Youth squad competing at East Coast tournament
Jason Evans and the Lodi Reds baseball team are looking to steal the spotlight in New York this weekend going into next week.
The youth baseball team is taking part in the summer annual Cooperstown All-Star Village, a tournament that has 52 teams from around the world competing in Cooperstown, N.Y. Evans, who is the Reds’ manager, said that the tournament starts with pool play on Sunday, and concludes on Thursday when only 16 teams are still alive in a single-elimination format after pool play.
According to its website — cooperstownallstarvillage.com — Cooperstown All Star Village is a family baseball resort located just outside the birthplace of baseball in Cooperstown. The baseball summer camp offers tournaments on Major League style baseball fields for kids.
The Reds’ opponents for pool play of six games will be listed on the same website on Friday or Saturday. After pool play concludes on Tuesday, teams will be bracketed into the single-elimination portion of the tournament based on their records in pool play. Runs scored and runs allowed will be used as tie-breaking criteria should teams have similar records in pool play.
Before this weekend’s tournament, Evans and assistant coaches John Devine, Matt Focacci and Frank Ceccini have seen their 11 players compete in nine area tournaments in recent
months. Members of the Reds are Ryan Camello, Parker Burkes, Preston Plath, Galvin Mora, Gage Jimenez, Joe Eisbree, Joe Focacci, Noah Silvia, Austin Meehleis, Carson Devine and Jay-Shaun Daranykone.
“They are pumped up,” Evans said. “Some of them are just super excited. They can’t wait to get out there.”
Evans, who has taken Reds’ 12 and under teams to Cooperstown every year this decade, noted that most of the players and their families have already arrived in New York. The rest of the players and their families are expected to arrive no later than Saturday morning.
“As of (late Wednesday afternoon), half of the families are on their vacation here,” Evans said. “Some are in Philadelphia, and some of them are in Boston.”
No overall record has been kept in the tournaments that the Reds have played in recent months. Evans, however, estimated that the wins are greater than the losses.
“We’ve been successful,” Evans said.
Evans states his team has been preparing for the last two years, when they were part of the Reds’ 10 baseball squad. One of the Reds’ strengths coming into the tournament is base-running.
“I’ve been working with these kids since they were 10,” Evans said. “We’ve been teaching them how to get early jumps on left handed pitchers. There’s been a big emphasis on base running with this team, and they are good at it.”
In the Reds’ nine tournaments in the spring, Evans estimated that his team has successfully stolen 75 bases.
“We’re very aggressive,” Evans said. “We put pressure on the opposing pitcher. It helps us in the sense that we put pressure on the opposing pitcher, and many times at this age, that can confuse teams. We are well beyond our age in terms of base running.”
Evans started the youth baseball program in 2010. Most of the players on the Lodi High varsity baseball teams have played for Evans over the years.
“That’s one of the reasons why Lodi High been to the playoffs the last (nine years),” said Evans, referring to the Flames earning a Sac-Joaquin Section playoff spot since 2010.
Evans said that the games — from pool play to the championship game next Thursday — is suppose to be streamlined on cooperstownallstarvillage.com.