Jayhawks Baseball Finishes Regular Season With Program-Best 26 Wins

By Scott Eddy
The Jamestown Community College baseball team’s 2010 season will live in the college’s record books as the best regular season in program history.

The Jayhawks’ 26 regular season victories break the old team mark of 21 wins set as a team. JCC tied the old record in regional wins alone, finishing with a 21-7 standing against NJCAA Division III Region III competition during the spring. Overall for the spring season, the Jayhawks finished their slate at 26-17.

JCC can finish no worse than third in the Region III Western Division standings. Should they finish as the second seed, they would earn a home best-of-three playoff series for regionals at Diethrick Park. That would not be determined until Erie CC and Niagara County CC finished a doubleheader scheduled for April 29.

Offense has been the key to JCC’s success this spring. The team has received production throughout its lineup: Sophomore Micah Kellogg (Jamestown/Southwestern) leads the team with a .413 batting average, 49 runs and 46 RBI. Sophomore Brett Mlacker (Jamestown) checks in at .375, 37 runs, 31 RBI; Sophomore Tommy Tantillo (Jamestown) is at .375, 35 runs, 21 RBI, and Sophomore Bryant Watts (Dunkirk) finished the regular season at.328, 45 runs and 42 RBI. Also featuring prominently in the production is sophomore infielder Casey Phillips (Englewood, Fla.) (.328, 41 runs, 30 RBI) and freshman Ryan Cunningham (Jamestown) (.366, 37 runs, 32 RBI).

JCC has battled a tough schedule throughout the season. They began with a very difficult slate during the team’s trip south to Florida to begin the season. The Jayhawks split with Brookdale (NJ), then the No. 3-ranked team in the country. In regional play, the Jayhawks split a pair of doubleheaders with Niagara County CC, the fifth-ranked team in the nation.

Kellogg (4-2) and Watts (6-2) lead the rotation, while freshman Ryan Lucas (Albany) appears to be in post-season form after tossing a complete game shutout in the team’s regular season finale, a 6-0 win over Corning CC last Saturday. Freshman Bob Peting (Brocton) leads the staff in ERA at 4.02 pitching 15.2 innings of relief, with starter Lucas behind at 4.07 in 42 innings while Watts checks in at 4.30 in his 46 innings of work.

Regional playoffs begin May 1. Winners of the best-of-three series advance to the regional final four at Little Falls, NY on May 7-8. The NJCAA Division III World Series begins May 22 in Tyler, Texas.

 

 

 

Jayhawk Baseball Spring Preview

 

Seven Returning Starters,
Jayhawk Spring 2010 Preview

Seven Returning Starters, Deep Lineup Give Jayhawks High Hopes
By Scott Eddy

The Jayhawks’ baseball team enters the 2010 season with a roster full of sophomores and one goal in mind.  “Our goal is very simple- to get to Tyler, Texas for the NJCAA College World Series,” head coach Anthony Barone said. “We have a great sophomore class and that’s what it’s about at this level.”
 

The Jayhawks return seven starters from a group which went 17-24 and earned the No. 7 seed in the Region 3 Tournament last spring with only three sophomores on its roster. While the team loses all-American outfielder Nat Barone and all-time JCC hits leader Jon Messina, the rest of a roster which began to flourish at the end of last season remains intact. 
 

The heightened expectations begin behind the plate with freshman catcher Nick Lohrer from Fairview, Pa.  Two Chautauqua County sophomores will split time at first base with Southwestern graduate Micah Kellogg serving as the primary position holder with Jamestown’s Brett Mlacker holding down designated hitter duties and playing first base when Kellogg pitches. Kellogg batted .346 with 31 RBI as a freshman while Mlacker hit .313 and drove in 26 runs.
 

JCC’s defense up the middle figures to be strong with Jamestown sophomore Tommy Tantillo (.324, 14 RBIs last spring) at second base and classmate Casey Phillips (.333, 27 RBIs) at short.  Dunkirk graduate Bryant Watts is the starter at third base after batting .371 with 34 RBIs last spring. Like Kellogg at first, Watts also figures prominently into the Jayhawks’ pitching rotation.  “Micah and Bryant are extremely important to the team,” Barone said. “Bryant is very good defensively and on the mound I trust him with everything we have.”
 

When Watts pitches, Jamestown freshman Nick Shelley could man the hot corner as Barone looks for a way to get the former Red Raider’s bat into the lineup.
The outfield is the only spot of major change this season for JCC after losing two thirds of the outfield to graduation.  “We still have guys fighting for spots,” Barone said of the outfield. “There’s some big shoes to fill.”
 

