By Paul Gotham
HORNELL, NY – At the plate and on the mound Brandon Stephens (University of Georgia) made his mark on the New York Collegiate Baseball League playoffs.
The 2013 Playoff Most Valuable Player batted .714 during the post-season and hurled a pair of shutout innings as the Oneonta Outlaws claimed their second league title.
In a season that was meant for recovery, Stephens excelled. The Marietta, GA native collected five hits in seven at bats during the championship series. He earned the series-clinching save in the semi-finals and closed out the championship with a scoreless ninth.
“It’s been an awesome season, Stephens commented after Monday’s 6-1 win over Hornell. “I was just glad I could help out at the end.”
Stephens singled and scored during a four-run second in the opening game of the championship series. An inning later, he brought home a run with a sacrifice fly. In the fifth he walked, and in the eighth his base hit to right scored two insurance runs when the ball was mishandled in the outfield.
“He hasn’t hit much because we’ve been using him in the bullpen,” said Oneonta head coach Joe Hughes after Sunday’s game one win. “But he came through with three big hits.”
He added two more hits in the championship clincher. His Texas-leaguer in the fourth plated Mitch Hollander (SUNY Cortland) and staked Oneonta to an early 1-0 edge.
What he started, Stephens ultimately finished. The right-hander came out of the bullpen and left no doubt. From the first mid-90s fastball he uncorked to his last, Stephens rendered Hornell batters nearly helpless.
“Brandon delivered,” Hughes stated. “He’s got a live arm. He’s got a lot of action and throws the ball real hard.”
The Dodgers were unable to get the ball out of the infield against Stephens. This after he struck out two of the three he faced during the 4-3 series-clinching win over the Olean Oilers in the semi-final round. Stephens needed just 11 pitches that night. Eight he threw for strikes. In all, the Georgia Bulldog retired six of the seven batters he faced in the two post-season appearances.
Stephens came to the NYCBL with rehab as a priority. He redshirted this past season at Georgia while recovering from elbow surgery. As a sophomore, he made 22 starts and played 41 games for the SEC school. Most of those appearances came behind the plate. He threw out 39 percent of would-be base stealers (9-out-of-23) and fielded .970 overall in 203 total chances (173 putouts, 24 putouts, 6 errors).
All of that was well behind him when he arrived in Oneonta. Not having faced live pitching in more than a year or thrown from the mound since high school, Stephens started as DH in Oneonta’s season opener on June eighth. He toed the rubber for the first time on June 20th and retired the side in order.
Stephens made four shutout appearances after that hurling five-plus frames. On July 15th, it appeared his road to recovery would take a detour. After pitching to two batters, he left the game with tenderness in his arm.
“It was nothing with my reconstruction,” Stephens explained. “I was fine. That didn’t bother me too much. I just iced it up. It was bad mechanics just trying to over-throw and do too much, and I was all over the place. When that happens, it starts to ache in your arm. I felt some pain, and I didn’t want to risk it. I had done my time sitting out and didn’t want to do that again.”
Stephens knew his body well. He returned to the mound five days later and struck out the only two batters he faced. The right-hander recorded his first save of the season in Oneonta’s 4-1 victory over the Sherrill Silversmiths.
“You’re always nervous when some is coming off that surgery,” Hughes commented. “They just haven’t had the work. They’re a little tentative, but he’s come along all summer.”
With his success on the mound this NYCBL season, Stephens has choices and with that come decisions.
“I love catching. I want to be a catcher and I’m going to continue to catch until a coach tells me you’re not catching anymore. I’m going keep catching as long as I can because that’s what I love to do. Pitching is coming back. I haven’t pitched since high school. We’ll see where it takes me.”
Stephens teamed with Brandon Agar (North Georgia Coll & St. University) to lead the Outlaws. Agar garnered Playoff Defensive MVP honors for his performances on the mound. He came out of the bullpen and pitched two and thirds to earn the win in Saturday’s series clincher over Olean. Agar followed that two nights later with five-plus innings of work in his first start of the season. The right-hander hurled eight shutout innings in the post-season. He struck out eight of the 29 batters he faced and allowed five hits.
Hornell’s Aaron Haag (Southeastern Louisiana U) earned Playoff Offensive MVP with eight hits in 18 at bats (.444). He drove in two, scored five and stole two bases.
The championship was the second in three years for the Outlaws. After a one-year hiatus in the PGCBL, Oneonta returned to the NYCBL under the new ownership of Gary Laing, but with the experienced management of Steve Pindar.
“I had a great experience here,” Stephens commented. “The Outlaws organization was at the top of the league from the Pindars, to the Laings to everyone involved and the people around Oneonta. We would go into a restaurant, and everyone knew who we were. Mrs. Pindar treated us like her own kids. I totally didn’t expect that. It was an awesome experience.”
Steve Pindar is the founder of Roberto’s Kids an organization which strives to develop social responsibility through baseball. Named after MLB Hall-of-Famer Roberto Clemente, Roberto’s Kids works to provide equipment to needy children throughout North and Central America. With the endorsement of the Clemente family, Roberto’s Kids has overseen numerous drives and collections since 1999.
The 2013 NYCBL All-Star Game paid tribute to Roberto’s Kids and The Second Impact by naming opposing sides after these non-profit organizations. .
Ray Ciancaglini is the architect of The Second Impact an organization dedicated to increasing awareness of the risks involving double impact brain injuries.
Founded in 1978, 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 JD Martinez all spent a summer playing in the NYCBL.
Photo courtesy of BRIANthe PHOTOguy.com. Click here to see more NYCBL Photos.
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