2010 Preseason Hitting and Throwing

With the 2010 Greater Akron AA Baseball season less than 4 months away, Portage South is getting with some preseason work at Darrah's All Star Academy.  PS will have the facility on Monday nights starting January 25th at 8:00 PM.  All Portage South players are welcome.  There will be some hitting in the cages as well as soft toss and tee work.  There will also be mounds setup for pitchers to get work in.

Portage South Finishes Runner Up in Labor Day Tournament

Butler, PA - The Portage South Black Squirrels were invited to play in the Butler Eagle County Wood Bat Tournament over Labor Day weekend.  It was an 11-team double elimination tournament starting on Friday, September 4th.  PS faced Debos out of Pennsylvania in their first game.  Debos scored 2 runs in the first innings and another run in the fifth as they shutout PS 3-0.  Robert Paradise led PS with a double. 

In the Championship game, Portage South would matchup against an All Star team out of Pittsburgh.  PS scored a run in the first inning on a Kevin Yelinek single that scored Danny Campfield.  The score would remain 1-0 until the sixth when Pittsburgh pushed across a run.  The Black Squirrels didn’t score in the top of the seventh and Pittsburgh was able to get a run to win the championship 2-1.  Campfield went 2-3 to lead the PS offense.  This was the second straight tournament that Portage South finished as runner up this season.  Yelinek finished the tournament hitting an amazing .478 (11-23).

Portage South Finishes as Runner up in Wood Bat Classic

Akron, OH - Portage South Black Squirrels played in the NEO Wood Bat Classic over this past weekend.  It started on Thursday with pool play on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.  Thursday, PS would play the Kent Knights from the Akron Roy Hobbs League.  The Knights scored two runs in the third to take the lead 2-0.  Portage South would cut the lead in half in the bottom of the inning.  Mike Price would single, steal second and advance to third on the throwing error by the catcher.  Price would score on a Jesse Michel sacrifice fly.  Mike Darrah and Mike Haney would start the fourth inning with a single each.  Darrah would score on a Jason Preising groundout to tie the game at 2-2.  The game would remained tied until the eighth inning when Haney would walk and score the winning run on a Robert Paradise single.  Eric Schaffer went the first 5 innings on the mound for PS allowing only 2 runs and 6 hits while striking out 4.  Price picked up the win with 3 scoreless innings of relief.  Haney was 2-2 with a double to lead the Black Squirrel attack.

Portage South would take on the Northern Ohio Hurricanes in the second game of pool play.  This game was a pitcher's duel between the Greater Akron AA League's top two finishers in the Pitcher of the Year award, Brian Lonjak and Nic Carucci.  With the game being tied 0-0 entering the seventh, PS would get a leadoff single by Jason Preising.  Mike Price would pinch run for Preising and steal second base.  Dylan Wartluft would double home Price to take the 1-0 lead.  Carucci would complete the shut out and pick up the win for PS.  He went all 7 innings allowing 4 hits and striking out 7.  Preising, Wartluft and Nick Dean each had 2 hits.

In the final game of pool play on Saturday morning, Portage South would match up with the Trumbull Merchants of the Warren AA League.  The offense got started a little earlier in this one for Portage South.  After the Merchants walked the bases loaded in the first, Mike Haney would drive home a run with a sacrifice fly.  In the second, the Black Squirrels would get singles from Robert Paradise and Eric Jones to start the inning.  Paradise would score on a Danny Campfield groundout, then Mike Darrah's single would score Jones.  Darrah was brought home on the Dylan Wartluft triple.  Wartluft scored on an overthrow from the outfield to make the score 5-0.  PS tacked on 2 more runs in the fourth on a 2-run double by Wartluft.  The Merchants scored a run in the fourth and fifth, but PS won 8-2.  Matt Uy went the distance on the mound striking out 4 while allowing only 3 hits.  Wartluft was 2-2 with a double, triple and 3 RBI.

With the 3-0 record, Portage South earned the top seed in the single elimination tournament.  They would face the #8 seed, Northern Ohio Hurricanes for the second time in the Classic.  The Hurricanes would get 2 runs in the first.  PS would get them back in the bottom half of the first.  The Black Squirrels would take the lead with a RBI single by Mike Darrah that score Jesse Michel.  Portage South opened up the lead in the sixth with three straight RBI singles by Jeff Speck, Eric Jones and Jason Preising and win 7-3.  Darrah threw 7 innings for PS allowing one earned run and striking out 10.  Jones was 2-2 to lead the offense.

Portage South would face the Trumbull Merchants in the Semifinals.  The Merchants would also score 2 runs in the first to take the lead.  PS would get a RBI double from Danny Campfield and he would score on the Dylan Wartluft single to tie the game.  The Black Squirrels would get four more runs in the second.  Campfield would drive in two with his second double and Mike Darrah had a sacrifice fly.  The Merchants would close the gap to 2 runs in the top of the third, but PS would tack on 4 more runs to open up a 10-4 lead.  Jeff Speck would double to start the inning.  He would score on the Kevin Haley single.  After a Robert Paradise single, Eric Jones doubled home both runners.  Jones would score on Jesse Michel's single.  Portage South would get three more runs and win 13-4 to advance to the Championship game.  Dan Hepler threw 6 innings to get the win.  Campfield and Haley had 4 hits each.

In the Championship game, PS would take on the Hudson Explorers for the Akron Roy Hobbs.  The Explorers jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the second.  Portage South scored in bottom of the second on a RBI single by Robert Paradise.  Hudson picked up 3 more runs in the fourth to lead 7-1, then a Dylan Wartluft homerun made it 7-2.  Down now 8-2 in the bottom of the fifth, PS posted 5 runs to make it a one run game at 8-7.  Phil Smith doubled home Mike Darrah, the he scored on a Wartluft double.  Jeff Speck also had a RBI single in the inning.  The Explorers would open the lead back to 5 at 12-7, but PS would mound another comeback.  The Black Squirrels got 2 runs on RBI singles by Wartluft and Speck in the sixth and a Phil Smith 2-run double in the seventh brought the score to 12-11.  Hudson would hold PS scoreless over the last two innings and won 12-11.  Wartluft was 3-4 with a 2B and HR.  Smith had 2 doubles.

Portage South Gets 2 On First Team All League