Published: August 11, 2008 12:16 am      

Orioles eye record sixth straight title

Youse’s Maryland Orioles will attempt to accomplish something that not even the storied Baltimore franchise has achieved in six decades of the AAABA Tournament.

The five-time defending AAABA Tournament champions will try to become the first franchise to win six consecutive titles.

“The coaches think about it a little bit and the community in Baltimore,” said Youse’s Maryland Orioles manager Dean Albany. “Not so much the players. These guys are mostly new guys.”

The Orioles are upholding a tradition. Baltimore, which has a tournament-best 25 national titles, is the only franchise to win five straight championships (1979-83 and 2003-07).

Albany’s Baltimore team lost nine players this summer – seven post-draft signees and two injuries. But he believes this still is one of the best groups he’s brought to Johnstown.

“We’ve got a better ERA than we’ve ever had, 1.95 for the year,” Albany said.

Youse’s is 48-7 including games in the Cal Ripken League and the Baltimore City League. Baltimore has won 38 of its past 39 games.

“We won the Ripken League, and we’d never won it outright,” Albany said. “Our record in the Cal Ripken League was 35-7. The record for most wins in a season was 28. We broke the record by seven games.”

Pitchers Scott Swinson (University of Maryland), Max Russell (Florida Southern), Kevin Brady (Clemson), Kevin Jacob (Georgia Tech), Ryan Buch (Monmouth) and Cory Toth (Old Dominion) have Division I experience.

“We’ve got kids that work hard and come from great programs,” Albany said. “That’s the key to our team more than anything else. The kids are all from big-time programs. We’ve got three from Georgia Tech. We’ve got a LSU kid, one from Old Dominion, one from Clemson. We’ve got kids from top-notch programs in the ACC.”

Even after losing left fielder Steven Bumbry to an appendectomy, Albany has a talented outfield group.

“Leon Landry played center field at LSU and Jeff Rowland played center field at Georgia Tech,” Albany said. “When you’ve got two kids like that who played center field for top-notch programs, our outfield has been unbelievable.”

Patrick Blair, a shortstop committed to Wake Forest, now will move to left field.

In center, Landry and Rowland have a unique situation.

“Because they’re both center fielders for their colleges, they rotate every day,” Albany said. “They tell me who’s playing center and who’s playing right. I let them do it on their own. I told their college coaches when they came here that they’d play center every other day, and they’ve done that.”