Saber Baseball Tries Wooden Bats, New Summer League

Del.icio.us

Rory Pico’s own baseball career ended too recently for him to be “old school,” but he welcomed the chance for his Campbell players to use wooden bats this summer.

The Sabers are competing in the under-17 American Amateur Union summer league, where aluminum bats are prohibited.

“We voted on this a couple of years ago, and I was in favor of it,” said Pico, who played for Campbell in the mid ‘90s.“It’s a different kind of ball you have to play. A lot of teams have to learn to play small ball. The only thing is that you have to buy wood bats.

“If you don’t hit the ball with the barrel of the bat, it’s going to hurt,” he added.“Your timing and hand-eye coordination has to be good. There’s little margin for error with the wood bats.”

Campbell is coming off a 6-4 season in the OIA West,and Pico hopes a solid summer will set the pace. Last summer, they played the American Legion League, which allows players up to age 19. As a result, most teams have their share of college players.

“We took basically the same team into the ALL, and we got beat up a lot. We went up against a lot of college pitchers, and we weren’t strong enough to compete with them. It’s one of the reasons I put us into the AAU this time. Playing against that competition makes you better, but at the same time, your players can begin to accept losing if you lose every time out or close to every game. It can be discouraging. AAU league is good for us.”

The Sabers took a 5-1 record into the weekend. Pico is serving more as an overseer while JV coach Wayne Kaululaau and former Saber Jason Scholl (2003) manage the team.

While the Sabers are eager to win their share, Pico sees summer as a time for individual development. A handful of players have been largely absent in order to concentrate on football, which begins official fall camp in a month.

“Summer is a chance for the boys to gain more experience and get better,“Pico said.“They’ve been doing well. They’re getting their at-bats, and the pitchers are getting their innings on the mound. Game situations always make you better. They’re playing three games a week with one practice every week for the most part.”

Pico has always encouraged kids to play multiple sports if they’re interested.

“We just got through with a long season, so we don’t want the kids to burn out. That’s why we mostly just play games in the summer. We play everyone so they can get experience. Some of the kids have decided to just play one sport in the summer, so some of the football guys haven’t been around. Coach Tumoana (Kenessey) and I are supportive of them (playing both).”

Looking ahead to 2007, he likes the Sabers’potential.“The kids coming up have a lot of baseball sense. They’re doing a lot of the little things (well), which is important.The key is always the pitching. If you can pitch, you can compete.”

The by-product of wooden bats is that they favor the pitcher: “They get away with more bad pitches, but they also pitch with more confidence.”