Athletics 15U taking summer school to prepare for varsity baseball

UPPER ARLINGTON — Serving as one of the key arms on the pitching staff and hitting near the top of the order for the Heath baseball team, Tannar Patterson has been where his Athletics 15U teammates are striving to be.

Coming off an impressive freshman season, Patterson is using the summer to build on his success for the A’s. They have played the best the Midwest has to offer, and that did not change Thursday during the first day of the Buckeye Elite.

"I just had to use what my coaches taught me and bring it here: communication and bringing the team up," Patterson said. "What (Heath coach Tom Warren) always tells the underclassmen is to keep your head up and follow by example."

After beating Upper Arlington Bears Gold 9-4 at the Bears’ Tremont Elementary, the A’s fell 5-0 to Demand Command Mattimore, an entry from one of the Toledo’s top organizations.

The A’s have run the gauntlet this summer, playing entries from Ohio Elite, Bo Jackson Elite and Canes. Last weekend, they beat teams from Indiana and West Virginia during bracket play to win the Wood Bat Freedom Classic in Lexington, Kentucky.

"As we get into games, they realize we can start with playing these teams, and we are just as good if not better. We can win these games," said coach Tim Patterson, Tannar's older brother. "It raises our level. We start playing better when we play better teams. That is why I always try to play the toughest teams we can because it makes everybody better."

The core of the A’s have played together for the last five years.

Patterson was a mainstay last spring, but Heath teammate Preston DeVito contributed on the mound down the stretch, and Colton Ferry earned some varsity time for Lakewood.

"(Varsity) is a lot harder. You just have to keep pushing," said Ferry, who threw three innings Thursday against Demand Command after Granville’s Conner Hare threw the first three. Each pitcher allowed just one earned run as the A’s had an off day in the field.

Patterson had both hits in the loss as the A’s sent multiple hard-hit balls directly to fielders. DeVito set the table with two hits and two runs scored in the earlier win, and Licking Valley duo Carter Conn and Zac Haas had a hit and an RBI apiece.

"We have seen huge improvements from kids since they played 13 or 14U up until now," Tim Patterson said. "This is their second year on a big field, so a lot of them are getting more comfortable, more in sync, more in a groove. The game starts to slow down. It comes to them a little easier."

The A’s, who also had Northridge’s Kade Matheson in right field and Pickerington Central’s Walker Fortune at catcher, were working short-handed Thursday with West Muskingum’s Kace Bowen out injured.

The A’s will continue to battle. They take pride in playing together in an era it is challenging to keep teams intact from year to year, and they expect to be starring on Licking County fields in years to come.

"I just like playing with the guys. The guys are great," Ferry added. "I like playing against them, too."

ksnyder@newarkadvocate.com

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This article originally appeared on Newark Advocate: Athletics 15U taking summer school to prepare for varsity baseball