Bay County hosts East-West baseball classic
The East squad at Friday's Panhandle Baseball Classic will have a distinct Bay County presence.
Fourteen of the East’s 18 players just completed their senior seasons at one of the county’s five high schools, and they’ll seek a victory against the West in an all-star game scheduled for 7 p.m. at Bay High School.
Mosley coach Todd Harless will coach the East, and he will be joined in the dugout by one former Dolphin player, catcher Dale Irving. The roster also consists of four players each from Rutherford and Bay, three from Arnold and two from Bozeman.
Bay standout Kevin Husum was the third-leading hitter among all area batters with a .435 average this past spring and will anchor the East lineup. Husum cranked out an area-best six home runs and also had 30 runs batted in. One of his teammates at Bay, Michael Luing, hit .432 with two homers and 24 RBIs. Former Tornadoes Jonathan Hayes (.352) and Matt Koyn (.351) are also on the roster.
Rutherford’s Jesse Pace was second on the Rams with a .360 average, and he added three home runs and 25 RBIs. Another hitter from Rutherford, Tyler Bailey, batted .341 with 20 RBIs. J. Michael Davis and catcher Vincent Foxworthy capped the Rams’ selections.
Harless can go a number of directions in terms of who he can trot out to the mound. Husum (8-3, 71 strikeouts), Luing (6-3, 52), Davis (7-0, 38) and Pace (6-3, 35) all ranked among the top pitchers in the county last season.
Ten of the 12 players on the West roster originate from schools in Class 4A or higher. Two of them played at Class 5A Navarre, and eight played in Class 4A at Choctawhatchee (three), Pensacola Washington (three) and Gulf Breeze (two), respectively.
The West won last year’s game, played at Rutherford, 13-12. The all-star game will be played over nine innings, instead of the regulation seven innings for high school games.
