Conner Combs (East Texas Baptist University) does his work with the glove on the right side of the infield. Bubba Hollins plays the left side. Combs hails from Southlake, Texas – Hollins Orchard Park, New York. Combs wears the two-tone blue of the Niagara Power. Hollins dons the black and red of the Olean Oilers.
But the two opponents have this in common: their fathers played together for the Philadelphia Phillies in the early 1990s.
The elder Combs, Pat, was a first round pick of the Phillies in the 1988 draft. The southpaw rose through the minors quickly and made his major-league debut in September of 1989. He stayed with the Phillies through the end of 1992 season making 54 starts.
The San Diego Padres chose David Hollins in the sixth round of the 1987 draft. Philadelphia picked up the University of South Carolina product in the 1989 rule 5 draft. Hollins debuted with the big club on April 12th, 1990 and spent parts of the next six seasons with the Phils including an all-start effort in 1993 when Philadelphia reached the World Series.
Conner Combs garnered New York Collegiate Baseball League Player of the Week honors (June 22nd-28) when he hit .625 over four games with three doubles and seven runs scored.
Bubba Hollins was the league’s first POTW honoree this season when he drove in nine runs and scored four more during Olean’s first eight games of the season. He finished the week slugging .586.
The younger Combs and Hollins both earned NYCBL All Star honors. Combs grabbed the game’s MVP honors.
The Power and Oilers open the Western Division Championship series Wednesday night at Bradner Stadium in Olean. A 7 p.m. first pitch is slated. The series shifts to Sal Maglie Stadium on Thursday for game two.
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