By Paul Gotham
ROCHESTER, NY – Fans need not look far to find reasons for the success of the Oneonta Outlaws.
The accomplishments of the 2013 New York Collegiate Baseball League Champions started at the top with NYCBL Pitcher of the Year, Luke Crumley (University of Georgia).
Crumley’s daily approach on the mound was a big reason for the Black and Orange’s late-season surge to its second title in three years.
“He pitched extremely well,” said Oneonta head coach, Joe Hughes. “He was certainly one of the most consistent pitchers in the league. Every fifth day when he started, we knew we had a real good chance of winning.”
Including playoffs, Crumley went 4-0 in eight appearances for the Outlaws. He struck out 40 and walked 20 in 48 innings of work.
“It’s underrated,” Hughes said when discussing Crumley’s consistency. “Everybody has a different feel. Everybody has a different sense that you’re going to be in the ballgame. You don’t have to be perfect. You know you don’t have to score a whole bunch of runs because Luke Crumley is going to whole opponents down for the most part, and you’re going to have a good chance to come away with a W when he pitches.”
Opponents hit just .154 against the 6-5 right-hander. He allowed just 25 hits combined with a strike out to base on balls ratio at 2:1 and a WHIP of .95.
“He was certainly very deserving of Pitcher of the Year,” Hughes added.
Crumley made 12 appearances including six starts during his sophomore season at the University of Georgia. His longest outing consisted of five and a third versus Belmont.
Five of Crumley’s trips to the hill this summer went six stanzas or longer.
“I just wanted to consistent every time I took the mound,” Crumley said recently by phone. “I worked on my change-up a lot this summer. To be a starter you need three pitches, and that was one big thing I focused on.”
On July 19th, Crumley hurled eight shutout against the Sherrill Silversmiths.
“That was really special,” Crumley commented. “To be able to get that deep in the game because I haven’t done it in a while, it was a great feeling.”
He followed that with a win over the Olean Oilers in game one of the league semi-finals, Oneonta’s first of four wins in the playoffs.
“It means a lot,” Crumley said of the championship and award. “It gives me a lot of confidence going back to school because I was playing against some of the best competition in the nation. Being able to have a great summer like this is definitely a big confidence booster. Hopefully, I can carry this into the fall and into next season and get us back into the post-season and win an SEC championship.”
Crumley received six of the nineteen first-place votes. Tommy Bergjans (Geneva Red Wings/Haverford) and Dwayne Snider (Rochester/Texas Lutheran) followed with four top nods. Crumley’s teammate, Matthew Milburn (Wofford) earned three top votes with Chris Jansen (Hornell/St. Joseph’s-Indiana) getting two.
Steven Beckham (Niagara/Olivet-Nazarene) earned 2012 Pitcher of the Year. Jacob Petitt (Utica/Warner Southern) won the 2011 award.
Oneonta won nine of its final 13 regular season games before taking two of three from Olean in the league semis and sweeping Hornell in the championship.
Pitcher of the Year Final Votes
Luke Crumley (6) 87
Tommy Bergjans (4) 60
Dwayne Snider (4) 58
Matthew Milburn (3) 40
Chris Jansen (2) 33
Other receiving votes (players appear in order by number of votes received):
Nick Hedge (Geneva Twins/Penn State), Jordan Hanlon (Geneva Red Wings/Elmhurst), Mike Bittel (Syracuse Jr. Chiefs/Seton Hill), Brandon Valentin (Olean/Nova Southeastern), Jimmy Gutowski (Hornell/Monroe CC), Mike Rynerson (Syracuse Salt Cats/St. John Fisher), Kevin Carpentier (Sherrill/Finger Lakes CC), Josh Webb (Sherrill/Fort Scott CC), Chance DuCharme (Wellsville/Francis Marion), Jeff Beall (Hornell/Urbana).
The NYCBL is part of the National Alliance of College Summer Baseball (NACSB) which oversees the rules and policies of ten different summer leagues: the Atlantic Collegiate Baseball League, Cape Cod Baseball League, Cal Ripken Collegiate Baseball League, Florida Collegiate Summer League, Great Lakes Collegiate Summer League, New England Collegiate Baseball League, Southern Collegiate Baseball League, Sunbelt Baseball League, and the Valley League Baseball.
Click here to see more NYCBL photos by Dan Hickling.
These ten leagues provide a variety of competition levels that help prepare young players for life in professional baseball. One in every six Major League players has spent at least one summer playing in the Cape Cod League.
Current major league players Tim Hudson, Hunter Pence and Rajai Davis all spent a summer in the NYCBL. In all, more than 100 NYCBL alums dot rosters in Major and Minor League Baseball.
The NYCBL, sending players to the pros since 1978.
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