The New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox hosted their annual Rivalry Classic this past Saturday at Yankee Stadium. Players have been identified throughout the summer, primarily through the network of tryouts associated with the Area Code Games and the East Coast Pro Showcase. The players selected are then broke up into teams representing the Yankees and the Red Sox. The teams are coached by a host of MLB scouts from a variety of teams.
Travis Blankenhorn (Pottsville, PA) and Willie Burger (Maytown, PA) ended their high profile summers on a strong note. Blankenhorn peppered the right field stands with numerous balls over the wall and Burger made consistent contact off the barrel in batting practice and the game. Recent Moorehead State commit Niko Hulsizer (Shillington, PA) homered to deep left center in the game. Ryan Karstetter (State College, PA) showed his usual polished middle/away approach with several hard hit balls. Rhp Chad Leunsmann (Altoona, PA) continued to impress in his breakout summer. The 6’3″ 205 lbs Luensmann continues to be productive in the high profile showcase with another solid outing. The lanky Rhp pounds the strike zone with a hard riding fastball sitting 86-88 mph and a fading, tailing change up at 73-75 mph. His 3 IP of work produced 3 strikeouts and 6 ground ball outs giving up no runs on 1 hit.
Other PA products selected to play in the game included: recent Dom Derenzo (Pittsburgh, PA), Luke Duris (Bensalem, PA) and Cam Simmons (Royersford, PA).