NSCL All-Star game a huge success
The Natural State Collegiate League played its All-Star game Tuesday, marking the halfway point of season No. 2 for the NSCL.
“It was really good,” NSCL owner Evan Hamm said. “I would say it is honestly probably the best single thing we have done since the league started.”
Divided into two teams, Team Majestic won the All-Star game 5-2 over Team Natural.
“It was a really good game,” Hamm said. “The pitchers threw well. Caden Brown from the Jockeys named the MVP for the winning team. Caden Brown had a pretty big triple. He had a two RBI triple. Houston King was the MVP for the losing team. He drove in both of their runs. They played well.”
The NSCL donated all the game’s proceeds and additional donations to Andrew Killough to aid in his recovery of cancer.
“Andrew Killough is a young man from Vilonia,” Hamm said. “He is 20 years old and played at Central Baptist College. Really, really good college baseball player. In kind of a freak deal, he was walking across his yard a couple of years ago and his leg just broke.
“His femur snapped and they found a tumor. Fast forward, they had to amputate his leg. He thought he was doing OK, then all of a sudden he started dealing with some pain. He goes back to the doctor and they found like 30 tumors all over. We did really well. Had a ton of people make really generous donations to him, and we are really excited about that.”
The NSCL hosts its games at Majestic Park in Hot Springs, but the All-Star game was held at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.
Team Majestic was coached by Peyton Kendrick (Blues), Bailey Butler (Jockeys) and Justin Raines (Bootleggers).
The coaches in the All-Star games divided the coaching duties.
“There was not really a head coach,” Hamm said. “They all just kind of came together and just made it work. They did a really good job of switching out who was coaching third and first and managing the game.”
Team Natural was coached by Pete Southall (Arlingtons), Shawn Regan (Bathers) and Jacob Barker (Gamblers).
“Really it is kind of an easy game to manage,” Hamm said. “You do not really do a lot. We scheduled the pitchers and scheduled the catchers and they just make sure and rotate who’s in the field and lineup. It is a pretty relaxed atmosphere and the players had a lot of fun.”
Gamblers pitcher Logan White started on the mound for Team Natural, and Jockeys pitcher Aidan Garrett started on the bump for Team Majestic.
“Logan White plays for SAU,” Hamm said. “Aidan Garrett plays for UALR. All of the pitchers did really well. Aidan Garrett went two innings. Malcom Brown (Blues) threw very well. Logan White threw well. Man, I will say the highlight of it was the pitchers. They controlled the game from start to finish.”
No home runs were hit out of Gary Hogan Field. The field at center field is 390 feet deep. The NSCL uses wooden bats, which makes it difficult to hit the long ball.
“No, not there,” Hamm said. “Not at UALR. It was going to take a shot at UALR with a wood bat to get it out there.”
The Blues’ Preston White of Fountain Lake and Corbin Montayne of National Park College played in the All-Star game representing Garland County.
“Preston White (infielder) played on Team Majestic,” Hamm said. “Corbin Montayne played from NPC. Montayne caught really well.”
The Jockeys (6-2) lead the pack in the NSCL with the Gamblers (5-4) nipping at their heels in second place heading into the second half of the season.
Games resume tonight at Majestic Park on Babe Ruth Field in doubleheader action between the Jockeys and Arlingtons (4-4) at 4 p.m.
“We get back at it (tonight) for the second half of the season,” Hamm said. “We will have weeks four and five and then we will start the playoffs.”