Atlee Baseball: Raider Nation News
Saturday, March 14The game remains the same for county teams
Sports
The game remains the same for county teams
BASEBALL PREVIEW
Hanover, Lee-Davis and Atlee stand atop Capital District race
Published: March 10, 2009
By Charlie Leffler
cleffler@mechlocal.com
When it comes to high school baseball, there are few places better to be than in Hanover County with Hanover, Lee-Davis and Atlee battling it out as the perennial powers of the Capital District.
“I figure that Lee-Davis is always going to be solid,” said Kevin Elrod in his first year as head coach of Atlee. “Hanover’s going to be solid and hopefully we’re going to be solid.”
But this year should prove to be even more interesting because each of the three teams possess a solitary aspect of talent that sets them apart from the others.
This season, Atlee can boast a deep pitching rotation that includes two Division I signees. Lee-Davis should display power at the plate this season and could have the county’s best roster of hitters. While Hanover will field a team that is should be the best-rounded among local squads.
Furthermore, the evaluation of the county’s coaches concurs with one another.
“Lee-Davis has got some offense,” Elrod said. “Hanover’s got a little bit of pitching, a little bit of offense and a little bit of defense and hopefully we’ve got the pitching to go with defense and offense.”
“Lee-Davis is going to have a good team with a lot of heart,” said Hanover coach Charlie Dragum. “They’re hungry to win, have not had a whole lot of success, but they are talented and fast and got some pitching. They can do a little of everything. And Atlee has got (potentially) three Division I pitchers.”
“Hanover has kind of perched themselves up there and they’ve got some senior leadership,” said Lee-Davis coach Kenny Lewis. “Any time they put Jacob Mayers on the mound they can beat anybody, anywhere, anytime…Even Atlee with Ryan Farrar, there’s another kid on any given day can beat anybody.”
While the county teams are expected to take the one-thru-three slots in this year’s Capital District, challenges could be presented from a retooling Henrico squad, or a Varina squad that always has athletes.
Meanwhile a few miles up the road in Ashland, Patrick Henry looks to take the next step after reaching last year’s regional semifinals.
There are no questions when it comes to where the strength of this year’s Atlee baseball program resides. Opponents will need to look no further than the mound to find their greatest obstacle in a chance for victory against this year’s Raiders.
Atlee should field the deepest, most talented pitching rotation among local teams, headlined by VCU signee Ryan Farrar and Western Carolina signee Taylor Sandefur. First year Raiders’ head coach Kevin Elrod, who rose from the assistant ranks, knows the players well and said it is a virtual toss-up as to which one could be considered his No. 1 ace on the mound. “The good thing about them is one’s right-handed and one’s left-handed and they’re both equally powerful. Ryan’s done some big things for us for the last couple of years and Taylor’s done some big things as well.”
Last year both Farrar and Sandefur made the all district rosters as pitchers, Farrar on the first team and Sandefur (honorable mention) is also the Raiders’ top returning hitter.
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The Raiders will also look to another potential D-I pitcher, junior Austin Young for a third strong arm. But Elrod indicated that un-named newcomers will also play an important role on the mound as the season progresses. “We’ve got a couple of new guys in our program and it’s a good mix,” he said. “You’ve got heat coming from our starting three and then you’ve got some off-speed and different pitching coming from mid-relievers and closers. It’s a lot different than what we had last year. We’ve got more arms this year.”
Young, who was a first-team all-district member as a designated hitter, will also provide a punch at the plate.
Atlee also returns the talents of seniors T.J. Daneker at third and Brent Bettinger in the outfield while junior Paul Keyes will return at short.
According to Elrod, consistency and defense will be the keys for this year’s Raiders’ squad. “I pride on defense, pitching and defense,” Elrod said. “My theory behind that is if they don’t score it’s either going to be a long game or we’re going to win by a couple.
“I don’t mind winning a game by one or winning 1-0,” Elrod said.
Elrod also indicated it will also be important for the Raiders to eliminate last year’s bug-a-boo of playing one bad inning that brought on many of Atlee’s defeats. “That’s what we’re going to try to stay out of this year, that one inning,” he said. “And long innings.”