Opening Weekend

Thanks to each of you for a great opening weekend at UALR. We were blessed with the best weather in months and enjoyed nearly 25 innings of baseball.

It is such a great sight when almost 75 teenagers choose to play fall baseball on a beautiful Saturday afternoon, in place of all of the other options our players have in front of them. It is decisions like that, that continue to give our organization purpose. We are very proud of the guys and look forward to a great season.

Arkansas Baseball Academy Starts New Tradition

In conjunction with the Arkansas Travelers and the General Manager, Pete Laven, the Arkansas Baseball Academy Seniors take the field to help with "Season Ticket Holders Appreciation Day" at Dickey-Stephens Park. Afterwards, the seniors got to meet and hangout with a few of the players from the Arkansas Travelers. In the photo above on the right, are (from Left to Right) Caleb Milam, senior from Bryant High School; Jeremy Thorne, pitcher for the Arkansas Travelers (college: Florida Southern); Ryan Johnson, senior from Abundant Life (Sherwood, Arkansas); Jeremy Moore, Outfield for the Arkansas Travelers (Drafted in the 6th round in 2005 by the LA Angels from North Caddo High School in Vivian, Louisiana); Will Ogles, senior from Little Rock Catholic High School; Robert Fish, pitcher for the Arkansas Travelers (Drafted in the 6th round in 2006 by LA Angels from Miller High School in San Bernardino, California ); Lucas Castleberry, senior from Bryant High School.

Save the Date

Xtra Innings Classic

July 6-7 in Jonesboro, Arkansas, the Xtra Innings Classic will honor some of Arkansas' best underclassmen baseball players. The following players are also members of the Arkansas Baseball Academy:

Chris Oldner-Lake Hamilton
Josh Alberius-Little Rock Christian
Kolton Lane-Arakansas Baptist High School
Blaine Tanner - Catholic

Fall 2010 Members of the ABA:
Zach Habarka - Little Rock Christian
Jordan Taylor - Bryant

Congratulations to these players for being selected.

Rocket Summer Showcase Champions

The ABA Summer team captured their second tournament championship yesterday at UALR with a 7-3 win over Conway in the Rocket Summer Showcase. The team started tournament play on Thursday and had games each day en route to the finals. Wins in the tournament came over Jonesboro, Fayettville, the Arkansas Angels, and finally Conway.

Congratulations to the team as you continue to set a great pace as the ABA's first ever summer program.

Michael Smith-Perfect Game Showcase

The ABA would like to congratulate catcher Michael Smith on his addition to the Perfect Game Showcase next week in Atlanta, Georgia. Smith, out of Whitehall and UA-Monticello signee, will be playing with Team Canada after receiving a recommendation from his catching instructor here in Arkansas.

Team Canada will be playing in the Perfect Game tournament with over 100 other teams from around the United States.

Great job Michael.

All Arkansas Team

The ABA is proud to announce that three members of the program have been named to the All Arkansas Team.

Wil Nicks - .460 Avg, 14 doubles, 9 HRs, 29 RBI
Jordan Spears - .441 Avg, 9 HRs, 38 RBI
Sam Vogel - .479 Avg, 9 doubles, 7 HRs, 35 RBI

Congratulations to these players.

ABA Wins Benton Tourney

This weekend the first ABA Summer team went 4-1 en route to a championship game victory over Conway Sunday afternoon.

The ABA lost the 9:00 AM game on Saturday and then went on to win two games Saturday and two more on Sunday to take the tournament. A slow offensive start ended in an explosion of hits and runs scored in the final 4 games. Tournament wins came against Catholic, Mayflower, Benton, and finally Conway.

Congratulations to the team and well done. ABA will be traveling to Jonesboro next weekend to take on Conway, Wynne, and Vilonia before beginning bracket play on Sunday.

STATE CHAMPIONS

Congratulations to Bryant High School, Lake Hamilton High School, and Woodlawn High School players on thier recent State Championship victories.

Chris Oldner, Lake Hamilton, was named as the 6A State Tournamnet MVP for his performance in the Wolves victories over El Dorado, Sheridan, and finally Searcy.

