Summer Rams earn top-5 finish at ACB Open baseball tournament

The Summer Rams, a team consisting of players from the Highlands High School baseball team, earned a top-five finish at the seventh annual Atlantic Coast Baseball Open this past weekend at Wild Things Park in Washington.

“We hadn’t practiced much,” coach Jeff Campbell said. “We had gotten on the field once or twice before the tournament, but for not being together since the beginning of March, they did so well.”

The Summer Rams split four games in the 16-team high school division. They went 2-1 in the preliminary round.

After a loss to the Ohio Glaciers 17U travel team Friday at Gateway, they bounced back Saturday with wins over Northtown Nationals 18U from East Amherst, N.Y., 5-1, and Pittsburgh Spikes, 4-2, at Wild Things Park.

The two wins helped the Summer Rams earn the No. 5 seed for the six-team playoff.

The tournament run came to an end in the first round of the playoffs with a 10-9 loss in nine innings to No. 3 seed Southfield Cardinals, a team from Southfield, Mich.

“Despite the (playoff) loss, it was a fun game to watch,” Campbell said. “The kids weren’t down or depressed. They knew it was a good weekend overall.”

Campbell noted the pitching performances Jimmy Kunst, Tanner Nulph, Jett Slepak, Trent Bielak and Ethan Hewitt, as well as the offense from those such as Mason McGraw, Slepak, Seth Helgert, Kunst, Jacob Arner and Luke Beer.

“I told the guys it was a step in the process,” Campbell said. “We were able to go up against some good teams with good hitting and pitching. We had 14 players, and they all did something positive to lead to our results.”

Campbell said that at the time the team registered, no seniors were eligible. Highlands’ four seniors who were denied their senior high school seasons — Matt Cekada, Chase Godfrey, Michael Magdinec and Tom Bender — didn’t play in the tournament, but they will be a part of the Highlands entry into the upcoming Western Pennsylvania Baseball League.