2013-2014 Year in Review

Hayner Academy Barnstormers/Albany Sports Zone

August – October 2013

  • Hayner Academy Barnstormers 18u College Prep Baseball Team formed in early August.
  • Ken Hayner – Head Coach and Ed Dempsey and Keith Jacques - Assistant Coaches

Our vision for the program is:

  1. To attract the best HS baseball players in the Capital Region and points beyond
  2. To accelerate skill development by providing quality instruction over three seasons (fall, winter, summer)
  3. Play against the best competition available
  4. Provide opportunities to be seen and evaluated by college coaches
  5. Provide all three of the above within a team concept environment and not merely a showcase environment.
  • In early August invitations were sent to a select group of young men to join our organization for the fall 2013 season.
  • The Barnstormers started playing at the end of August and finished the fall campaign with a record of 14-4-1.
  • The Barnstormers competed in two tournaments during the fall. The first tournament was the NY Elite Baseball Tournament in Newburgh. The Barnstormers went 2-0 on Saturday before rain washed out the second day. The second tournament was the Curry College Showcase in Boston. The Barnstormers went 4-0 including a 2-1 victory over the powerhouse New England Ruffnecks.
  • During the fall mid-week practices were conducted for pitchers at The Sports Barn and for position players at the Halfmoon Town Park.
  • At the end of the fall season invitations were sent out and commitments made for summer 2014 team.
  • Summer 2014 Roster:

John Barnes – GreenwichMatt Bloise – Shenendehowa

Sean Dempsey – Albany AcademyJack Duesterdick - Niskayuna

Zach Girvin – Coxsackie-AthensJustin Germain - LaSalle

Matt Hamel – CBAJosh Hayner – Shenendehowa

Nick Jacques – LaSalleBrad Pearson – Shenendehowa

Matt Polsinello – ShakerBrett Rodriguez - Queensbury

Taylor Vavruick – ShenendehowaBryan Warzek - Shenendehowa

December 2013

  • Relationship with Dickie Woodrich, Owner of Syracuse Sports Zone and Board Member of the Perfect Game developed. This relationship enables us to compete in some of the best tournaments in the Northeast ensuring great competition and visibility for our players. Our team would now compete in three tournaments and all of our independent games as Hayner Academy Barnstormers and three additional tournaments as Albany Sports Zone.

January and February 2014

  • Winter training was completed weekly at The Sports Barn.
  • Our players also participated in five different winter showcases at the Syracuse Sports Zone. Each week six to ten different college coaches attended these showcases. The foundation for many of our players to be seen by college coaches was established at these winter showcases. These showcases were exclusively for players on Sports Zone teams and thus each showcase featured 40-50 players.

June and July 2014

  • One of the best features of our program is when you play the best competition you have the opportunity to play on some first class facilities. Listed below are the venues that we played in summer 2014:University at Albany, Brandeis University, Bryant University, Central Park C Diamond (Union College Home), Cazenovia College, Diamond Nation, Monroe Community College, Rochester Institute of Technology, Skidmore College, Tufts University, University of Rhode Island, DeLutis Field in Rome, NY
  • Our team finished the 2014 summer season with an overall record 19-13-2. The following is a brief summary of our season:

June 20-22 Diamond Nation Super 17u

  • Competing as Albany Sports Zone we finished 1-2. Defeated Langan Baseball from NJ in our first game 3-1 and lost to the Diamond Jacks out of Diamond Nation 7-5 in game #2.Game #3 was for the winner of our pool and after leading the whole game we gave up 3 runs in the 7th inning and lost to Next Level Titans out of Long Island 3-2. Overall for the tournament we competed very well on a big stage. Over 100 college coaches from all up and down the East Coast were in attendance at this tournament.

June 27-29 Central NY Thunder 18u Wood Bat Battle in Rochester,NY at RIT and Monroe CC

  • Competing as Hayner Academy Barnstormers we won this tournament going 5-0. In pool play we defeated Baseball U out of Syracuse 1-0, CNY Nationals 10-1 and Terriers Blue from Ontario, Canada 5-2 to garner the #1 seed. In the semi-finals the Barnstormers defeated the CNY Thunder 4-3 in 8 innings on a walk off hit and in a thrilling championship game defeated the Buffalo Braves 4-3 in 9 innings on another walk off hit. The Barnstormers captured the championship after being down 3-2 with 2 outs and nobody on in the bottom of the 7th inning! This tournament was well attended with over 20 college coaches in attendance.

July 2 – July 5 Firecracker 19u Tournament in Rhode Island at URI and Bryant University

  • Competing as Hayner Academy Barnstormers the team finished pool play with a 2-1 record earning the #6 seed. In the quarterfinals the Barnstormers fell to Senerchia Post from Rhode Island 2-1 in a hard fought game. Pool play included victories over Orange, Ct Legion and Brooklyn Bonnies. Our only loss was to Providence, RI Legion. Playing 19u was a great experience for our team as about half our team is still 16u eligible. This tournament saw a good number of college coaches in attendance.

July 7-12 Coopers Cave 19u Tournament in Saratoga Springs, NY

  • Competing as Hayner Academy Barnstormers the team finished with a disappointing 1-3-1 record and failed to advance to the playoff round. Each game was highly competitive but the bats couldn’t come up with the big hit losing 2 - one run games and tieing another 2-2 after 10 innings. Several colleges were in attendance.

July 14-15 Boston Invitational

  • Competing as Albany Sports Zone this tournament was a showcase tournament with no advancement beyond pool play possible. Our team showed well finishing the two day event with a 2-1-1 record. In the first game we beat the New England Baseball JAXX 7-2. In the second game we tied the Newport Gulls 1-1. In the third game we defeated Baseball U out of Connecticut by the score of 7-5 before losing the 4th game to Show Baseball by the score of 7-3. The Boston Invitational is a highly competitive tournament and we saw a number of Boston area colleges in attendance.

July 21-23 Sports Zone Invitational at DeLutis Field in Rome, NY

  • On the first day, Monday July 21, our position players participated in the showcase portion of this event where each player was tested running the 60 yard dash, fielding grounders, catcher’s pop times, outfield throws and hitting. About 75 college coaches were in attendance from all over the Northeast, New England and mid-Atlantic regions. Competing as Albany Sports Zone we went 3-0 in pool play beating Mizuno NE Pride 3-1, World Yacht Clippers American 4-3 and the North Jersey Cardinals 5-4 to earn the #2 seed. Unfortunately our semi-final game vs. the #3 seed Farrah Builders from NJ was rained out in the bottom of the 5th inning and not resumed. The boys showed very well against great competition and on a big stage.