Day 5
 
Staying true to “The Baseball Factory Way” of combining tournament play with professional training, Steve Bernhardt organized a full slate of practices AFTER the completion of today’s games.  If you did not see Bernhardt’s column on Baseball Factory’s Website called:  From the Desk Of: Building a Better Ballplayer, Coach Bernhardt believes that Player Development is a lost art.  Too many players focus on playing 80-100 games a year, but do little to train and develop their skills.  As a result, players may emerge with more game experience over time, but their skills need to be refined.  At Baseball Factory, we feel it is essential to combine training and tournament play to maximize skill development and obtain the best out of each player’s ability.  Today’s practices focused on performing at the highest level possible, while simulating game speed drills and situations.  Sometimes you need to “turn it up a notch” to simulate game intensity and pace of play while practicing, to see if players can elevate their game and perform.  This exercise is quite valuable in the development and training of young players and the boys will benefit from the experience when they go back to their hometowns.
 
Factory Blog Spotlight…..
The Blog Spotlight shines on the Red Team for the Day 5 Report.  Team Red is manned by a very impressive coaching staff consisting of Matt Blaney (Head Coach) and John Perko (Assistant Coach) who combine to share a wealth of baseball experience with the Factory players.  By way of background, Matt is the former Manager of Florida Operations for the Washington Nationals.  In that capacity, he helped to oversee all Minor League Operations for the Nationals.  He has also worked in the Player Development Department of the Houston Astros and Los Angeles Dodgers.  After his college career at Villanova University, Matt played in both the Dodgers and Red Sox systems before serving as an Associate Scout with the Cincinnati Reds.  John Perko has been with the Baseball Factory since 2004 and serves as the Director of Team Sales.  As the Director of Team Sales, John acts as our primary contact person with Under Armour, which makes him quite popular with Baseball Factory employees, players, and parents.  John began his career in the sports industry by gaining experience from two of the largest sports marketing companies in the world, IMG and Octagon.  John has also worked in the front office for the Cleveland Indians after playing his college baseball and football at Georgetown University.
 
Under the direction of Coaches Blaney and Perko, Team Red picked up a nice victory today, winning 9-6 over the tough East Texas Astros.  Team Red’s standout players in Sunday’s affair included…

• Chase Johnson (Pitkin, LA) – Double, Single, RBI, Run Scored
  
• James Russell (Darien, CT) – Single, Walk, Run Scored, RBI
  
• Clayton Fowler (Katy, TX) – Clutch 2 RBI Double with the bases loaded
  
• AJ Dusablon (Burlington, VT) – Pitched 4 innings allowing 2 runs and striking out 2

A full slate of games are on tap tomorrow as pool play ends at the conclusion of the day.  After Monday’s games, the teams will be seeded for the Championship round.  See below for a full game schedule.
 
Monday, June 25th
8:00 am – Baseball Factory Black vs. SE Texas Sun Devils – West Gate Field #2
10:30 am – Baseball Factory Red vs. Honda of Bellevue (from Washington State) – Sandlot Ridge Field
10:30 am – Baseball Factory Royal vs. Colorado Warriors – Arlington Legion Field
1pm – Baseball Factory Grey vs. East Texas Red Sox – West Gate Field #2
1pm – Baseball Factory Green vs. Team Fitness Riverdawgs (from Washington State) – Clemmy Holmes Legion Field
1pm – Baseball Factory Navy vs. St. Louis Recruits – Fricke Field
 
It’s a Repeat…
In an exciting conclusion to the 2007 College World Series, the Oregon State Beavers defeated the UNC Tar Heels for the second year in a row to take home the NCAA Division I Baseball Title.  The final score was 9 – 3.
 
Baseball Factory and Team One players seeing action in the final included:  For Oregon State: Jordan Lennerton (2003 Team One National), Mike Stutes (2003 Team One Central and National) and for UNC: Mark Fleury (2004, 2005 Team One South | 2005 Team One National | 2005 Baseball Factory All American), and Robert Woodard (2002 Team One South).  Woodard had a terrific year for the Tar Heels.  He was selected in the 20th Round of the MLB Draft in 2007 after going 10-2 with a 3.30 ERA and 80 K’s.  The victory went to Team One alumni Mike Stutes, who finished the World Series with a record of 2-0.  He was also selected in the 9th round of this year’s MLB draft.  Congratulations to the Beavers on an amazing repeat championship!  Our Baseball Factory crew was in attendance to see the action at Rosenblatt, which is an experience they will always remember.
 
Check back tomorrow for more news and reports.

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