Here & There Column 8-6-13

State Writers Honors 3 Local Players

  Two Senior graduates and a Junior pitcher from the Tri-Valley Central School varsity baseball team have been named to the New York State Sports Writers Association All-State Class C baseball teams for the 2013 season.

  Named to the 4th all-state team was Senior short stop/pitcher Rodner Jester III.

  Receiving 7th all-state team honors were Senior infielder Michael Foster and Junior pitcher/infielder Alex Brown.

  Jester received the Most Valuable Player (MVP) award at the school's spring sports assembly while Brown received the Outstanding Pitcher award and Foster the Outstanding Offensive Player award.

  Coach John Rusin in naming Jester the MVP told those in attendance at the sports award assembly that, "Rodney had the type of season most players dream of and most coaches pray for. He had three wins pitching and was our only senior pitcher. Defensively, I have to be honest with you, he's the best glove  I have ever coached. He's a wizard out there, he's a pleasure to watch. He makes it look so easy and at times seems so nonchalant but he has great ability and has done a great job. He's an outstanding glove man. At the plate this year his stats are absolutely staggering. He had only one game this year that he did not get a hit....the second game of the year. One game out of 22 games he did not get a hit. The last 20 games of the year he hit....that means he had a 20-game hitting streak which is unbelievable  He batted 526, he had an on base percentage of 563. He had a 934 contact percentage of putting the ball in play.....you can't get better than that. He stole 15 bases, he had 40 hits in 22 games, he scored 26 runs and drove in 28 runs. He's a young man who loves baseball and will be playing next year in college, I'll miss him very much."

  Both Jester and Brown played Senior American Legion travel baseball this summer with the Ellenville American Legion Post.       Jester closed out his summer travel league play with the Sullivan County Spartans collegiate team and will play this fall and next spring with the Tompkins Cortland Community College (TC3) NJCAA Mid-State Athletic Conference Panthers.

IDENTIFICATION OF PICTURE

                                                                      

Tri-Valley Varsity baseball players receiving state honors include, from the left,  MVP Rodney T. Jester, third from the left Outstanding Offensive Player Michael Foster and fourth from the left Outstanding Pitcher Alex Brown. Andrew Exner, second from the left received Tri-Valley's Most Improved Player for the 2013 season. .