Local connections in Sports Illustrated

This week's edition of Sports Illustrated is worth picking up.

Tom Verducci wrote an interesting feature story about Harrisburg Senators left fielder Bryce Harper, who the Washington Nationals took with the first overall pick in last year's Major League Baseball First-Year Player Draft.

Also mentioned in the magainze is Devin Mesoraco. Mesoraco is from Punxsutawney and helped lead the Chucks to the 2007 PIAA Class AAA baseball title. Mesoraco, who plays for Class AAA Louisville in the Cincinnati Reds' farm system, is said to be potential trade bait for the club.

American Legion baseball scores, schedule

Final day of action in West Lawn. Blackhawk plays host West Lawn for Pennsylvania's final bid into next week's Mid-Atlantic Regional Tournament at Boyertown's Bear Stadium.

Friday
Bristol 5, Boyertown 2 (Bristol clinches berth in Mid-Atlantic Regional Tournament)
Boyertown 13, West Lawn 5 (West Lawn eliminated)
Bristol 10, Blackhawk 5 (Blackhawk eliminated)

Saturday
Blackhawk 9, West Lawn 6 (Mid-Atlantic Regional Play-in Game)
Boyertown 5, Bristol 1
Bristol 11, Boyertown 3

Football: Bad news keeps coming

Suddenly, a dark cloud is hanging over the area high school football scene.

Coming off one of the best years in recent memory for area teams -- Cumberland Valley and Trinity won district titles -- two shocking events were reported over the span of four days.

First, Boiling Springs senior two-way lineman Sam Gitt tragically died after a football practice at Albright College's camp Friday night. No one will know how or why Gitt died until lab tests come back in several weeks, Berks County chief deputy coroner Charles Sweitzer told The Sentinel on Tuesday.

Heat has not been ruled out as a contributing factor, Sweitzer said.

Also on Tuesday, news broke that a hazing incident involving the Trinity High School football team took place at Lebanon Valley College's camp, which ended July 20.

Trinity's administration has been rather quiet about the situation as the Annville Township Police Department are continuing their investigation.

Depending on what the police find, there could be suspensions and/or expulsions from the team. Remember, the Shamrocks open the season against perennial district and state power Lancaster Catholic at COBO Field on Sept. 2 at 7 p.m.

And, if you've forgotten, Trinity will already be shorthanded. Running back-linebacker Jack Miller was thrown out of Trinity's PIAA Class AA quarterfinal game against Lewisburg for throwing a punch and is suspended for the first game of the season.

Boiling Springs, which went 7-4 last year and qualified for the 3-AA playoffs where it lost to Trinity, opens the season at home Sept. 2 against Littlestown at 7 p.m. The Thunder Bolts finished the regular season 10-0 last year before losing their 3-AA opener.

Trinity, the defending district champion, is coming off a 12-2 season.

American Legion baseball scores, schedule

All games at Owls Field, West Lawn.

Wenesday
Red Land 13, Plains 12 (Plains eliminated)
Millcreek 10, West Hempfield 3 (West Hempfield eliminated)
Boyertown 4, Blackhawk 3 (10)
Bristol 8, West Lawn 1

Thursday
Millcreek vs. Blackhawk, noon (elimination game)
West Lawn vs. Red Land, 3 (elimination game)
Bristol vs. Boyertown, 7

Red Land erasing bad memories

The night is probably still fresh in their minds.

In the first round of the District 3 Class AAAA playoffs third-seeded Red Land tried to win via the comeback route again. This time, the Patriots fell short in an 8-7 loss to upstart No. 14 seed Spring Grove at Memorial Field in Hershey.

Red Land trailed, 8-3, entering the seventh inning before rallying within one run. But, the Patriots stranded the tying run on third when Ben Dunmire struck out.

These days, that loss seems like a distant memory.

In the Pennsylvania American Legion State Tournament on Wednesday morning, Red Land Post 974 staged a huge rally at Owls Field in West Lawn to dump Plains Post 558, 13-12, in a wild elimination game.

Red Land Post 974, which has many of the same players that went 16-5 in the high school season, won the Cumberland County and Section 4 titles to earn a bid in the double-elimination state tournament.

The team, which has a 21-6 record, took another step Wednesday morning to erase the bad memories from that night in late May and they have a chance to make more noise Thursday. Red Land meets host West Lawn at 3 p.m. in an elimination game. West Lawn fell to Bristol, 8-1, Wednesday night.

