By Paul Gotham
ROCHESTER, NY – Hornell’s Dodgers claimed the 2012 Western Division regular season title, but untimely injuries derailed the Blue and White’s post-season train before it barely got out of the station.
Three players return from that club looking to take care of unfinished business.
New York Collegiate Baseball League All-Star Nick Boyd (Central Connecticut State) leads the trio. Boyd went 6-1 for the Dodgers in eight starts a year ago. The right-hander fanned 34 and walked 19 in 49-plus innings of work.
Boyd is 2-2 in 10 appearances this spring including his recent most outing – six shutout innings in CCSU’s 4-0 win over Stony Brook. After a bout with mononucleosis forced the 6-0, 225 pound Boyd to come out of the bullpen in 2012, he started this spring in the same role for the Blue Devils.
“We put him back into that role this year based off what our needs were,” said CCSU assistant coach Pat Hall. “We needed somebody older to get the ball to our closer.”
Boyd hits 86-90 on the gun with his fast ball which he can locate in and out. In a few relief appearances he has been 88-91 with a pretty good breaking ball. He continues to develop his change-up and has been timed between 1.2-1.4 to the plate.
Boyd has an ERA of 3.27 with 17 strike outs in 22 innings of work for CCSU in 2013.
Chris Roeder (St. John Fisher) joins Boyd in returning to Hornell. Roeder played 35 games for the Blue and White in 2012. The middle infielder hit .261 with 10 walks and 19 RBI.
Roeder has played in all but one game during his three years at St. John Fisher. He is currently hitting .320 with a fielding percentage of .912. He throws 84-85 across the diamond and led the Cardinals with 12 doubles in 2012.
“He runs the bases really well,” said St. John Fisher head coach Brandon Potter. “He’s got really good baseball instincts. He’s smart. He’s not a big guy, so he’s got to make up for some things with being smart and his foot work. He’ll make some errors that probably aren’t errors because of his ability to get to a ball that other guys probably can’t get to.”
“When the ball is down that is when he is at his best driving it into a gap,” Potter added. “He handles all pitches pretty well, but when they elevate it a little, he will struggle.”
Dylan Dunn (Hagerstown Community College) will also don the Blue and White for a second season. Dunn played 32 games in 2012 splitting time between third base and in the designated hitter’s spot while making four appearances out of the bullpen. In five innings he struck out five and walked four. Dunn hit .260 in 96 plate appearances. The sophomore catcher is currently hitting .318 in 151 trips to the dish for the Hawks (28-24).
The NYCBL is a summer wood-bat league which provides eligible student-athletes the opportunity to develop skills over the course of two months in Upstate New York. Current major league players Tim Hudson, Hunter Pence and Jason Motte all spent a summer playing in the NYCBL. Twenty-one former NYCBL players heard their names called during the 2012 MLB draft.
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