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An All-Star affair
Coors Charles-St. Mary's Baseball League All-Stars play 2008 CSM baseball team
Wednesday, Nov. 19, 2008
 Click here to enlarge this photo Photo by JUDY MICHAEL
In the front row, from left, are Mike Mills, Keith Wood, Mike Robey, Tony Stefko, BJ Kittle, Aaron Michael, Jason Boswell, Mike Foster, Gene Foster and. Greg Cockerham. In the back row are John Ford, left, Jason Boyd, Luke Bair, Ken Frauenfelder, Stew Talbot, Dave Russell, Eric Lauer, Chris Williford, Jimmy Ball, Jerry Michael, Tony Delozier, Bill Chichester, Justin Mica, Jeff Travers, Bobby Rawlings, Roy Hancock, Mike Steinhauser, Billy Wathen, Johnny Klopfer, Rob Adams and Joe Blandford.
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Regency Furniture Stadium in Waldorf, the home of the Southern Maryland Blue Crabs, was filled with 200 excited fans on Oct. 18 as the Coors Charles-St. Mary's Baseball League All-Star team took on the College of Southern Maryland's 2008 roster in a nine-inning contest.
The All-Star team was chosen from the group of the league's eight teams: Legion (managed by Tony Sweeney), Bryans Road (Stephen Gilligan), Bumpy Oak (Jerry Michael), Combine (Rudy Carrico, Jr.), Marines (Marcus Martinez), St. Mary's (Steve De Barr), Waldorf (Billy Wathen) and Western Charles (Mike Lydon). The CSM baseball team is coached by Joe Blandford.
Aaron Michael, assistant coach of the All-Star team and starting third baseman, and Rob Adams, CSM Alumni, were very instrumental is carrying out the vision that Blandford had for this event to take place, leaving this event open to the public free of charge to be watched by those that love and appreciate the game.
"We had good weather and the opportunity to play on a nice field," Adams said.
The All-Star team, coached by Jerry Michael, was chosen by the board, which consists of the managers of the league.
The Charles-St. Mary's League played its first game in 1947 in Indian Head at a sandlot field. The Indian Head Indians played there. CSM used that field until their current field was built.
Johnny Klopfer knocked one out of the park for the All-Stars.
"It was cool to get out there and play on that field," Klopfer said. "Everybody had a chance to play and catch up on old times."
The All-Stars took home the win, 7-4. CSM scored its runs all within the first three innings.
Billye Hollister of the Bumpy Oak Bombers pitched a three-inning shutout.
Lydon won the Charles-St. Mary's League's manager of the year as voted upon by its board. The league will lose its president of five years as Dave Cross retires.
Following the All-Star Game, some of the team members also got together to play in a CSM Alumni Game.
Some of the alumni are also playing in the Charles-St. Mary's League.
They split the 32 players in half and took to the field. Aaron Michael and Adams were coaches for this game.
"For the Alumni game, we tried to divide the talent evenly and basically just called numbers and made a team that way," Aaron Michael said. "Everybody enjoyed themselves. There were a lot of smiles and laughs out there, it allowed folks to get out there and play some ball."
Blandford hopes to continue this and make it a baseball tradition for the Charles-St. Mary's League and CSM alumni.
"We wanted to show the CSM players that there is still good competition out there and they can still keep playing ball after college," Blandford said. "We had a great turnout, some came from Myrtle Beach, some from West Virginia. It was a community day. It gave them a chance to showcase their talent. Both teams played well, we had good defense on both sides."
Pitchers included Billy Wathen, Jerry Michael, Jeff Travers and Ken Frauenfelder.
"Some players were in their prime in the late 1960's and they got out there, "Aaron Michael said, "and had the ball thrown at them and were still able to place it somewhere."
"We've been talking about getting a team together for a while now," said B.J. Kittle, of CSM alumni. "Coach Blandford did a nice job of getting everybody together."
tshowalter@somdnews.com
