Berea Braves 13U Travel Baseball, Northeast Ohio Youth Baseball

Thanks to everyone who made the Berea 13U Travel Baseball Teams Year-end Party a huge success!

Kathy & Stan Aten hosted the 13U Braves Year-end party and everyone provided a delicious dish and brought their favorite spirits.
Click images to enlarge	Coach Aten, not known for his lengthy speeches, presented Division Champion Trophies and gave a talk about each player and their accomplishments at Saturday Nights party. (Psst... someone wake up the back row!)
	Patrick Hopp was presented with the teams 'Most improved Player Award'. Patrick became an 'everyday player' this season appearing in all 30 games. In twice the At-bats that he received the season prior, Patrick pounded out over three times as many hits, and stole three times as many bases while scoring four times as many runs as the season prior. What may have been even more important to the team though was his play at first base and the hustle he displayed defensively and on the bases. Coach Aten talked about 'the light coming on' when describing Patricks play.
	Zach Bauer, Nate Miceli & Kevin Siloy (not pictured) provided the lead-off role(s) for the Braves once again this season. Combined they batted .381, scoring 82 runs. Coach Aten pointed out to the group just how difficult it is to be a lead-off batter at this level. The trio batted .253 from the #1 spot in the line-up, but .463 when positioned in the line-up anywhere other than the lead-off spot. Zach Bauer lead the Braves in batting in 2004 with a .444 average, this season he increased that average to .463 but found himself fourth among the 2005 Braves. Nate Miceli had a goal to steal 50-bases this season and although he came up a bit short (41), he has lead the Braves the past two season with a combined (76) stolen bases. Kevin Siloy proved how tough of a competitor he is, by playing through a hand injury at mid-season in helping the Braves vault a 10-game winning streak. Siloy was the key to the Braves flexibility in 2005. His move from second to shortstop opened the door for many different looks from the Braves this season.
	Luke Beehler, Tevon Rease & Allen Peterkoski provided the power from the clean-up positions. Together the trio batted .500 (115-for-230) driving in 93-RBI's and scoring 85-Runs. Luke Beehler lead the Braves in batting with a .560 avg . He batted .575 during the CVBA regular season and .625 in the CVBA Tournament. Beehler also lead the team in RBI's (47), Hits (51), Singles (36), Triples (7) and Slg. % (.802). Tevon Rease improved on his 2004 batting average (.300) increasing it to (.472) in 2005. Rease led the team in Doubles (9) and had the teams only two Home Runs. He finished 2nd in Steals (31), RBI's (31), hits (42), Triples (4), and Slg. %(.684). Rease also scored 32-runs on the season and was only left-on-base 10-times in 102 plate appearances and recorded the teams longest hit streak at 15-consecutive games. Allen Peterkoski didn't allow a broken thumb on June 1st to sideline him for very long. Allen bounced back hitting safely in 10 of the next 11 games after the injury (and 12 of 14). Including 5-doubles and the game winner verse Brecksville on June 18th. He had 10 multiple-hit games on the season, batting .439 in the CVBA, up from .333 in 2004. Allen cranked out 31-hits & 29-RBI's and finished the season on a 7-game hitting streak.
	Coach Aten called Alex Bockmiller, the 'Heart-and-Soul' of the team. The coach told of what a good student of the game Bockmiller was; listening to a tip from the staff in adjusting the position of his bat during a session in the batting cages, Alex made the adjustment and went on to rip-off 11 hits over his next 15 at-bats (.733) during the next five games. Unfortunately Alex suffered a broken hand in mid-June that sidelined him until the last game of the season. Bockmiller went down leading the team in batting with a .600 average and finished the season batting .529 in the CVBA. Bockmiller had the Braves biggest turn-around of any Braves bat from the previous season; Batting .229 in 2004, Alex's .529 in 2005 is by far the teams most improved. Bockmiller was 5-1 on the mound prior to the injury, including 5-0 in five starts with 4 consecutive complete games in his last four starts.
