as the Blue Devils’ catcher to help out the young pitching staff. After being hit-for most of last season, Winterstein batted well over .300 during the summer for Martin Oil in Federation action and should be a positive at the plate as well as behind it. Kleinfelter should help the offense after batting .289 as a sophomore, though he was arguably the most dangerous Blue Devil hitter in the clutch late in the season in 2005. Chad Coho, who shared first base with graduated senior Fred Dorman last year, takes over at first after hitting a respectable .286 in 28 at-bats last year. Senior L. J. Seidel, batted .296, but due to a knee injury got just six trips to the plate in the last 11 ballgames, but is healthy and ready to go in 2006.
Freshman outfielder Nate Gray is being compared favorably defensively with former Blue Devil centerfielder Jordan Taylor, an All-League selection in 2002, largely because of his defense in center field, as a senior.
Junior Earnie Kelly, out indefinitely for disciplinary reasons, could help the inexperienced pitching staff when and if he is able to return to the team, after leading the Blue Devils in ERA (3.84) and lowest opposition batting average (.244), while striking out a batter an inning (27) in 27 and 1/3 innings last year.
Providing hope for the 2006 edition of the Blue Devils, who play in the Mountain Athletic Conference Division III, was a late surge by the 2005 crew that raised their batting average nine points, by hitting .331 over the final six games, winning three of those six and losing each of the other three by one run. Along that stretch, opponents’ batting averages dropped 45 points, with the B-A pitchers holding their foes to a .236 average, dropping the team earned run average two full points from a ludicrous 10.99 to 8.71.”
“Our pitching staff will be very young this year. Along with pitching I am concerned with our youth. We are looking for a leader to emerge from the group,” acknowledged Conlon.
“We are looking to develop a young team this season. If we get quality pitching from our young guys, we should develop into a pretty good team by the end of the season. I’m looking forward to working with the group of kids right now. It looks like they want to be here to work and get the job done. We have a nice group of young players. It’s exciting to see a group like this that plays this well and wants to work and get better every day.”
Returning starters with class and position include-Chad Coho (jr) 1b-p, Josh Kleinfelter (jr) lf-p, L.J. Seidel (sr) rf, Blaze Winterstein (jr) c, Brian Hostler (jr) ss-p, Brandon Beech (sr) 3b, and Justin Manning (so) 2b.
Other returnees include Alan Wertz (so) 1b-p, Justin Miller (so)) c-p-out, Jake Manning (so) cf-p, Alex Miller (jr) 3b.
Devon Clapper (jr) 2b, Brain Daugherty (sr) 3b-p, Nate Gray (fr) cf-p, Trey Mock (fr) ss-p are the newcomers.
The Blue Devils open the 2006 season today at Bellefonte in a non-conference game with the first pitch set for 4 p.m., then hosts Claysburg-Kimmel at home on Friday at 3:30 p.m.
Probable starters for the Bellefonte contest include: Hostler leading off and playing short, Kleinfelter in left, Beech at third, Coho batting cleanup and playing first, Seidel in right, Justin Manning at second, Winterstein hitting seventh and catching, Justin Miller pitching, and Gray in center. Each pitcher will probably go no more than two innings to begin the season.
