2011 All-Sentinel Baseball Team

After a one-day delay, we release the annual All-Sentinel baseball team. A complete story on player-of-year Sam Crater and another on coach-of-the-year Brett Livingston plus other historical goodies that are only available in the print edition can be found Wednesday, July 14 in The Sentinel.

FIRST TEAM

Player of the Year -- Sam Crater, senior shortstop-pitcher, Northern

Catcher -- Bobby Kohl, jr., Susquenita

Infield -- Tyler Weary, jr., Carlisle

Infield -- Jake Warner, sr., Northern

Infield -- L.K. Thompson, sr., Camp Hill

Infield -- Kenny Baum, sr., West Perry

Outfield -- Quinn Bower, jr., Cedar Cliff

Outfield -- Joe Tuschak, jr., Northern

Outfield -- Max Miller, sr., East Pennsboro

Designated Hitter -- Jeff Goyette, sr., Trinity

Pitcher -- Heath Singer, jr., Big Spring

Pitcher -- Eric Sawyer, jr., Cumberland Valley

Pitcher -- Sal Purpura, jr., Mechanicsburg

SECOND TEAM

Catcher -- John Bixler, sr., Boiling Springs

Infield -- Brad Medellin, sr., Red Land

Infield -- Joe D'Agostino, sr., Cumberland Valley

Infield -- Will Kerr, sr., Trinity

Infield -- Jimmy Spanos, jr., Mechanicsburg

Outfield -- Tyler Carns, sr., Big Spring

Outfield -- Michael Palkovitz, jr., Cumberland Valley

Outfield -- Nick Slonac, soph., Trinity

Designated Hitter -- Ryan Steele, sr., Northern

Pitcher -- Nick Chester, sr., Red Land

Pitcher -- Taylor Nace, jr., Susquenita

Pitcher -- Jordan Lawson, soph., Cedar Cliff

Four for 2011 (Part 2)

A day after we revealed two teams that we think are capable of causing serious trouble in the playoffs, we're adding two more to the list.

Carlisle (10-10 in 2010; District 3-AAAA participant)
The Herd made some great strides this spring by finishing the regular season with a winning record (10-9) for the first time since 2005 and placing fourth out of seven teams in the Mid-Penn Commonwealth Division.

Now, the key for coach Brett Livingston is to build on the momentum. With the exception of John Blank, Zeb Thorson and Kyle Scott, the team will return largely intact next spring.

That's great news for a program that hadn't been to the District 3-AAAA playoffs since 2005 and had seemingly grown comfortable in the Commonwealth's basement.

Livingston should have a sunny outlook with standout Tyler Weary (.426 average, nine RBIs) back for his senior year and a quality group of young players that includes Eric Dukes (junior in 2010), Harris Glenn (junior) Brian Goodling (freshman) and Kyler Brown (freshman).

Dukes batted .273 this spring with 14 RBIs, three home runs and two doubles while Goodling, Brown and Glenn were reliable on the mound. Brown (above) compiled a 4-1 record with 30 strikeouts against 18 walks in 36.2 innings and finished with an ERA of 4.64. Goodling went 2-2 with 26 strikeouts, 26 walks and a 5.12 ERA in 28 innings while Glenn was 2-4 with 23 strikeouts, 28 walks and a 4.54 ERA win 26.2 innings.

Improvement is a must if this team hopes to win at least one playoff game, but Carlisle is on the right track.

Plus, Livingston said after the season that he has some other players ready to move up from the junior varsity and contribute in 2011.

The Commonwealth, as always, will be anything but easy so if the Herd can escape the regular season, this could be a team to keep your eye on not just in 2011 but for the next few years.

Mechanicsburg (13-8 in 2010; District 3-AAAA participant)
Over the last two years, coach Clay McAllister's team has compiled a record of 29-15, won a Mid-Penn Keystone Division title and played for a Mid-Penn Conference title.

But, for how successful the Wildcats have been lately, they only have a 2-2 record in the District 3-AAAA playoffs with hard-to-swallow first-round losses to Hempfield in 2009 and Cedar Crest in 2010.