A win Thursday and Red Land will be one of the final four American Legion baseball teams still playing in Pennsylvania. That's not a bad way to rebound from the sudden end of the high school season.

Iowa baseball team sets mark

The Martensdale-St. Marys baseball team set the record for most consecutive wins last night when the Blue Devils thumped Twin Cedars, 10-0, in an Iowa Class 1-A substate final.

Martensdale-St. Marys broke the previous record of 83 straight wins set earlier this year by the Portsmouth (N.H.) squad.

The Blue Devils, who haven't lost since 2009, advance to next week's Iowa state tournament.

Baseball team going for record

File this under the hard-to-believe category.

The Martensdale-St. Marys baseball team is gunning for its 84th straight win tonight when the Blue Devils meet Twin Cedars in the Iowa Substate 6 Finals at 7 p.m.

But, that's not what's so hard to believe.

The strange thing is, earlier this year, Portsmouth (N.H.) set the national record of 83 straight wins.

If Martensdale-St. Marys wins tonight, Portsmouth's record would have stood for less than two months.

Big-name QB selects Penn State

Skyler Mornhinweg, a senior at Philadelphia's St. Joseph's Prep, has announced his intention to continue his football career at Penn State, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported Tuesday afternoon.

According to the report, Mornhinweg originally verbally committed to Stanford, but soured on the Cardinal when former coach Jim Harbaugh left for the San Francisco 49ers.

Mornhinweg's father, Marty, is the offensive coordinator for the Philadelphia Eagles.

The buzz is beginning

Already, the season-opening game between Lancaster Catholic and defending District 3 Class AA champion Trinity is starting to draw attention.

Recently, former Lancaster Newspapers writer Jeff Reinhart, who owns and operates Lancaster-Lebanon League News, broke down his Top 10 Games to Watch for the upcoming L-L football season.

Checking in at No. 9 is Lancaster Catholic at Trinity.

The two private schools have quite a history and each has something to prove when they butt heads in Week 1 at COBO Field. Last year, Lancaster Catholic pounded Trinity, 35-7, and took an 11-0 record in the 3-AA semifinals. That's where the season ended with a 21-14 loss to Wyomissing.

Meanwhile, Trinity cruised to the 3-AA title and played Lewisburg, a team we thought was the second-best Class AA team in Pennsylvania last year, tough before falling in the state quarterfinals, 35-21.

This season-opening game could very easily be a preview of the 3-AA final.

First tests for new coaches

When preseason practice kicks off for high school football in a little over a month, two area teams will be under new leadership.

Former Red Land coach Frank Gay took over the reigns at Camp Hill for Frank Kindler and was replaced in Lewisberry by rookie head coach Chad Weaver.

The first time both coaches face live competition with their new teams will be in scrimmages Aug. 20. Red Land will meet Northeastern in a 9 a.m. start while Camp Hill ventures to perennially dreadful York Vo-Tech.

Six days later, the Lions go back on the road for a 6 p.m. start against Newport while Red Land travels to Hanover for a 6 p.m. date with South Western. Both of those scrimmages should give both coaches a better understanding of the teams they'll have.

The Patriots open the season Sept. 2 at home against East Pennsboro; Camp Hill hosts Biglerville the same night. Both games kick off at 7 p.m.

Football coaching changes

There's a ton of new high school football across Pennsylvania this year.

The Pennsylvania Football News has a complete list for your enjoyment.

Star quarterback heading to South Carolina

The Easton Express-Times is reporting that highly-touted Allentown Central Catholic quarterback Brendan Nosovitch has verbally committed to continue his football career under legendary coach Steve Spurrier at South Carolina.

The Gamecocks won the SEC East Division a season ago.

According to two recruiting services, eight NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision programs verbally offered Nosovitch a scholarship.

Last December, Nosovitch and the Vikings defeated Bishop McDevitt, 28-27, in the PIAA Class AAA championship game at Hersheypark Stadium to cap a 16-0 season.

Chances for a repeat

We've given you our Four for 2012 and the returning all-stars (both Mid-Penn and All-Sentinel), so now it's time to look at the chances the four state champions have of repeating next year.

The teams are graded on a percentage scale (0-100), with the higher the number constituting a better chance of winner back-to-back gold medals at Penn State's Medlar Field next June.

Class AAAA
Conestoga (35 percent) -- The Pioneers lose six players who started the state final including pitcher Austin Little, who went 5 1/3 innings against Spring Ford. Conestoga welcomes back only one of the three pitchers who went to the mound against the Rams.

