If you talk to coaches that come into Rapid City from throughout the country they often talk about how many good hitters have come out of Rapid City. From college coaches looking for talent to those who come here and play, they consistently remark that something must be in the water that produces good hitters. I agree, and Rapid City will continue to produce good hitters.
But something I’ve noticed this year is how many solid pitchers are in Rapid City. For both legion programs I would argue their biggest strength this summer is the pitching.
For Post 22 they of course have Kolton Emery, who despite throwing against the best teams on their schedule still has an ERA just over 2.00. The Hardhats have a number of other arms as well. Tanner Chleborad is only 16-years old, and in his last 22 innings has only allowed one earned run. Jarrett Jensen and Jon Hass are both 3-1 with ERA’s under 3.00.
For Post 320, their ace Brandon Rainford, who just returned this season from Tommy John surgery, is 4-0 this season and in 21 innings pitched has allowed only one earned run with an ERA of 0.42. Brad Winkelman leads the team in wins with a 7-2 record and an ERA of 1.76. Spencer Braun is 4-2 with an ERA of 1.43, and Aaron Anderson is 3-1 with an ERA of 2.25.
If pitching and defense win championships both of these programs have at least one part of the equation and don’t be surprised if their arms take them deep into the state tournament.
-Jake-

This entry was posted on Saturday, July 18th, 2009 at 6:14 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.