Next spring, Mechanicsburg will return to the Class AAA level and might have a shot to do some damage. McAllister needed to replace six seniors from the 2009 team that won the division and pushed Northern to the limit in the MPC championship. This time, the number of seniors graduating is nine.

Picking the Wildcats here is a risk, to be sure.

But consider: this team returns its top offensive threat in Jimmy Spanos (.452 average, six doubles, two triples, three home runs, 24 RBIs) and three of its top four. Justin Tate (.400, five doubles, two triples, 10 RBIs) and Alex Holbert (.373, two doubles, 11 RBIs) will join Spanos as the catalysts for the offense.

Tate is also reliable as a pitcher (2.44 ERA in 17.2 innings) and will help solidify the rotation behind ace Sal Purpura, who compiled a 3.03 ERA in 53 innings with 51 strikeouts and 22 walks.

Four for 2011 (Part 1)

It's that time of year again.

Nearly a month ago, state baseball champions were crowned at Blair County Ballpark in Altoona and the annual All-Sentinel team has been selected with a publish date of July 13.

Before our selections are announced, let's look ahead to next year at the four teams we think have a shot to make some noise when the District 3 playoffs roll around in May of 2011. Remember, these aren't the teams we think will have sparkling regular-season records but rather the clubs we feel are poised to go far in the postseason.

East Pennsboro (12-10 in 2010; District 3-AAA quarterfinalist)

The Panthers return nearly everyone from the team that made arguably the most surprising run of the district playoffs two months ago.

Coach John Frantz, who will enter his third year in Enola with a record of 21-20, welcomes back Zach Nye (3-1 record, 1.13 ERA), Alex Card (4-0, 2.88) and Brandon Lehman (2-2, 8.13) to anchor what should be a very solid rotation.

Lehman's numbers aren't great but one of his wins was against Lampeter-Strasburg in the District 3-AAA first round when he went five competitive innings and allowed only one earned run. Card (above), who beat perennial Colonial Division power Waynesboro and baffled Manheim Central in the 3-AAA play-in round, started the season on junior varsity and should only improve in his sophomore year.

The bad news is that Max Miller and Matt Porter will be lost to graduation. Miller led the team with a .413 batting average and Porter was second on the team at .359.

The top returnee in terms of batting average is Gregg Wasikowski, who hit .357 with 14 RBIs in 2010.

Due to the Mid-Penn's realignment, East Penn will no longer play Northern or Waynesboro and falls into a division that it should win. Other members include Boiling Springs, Camp Hill, Milton Hershey, Steel-High, Susquenita, Trinity and West Perry.

Camp Hill (9-15 in 2010; District 3-A runner-up and PIAA quarterfinalist)

L.K. Thompson is gone but the Lions don't face nearly the uphill battle that they encountered in 2010 after needing to replace nine starters from the teams that won back-to-back PIAA championships.

Chad Bronson, Kevin Chrencik, Ben Eppley and Cameron Resuta are just a few of the youngsters that will carry Camp Hill over the next few years. Coach Brad Shover, who just completed his 10th year as head coach, also spoke highly of another crop of talented players who will join the varsity ranks within the next year or two.

Berks Christian, which dethroned Camp Hill in the 3-A final this year, loses stud pitcher Cody Albright and that will likely make Camp Hill the favorite to capture the title next year.

As always, the schedule will be full of challenges but when the postseason rolls around, Camp Hill will prove that it deserves to be mentioned among the state's small-school elite.

All-Sentinel baseball date set

In the July 13 edition of The Sentinel, the all-star baseball team will be published.

Expect a first team consisting of 12 players and one player of the year plus a 12-member second team and a feature on our coach of the year.

In addition to this, we've compiled a list of the all-time players of the year and coaches of the year, which date to 1996 and 1994, respectively. The first two years, the All-Sentinel team did not include a player of the year.

Before our team is published in print, please visit Inside the Red Zone on July 12 for an early look at the teams.