Sophomore Scott Lundblad, one of seven Jayhawks hailing from the state of Florida, shifts from behind the plate to center field while Jamestown freshman Ryan Cunningham and Floridians Aaron Bell and Ian Shive also vie for time at the corners.  “It’s a nice opportunity to play the hot bat. If you’re swinging well, I’m going to put you in there,” Barone said. “If you’re not producing, it’s going to be very tough to crack our lineup. We have a very good offensive lineup.”
 

JCC, along with most of Region 3, will shift to a six man starting rotation this year due to a change in the regional schedule. For the first time, the 16 Region 3 member teams will be split into an eight team Eastern Division and an eight team Western Division. Each team will play each other four times with home and home double headers. With a typical weekly schedule of double headers on Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday, a deep pitching staff is a must to succeed. Kellogg and Watts hold down the top two spots in the rotation, followed by southpaw freshmen Jake Fosberg from Bradenton, Fla., and Ryan Lucas from Albany. Panama freshman Dan Burns will likely be the fifth starter while Shive rounds out the rotation, making three freshmen and three sophomore starters for the Jayhawks.
 

The bullpen has a decidedly Chautauqua County feel with Brocton freshman Bobby Peting and Pine Valley freshman Joey Tingue from the right side and lefties Marcus Cuevas from Westfield and Dunkirk’s Matt Eaker. Lundblad and lefty Max Melo-Dejesus round out the ‘pen. With eight games per week during the season, it’s likely all will log a high number of innings. JCC will face stiff competition right off the bat as five of the six teams the Jayhawks will face off against March 14-19 in Florida won 40 or more games last year, four of which made an appearance in the NJCAA College World Series. The Jayhawks will play 2009 World Series entrants Monroe CC, Massasoit (Mass.) CC, Brookdale (N.J.) CC, and Riverland (Minn.) CC along with North Iowa Area CC. and a club from Ontario during its spring trip south.
 

Fall 2009 Season Re-Cap

Jayhawks Baseball 4-2 overall

2-2 WNYAC (as of 9/10/09)

September 5th
-Jamestown 4 Monroe 3   -Chris DiRusso winning pitcher, Bryant Watts save
-Jamestown 0 Monroe 5   - Scott Lundblad had a double

September 6th
-Jamestown 4 Niagara 3   -Dan Burns winning pitcher, Joey Tingue save, Micah Kellogg 2run triple, Casey Phillips 3 hits
-Jamestown 4 Niagara 5   - Micah Kellogg 3 hits, Jeff Dimmer and Lou Agosto 2 hits apiece

September 8th
-Jamestown 1 Butler 0   - Jason Stockmeyer winning pitcher, Ryan Lucas save-both combined for a 2 hitter, Scott Lundblad scored the only run
-Jamestown 4 Butler 3   - Jake Fosburg winning pitcher, the hawks trailed 3-1 going to the bottom of the seventh and rallied to win on a 2 run game winning single by Bryant Watts. Casey Phillips scored the game winning run.
 

Coaches:
Anthony Barone (head coach)
Frank Jagoda (assistant coach)



Roster:

#	Name	Position	Year	H.S.
10	Joshua Lambright	OF	So	Palm Coast, FLA
32	Max Melo-Dejesus	Pitcher/LH	So	Queens, NY
18	Matt Eaker	Pitcher-LH	So	Dunkirk, NY
49	Micah Kellogg	Pitcher-RH/1B	So	Southwestern, NY
11	Scott Lundblad	Outfield/Pitcher-RH	So	Port Charlotte, Fla
6	Brett Mlacker	1B/Outfield	So	Jamestown, NY
2	Tommy Tantillo	2B	So	Jamestown, NY
12	Casey Phillips	Shortstop	So	Englewood, Fla
28	Bryant Watts	3B/Pitcher-RH	So	Dunkirk, NY
23	Nick Shelley	3B	Fr	Jamestown, NY
45	Sam Scott	OF	So	Southwestern, NY
4	Jake Fosberg	LHP/1B	So	Bradenton, Fl
12	Ryan Lucas	LHP	So	Albany, NY
5	Nick Lohrer	C	So	Fairview, PA
30	Joey Tingue	RHP	So	Pine Valley, NY
20	Billy Larson	Catcher/OF	Fr	Dunkirk, NY
27	Dan Burns	RHP/1B	So	Panama, NY
13	Bobby Peting	Pitcher-RH	Fr	Brocton, NY
21	Jake Domes	Outfield	Fr	Springville, NY
5	Ian Shive	OF/Pitcher-RH	So	Punta Gorda, FLA
43	Ryan Cunningham	OF	Fr	Jamestown, NY
3	Aaron Bell	OF	Fr	Bradenton, FLA
17	Marcus Cuevas	OF/Pitcher-LH	Fr	Westfield, NY
9	Louis Agosto	Outfield	So	Port Charlotte, Fla