	A new addition to the 2005 team, Patrick Smith was playing among friends as he rejoined many of his old BBA teammates for the Braves stellar 2005 season. Patrick became the Braves starting center fielder and also saw time at second base. Patricks left handed pick-off move during the Winter workouts prepared the team for what was to become seven consecutive games in which the Braves faced a left handed pitcher to start the season. Coach Aten commented on how each time he looked through the score book to dissect close games, there was 'Smittys' name glaring out with a key at-bat to prolong the innings which enabled others the opportunity for game winning RBI's. Patrick had a lead-off double that sparked a 4-run rally in the 4th inning of the first game of the season against Independence. He also lead off the 6th inning verse Parma Ht's with a single that started off a rally in which the Braves came back from a 3-6 deficit to Tie the game at 6-6 and eventually win 7-6 in the seventh.
	Property of the 12U Berea Braves, Kirk Olesick was also brought in and added to the 13U Braves original roster as well to add depth to a few key positions. Kirk joined this team in 2004 for their trip to Cooperstown Dreamspark and fit right in, providing depth at almost every infield position and batting .286 from the plate. Do to his commitment to the 12U squad and suffering a horrible injury (fractured collarbone) in a game with us at Strongsville on June 19th, Kirk only managed to play in 7-games with the 13U Braves. He provided fireworks throughout Berea on June 8th as he played with the 13U Braves at Dora Lee field going 2-for-2 with 3-RBI's, then left the game early to travel across town to Groza park and homered in his first at-bat on his way to going 4-for-4 with 3-RBI's, making it a 6-for-6 day with 6-RBI's for his two teams. The 12U Braves finished with a 20-4 record.
	Justin Pulling joined the team in late June, playing in only 7-games. However, Justin wasted little time fitting in as he batted safely in all (7) games with (9) hits, (3) Doubles, (1) Triple, (8) RBI's and (8) SB's. Had Justin played out the full 30-game schedule with those lofty stats they would have all finished in the top-3 among the 2005 team. A versatile player, Pulling saw time at third, short stop, left field & pitcher.
	David Seagle came off an outstanding tournament in Cooperstown last August, especially with his play at second base. David played the hook on the flight of the ball to right field as well as anyone and filled in at second base. David's 2-RBI's on a 2-for-3 hit night, drove in the 3rd and 4th runs in a 4-2 Win over North Olmsted on May 2nd. His 7th inning RBI, driving in Allen Peterkoski on June 18th verse Brecksville was a walk-off game winner and his sacrifice-bunt in the 8th inning of the June 29th game at Parma Hts. put the Braves up 5-4 in route to a 6-5 9th inning Win.
	Bo Heinemann Joined the team late in the season and saw limited time. Bo made the best out of his at-bats though, batting 3-for-5 with 2-Walks in only 7-plate appearances. His first CVBA at-bat went for a base hit driving in 2-RBI's verse Broadview Hts on July 12th. In tournament play, Bo went 1-for-1 (a Triple) with a walk and scored two-runs vs Brecksville.
	Coach Aten commented that during the past few seasons when discussion took place regarding talent at this age group, the name Henry Delventhal surfaced often. Henry received a late try-out with the team and won the staff over with smooth fielding and skills. Henry's first at-bat in the CVBA came in extra innings at Parma Hts, - that's the equivalent to being tossed in the middle of the lake as a toddler as a means of learning how to swim.
	Coach Jack Peterkoski worked with the catchers, outfielders and was the voice in the ear of the players as they prepared for each at-bat. Jack serves double duty as the teams and the BBA's equipment manager. Coach Peterkoski & Coach Aten coached together in the BBA 9/10 year old league in 2004, finishing with an impressive 17-1 season and a league Championship. Jack is a great equipment guy, fitting the 2005 Braves in both Red & Blue uniforms, red batting helmets and catchers gear. The Braves also had an impressive selection of bats, thanks to the Peterkoski's.
	Coach Ron Hopp was a helping hand all season long. A low-key Coach who took care of many behind-the-scenes tasks. Hopp was on hand to fill-in where needed at each practice, manning batting stations or warming up players where needed. The coaching staff clicked early and clicked well, unselfish coaches such as Coach Hopp really helped keep practices efficient and the dugout necessarily supplied.
	Cooperstown coach, Glenn Olesick, was presented with an over-sized Dreamspark ball signed by the entire 2004 Cooperstown team. 'Shrek' was a big hit with the kids, his assistance with the team and chaperoning in the Dreamspark barracks was greatly appreciated by all.