Class AAA
Northern (75 percent) -- Yes, a few big names are gone. It's not going to be easy replacing Joe Tuschak and Andrew Keirn, but if coach Brian Robison can find a reliable No. 2 pitcher to backup Vince Apicella, look out. The Polar Bears, who beat Tunkhannock for their first state baseball title, will return almost entirely intact next year.

Class AA
Riverside (20 percent) -- One of the most consistent program in the Pittsburgh area has a rebuilding effort in front of it. The Panthers return only three players that started the state final. How will coach Dan Oliastro replace Ryan Finnegan and Nick Pollio?

Class A
Serra Catholic (95 percent) -- These guys were supposed to be a year away. That's a scary thought, isn't it? Ace left-handed pitcher Alain Girman and his perfect varsity record (24-0) returns for his senior year. We will be shocked if a program in the west knocks Serra out before it arrives at Medlar Field. But, a team from the east that's played big schools all year and taken it's lumps (Camp Hill, anyone?) could prevent a repeat.

Returning All-Sentinel baseball players

The following players were selected to this year's All-Sentinel Baseball Team and will be returning to area diamonds next spring (player's listed year is what he will be in 2012).

First Team
Vince Apicella, sr., pitcher, Northern

Alex Bates, jr., outfielder, Trinity

Alex Card, sr., pitcher, East Pennsboro

Jon Mayer, sr., catcher, Northern

Aaron Rahn, sr., outfielder, West Perry

Second Team
Brian Goodling, jr., second baseman, Carlisle

Josh Kimmel, sr., outfielder, Carlisle

Hunter Kotzmoyer, jr., outfielder, Big Spring

Jordan Lawson, sr., pitcher Cedar Cliff

Cody McLaughlin, sr., designated hitter, Northern

Tyler Orris, sr., shortstop, Cedar Cliff

Four for 2012 Part II

Here are the other two baseball teams we expect to make long playoff runs next May. This will be the final blog post for over a week. Today is the first day of our much-needed vacation and where we're going, we don't have Internet. So enjoy this post and we'll talk again July 11.

Carlisle (10-10 in 2011; lost in District 3-AAAA preliminary round) – This team was still young in 2011, but the players won’t be next spring.

A large group of the young men who won the Little League State Championship in the summer of 2009 will be juniors in high school this fall. That means the varsity team will be expected to, at the very least, finish above .500 and make some noise in the District 3 Class AAAA playoffs.

The last two years, Carlisle has compiled an overall record of 20-20, but the Herd haven't won either of its 3-AAAA playoff games.

Standout pitchers Kyler Brown (1.67 ERA, 26 strikeouts, 16 walks) and Brian Goodling (3.36 ERA, 40 strikeouts, 19 walks) will anchor a rotation that should be feeling comfortable at the varsity level by now. But, pitching hasn’t been the problem for coach Brett Livingston’s team.

The Herd hasn’t been able to muster much offense. The team scored two runs or fewer eight times and finished 4-6 in one-run games this year.

If Carlisle doesn’t improve at the plate, this team will again struggle to finish above .500. The Mid-Penn Commonwealth Division is a big-boy league and if a team wants to compete, it has to pitch, hit and play defense. Last year, the Herd failed to do all three consistently enough to keep their heads above water.

East Pennsboro (14-7 in 2011; lost in District 3-AAA first round) – The Panthers continue to improve under coach John Frantz and could be poised to be playing after Memorial Day next year.

Sure, the Panthers lose some pop in Chance Smith (.410), Greg Wasikowski (.385) and Justin Dolan (.340), but their pitching will be difficult to beat.

First-team All-Sentinel selection Alex Card (1.58 ERA, 48 strikeouts, 16 walks), a left-handed pitcher, returns for his senior year. Solid No. 2 options also return in Brandon Lehman (4.32 ERA, 11 strikeouts, 11 walks) and A.J. Wilson (3.50 ERA, 26 strikeouts, 6 walks), assuming he doesn’t give up baseball to focus on his duty as East Penn’s quarterback.

That said, this team needs to find some offense behind Jesse McAllister (.372) and Lehman (.350).

The Panthers struggled at times this year to score runs and if they envision a division title and deep playoff run, the offense will need to come around.

In the playoffs, this pitching staff gives the team a chance to make some serious noise.

The Panthers narrowly lost to eventual 3-AAA runner-up Twin Valley last month and will likely use that heart-breaking loss in Reading as motivation for 2012.

If nothing else, the Panthers are our pick to win the wide-open Capital Division next spring.