Great season guys and we look forward to seeing you all in the fall.

The Few, The Proud

We want to congratulate the following players who will be playing in upcoming state championship games this Friday and Saturday in Fayetteville.

Bryant - Lucas Castleberry, Evan Castleberry, Caleb Milam
Lake Hamilton - Christian Anglin, Chris Oldner
Woodlawn - Dillon Miller, Gavin Johnston

Good luck guys.

7A, 6A Move to Semifinals

ABA fans can catch some great baseball on Monday as the State Tournament resumes.

Many of our ABA players will be in action as Bryant takes on Catholic in North Little Rock at 6:30; meanwhile Benton will take on Searcy, in a rematch of last years state title game, at 6:30 at Benton High School. In the 4:00 game at Benton, Sheridan will meet Lake Hamilton.

Many other ABA players will begin state tournament play as the 3A tournament gets underway after rain forced a delayed start in Harrison.

Good luck to those of you left and congratulations on a great year to those of you that ended your season too early.

Kolton Lane & Dillon Miller

Congratulations are in order for two ABA pitchers.

Kolton Lane of Arkansas Baptist High School recently won his team's first round contest against Riverview held in Bauxite. Aside from a dominating performance on the mound on Friday, Kolton also reached a very impressive personal goal. Lane exceeded 100 strikeouts on the year with at least one game still to pitch in the state tournament. Great job Kolton.

Dillon Miller of Woodlawn won both the first round game and the championship game of his team's regional tournament. Woodlawn enters the state tournament with only two losses on the season.

If anyone else has news/brags to share, just let us know.

ABA in the STATE TOURNAMENT

ABA fans it is our pleasure to offer congratulations to the following players & teams. These teams have secured a spot in their classifications State Tournament.

Let us also take this time to specifically congratulate the Bryant Hornents, Catholic High Rockets, North Little Rock Wildcats, Lake Hamilton Wolves and the Woodlawn High Bears on their either share of or outright win of their respective conference titles

Bryant Hornents - Lucas Castleberry, Caleb Milam, Evan Castleberry, Trent Rivers, Tryce Schalchlin
Catholic Rockets - Chsae Barnes, Aaron Chwalinski, Quinn Gassaway, Drew McMahan, Stuart Montez, Nick Battisto, Will Ogles, Blaine Tanner, Victor Ventrano, Taylor Wallace
NLR Wildcats - Blake Leisenring
Benton Panters - CJ Engel, Phillip Britt, Troy Johnson, Cole Durham, Holden Hanley, Chase Southworth
Lake Hamilton Wolves - Christian Anglin, Chris Oldner
Sheridan Yellowjackets - Jake Smith
Little Rock Christian Warriors - Josh Alberius, Coach Cody Perrin
Pulaski Academy Bruins - Jackson Lowery, Brandon Jones, Ryan Manso, Sam Vogel, Baker Helton, Chris Cole, Geoffrey Winning
White Hall Bulldogs - Michael Smith
Arkansas Baptist Eagles - Kolton Lane
Woodlawn Bears - Dillon Miller, Gavin Johnston
Abundant Life Owls- Ryan Johnson

Way to go guys...we are proud of your accomplishments!

Arkansas Baseball Academy Gets Involved with Miracle League

Players from the Arkansas Baseball Academy help teams in the Miracle League. The players that we want to thank for coming out are: Evan, Lucas, and the Castleberry Family from Bryant; Geoffrey Winning from Pulaski Academy;Daniel Crotty from Pulaski Academy; Trent Rivers from Bryant; Chris Cole from Pulaski Academy; Ryan Manso from Pulaski Academy, and Blaine Tanner from Little Rock Catholic.

We would like to thank Peggy McCall and all of the volunteers of the Miracle League for allowing us to share in the joy of giving back.

Arkansas Baseball Academy players make news

Arkansas Baseball Academy players continue to make news:

Will Ogles and Aaron Chwalinski help Little Rock Catholic keep pace in the tight 7A Central Conference by outlasting conference foe, Russeville.

Also, Andrew Hohn (current) and Ryan Scott (future) Arkansas Baseball Academy players come up big for North Little Rock over conference foe, Little Rock Central in the 7A Central Conference.

Arkansas Baseball Academy players make news

Arkansas Baseball Academy players (past and present) make news the weekend of April 16-18, 2010

Blake Leisenring had a good day at the plate for North Little Rock versus Bryant.

There was a misprint in the paper on Blaine Tanner's unbelievable hitting performance against Little Rock Central High. Blaine had an "inside the parker" homerun, but the paper emphatically stated that he hit "all singles." Unfortunately the person keeping the scorebook, scored the play wrong because the outfielder came charging into to try to catch Blaine's line drive hit, but missed played the ball and never put a glove on the ball. When the outfielder missed the ball by diving at the line drive, the ball rolled to the fence and allowed Blaine Tanner to get a rare "inside the park" homerun.

Former Arkansas Baseball Academy player (Chris Driedric) actually hit a homerun out of the park at Hendrix. Mitchell Powers had a phenomenal day at the plate as well.

Arkansas Baseball Academy makes exciting new partnership

The Arkansas Baseball Academy to partner with the Miracle League of Arkansas

The Arkansas Baseball Academy will help with volunteering with the Miracle League beginning this May. The staff at the academy believe this will fit in with one of the three mission statements, which is Team Building. The staff believes that this will become part of a way for the student-athlete to give back to the community with the understanding that we can't always take, but instead we need to give back.

Arkansas Baseball Academy Exciting Announcements

The Arkansas Baseball Academy Announces:

1. It's official! The Arkansas Baseball Academy is an LLC and is moving within the next month to become a Non-Profit organization.

2. Will start it's first "Inagural Summer Team" 18 & under. The team will be mainly comprised of the seniors from the High School League and underclassmen from high schools that do not play in the high school league during the summer.

Updates on the Senior Class of '10

Drew McMahan from LR Catholic committed to Coffeyville Community College

Jackson Lowry from Pulaski Academy committed to UCA

First Annual End of the Fall Season Banquet for the Arkansas Baseball Academy

On Monday, November 9, 2009, The Arkansas Baseball Academy held its first annual Fall Banquet for the players and parents of the Academy. It was a good event that was to bring everyone back together one last time for fellowship and thanks for the good times in the Fall.

Looking back on the Fall, it was one of the most trying for the Arkansas Baseball Academy staff trying to keep everything on schedule with one of the most "wet" Fall's on record. The Arkansas Baseball Academy only last one full weekend and that was the Louisiania Monroe Weekend, but the staff is determined to pick that tournament up next Fall.

If anyone has any questions or comments, please contact the staff at erabaseball5@gmail.com or erabaseball5@yahoo.com.

Trojan Showcase at UALR's Gary Hogan Field

The Arkansas Baseball Academy wrapped it's fall season with the Trojan Showcase at UALR's Gary Hogan Field taking the Arkansas Express and the Arkansas Select.

The Arkansas Baseball Academy had a successful weekend taking 3of4 in the tournament.

Sunday, October 25, 2009: Round Robin Tournament at UCA

The Arkansas Baseball Academy made a trip back to the University of Central Arkansas to play a round robin tournament against the Alabama Select and Arkansas Baptist Junior College Baseball team.



The day was a successful one for the Arkansas Baseball Academy as they swept the day from both ball clubs.

Next up is the Trojan Showcase at UALR's Gary Hogan Field.

Ouachita Baptist/Henderson State showcase

Sunday, October 18, 2009

The Arkansas Baseball Academy played a round robin with the Arkansas Select and Arkansas Express and were able to play both squads on the fields of Ouachita Baptist (Rab Rodgers Field) and at Henderson State's field (Clyde Berry Field).

This was a great opportunity for both squads to be seen by both schools, which is very convenient for Fall baseball and travel. The Arkansas Baseball Academy squads split the day by beating the Arkansas Select and the Arkansas Express.

We were happy to accommodate both the Arkansas Select and the Arkansas Express, so both Henderson State and Ouachita Baptist can get a chance to see all Arkansas players.