Jamison

SHEPHERDSTOWN — Reno Powell founded the Hagerstown Braves baseball team to help his son and other teenage players, who were too old to still play in American Legion circles, to find a summer home.

The group of players Powell wanted to keep together came from Washington County high schools and had been thriving in their short careers as Little League, Pony League, Colt League and American Legion players.

Powell kept them together when he fathered the Hagerstown Braves. And those players became the pathfinders to what the Braves have become here in 2022. Powell passed away in 2002, but had created so much interest in keeping young adult baseball alive in Hagerstown that a core of concerned and hard-line baseball “lifers” made sure his creation would remain viable.

Now stationed in the South Penn League, the Braves are in their second season of success against a schedule of other young adult teams from similar small- or mid-sized towns, all within driving distance of each other.

After winning the league’s tournament in 2021, the Braves have been a perfect 32-0 in regular season games played through Saturday. With three games left, the spotless Braves were to complete their work this Sunday, against the New Oxford (Pa.) Twins at 1 p.m. at North Hagerstown High School. Playoffs are to quickly follow because weekday games begin at 6 p.m. on many fields without lights.

Bywaters

This year’s version of the Braves has another roster gathered mostly from area colleges, where players had been active from late February through May. The team’s spring training for South Penn League activity came, while playing for college teams.

One of the more successful Braves players has been Peyton Mason, who played at Boonsboro High School and in 2022 was a utility player (infielder/designated hitter) for Shepherd.

Mason has batted .443 for the Braves (31-for-70) with three homers, after finishing his Shepherd season with a .290 batting average playing mostly PSAC games.

Another Shepherd player, Corey Jamison from Williamsport, Md., has been a fixture in the Braves’ lineup and showed a .282 batting average before the regular season’s last weekend. Jamison had to settle for a .077 batting mark with the 2022 Shepherd team.

For much of the Braves’ summer, Shepherd infielder Joey Schwartz (Smithsburg High School) was a starting infielder. In his 18 games with the pennant-bound Braves, Schwartz hit .319, after batting .216 for Shepherd.

Trunnell

Pitchers from Shepherd’s team have included Tanner Dixon, Ryan Bywaters and Jordan Trunnell.

Dixon has been the most-used pitcher from Shepherd’s team. He’s had four starts in his six games, and shows a 4-0 record and one save with a miniscule 0.61 earned run average. For Shepherd this past spring, he went 1-3 in 23.1 innings, with a 6.17 earned run average. Jordan Trunnell appeared in only one game for the Rams, but has two starts and two relief appearances for the Braves. In his six summer innings, he has not allowed an earned run.

The Braves will enter national tournaments, following the completion of their work in the South Penn League playoffs.

Never before has any Braves team gone through an idyllic summer with a perfect record — even though the long history of the Powell-founded team surpassed the 1,000 win total back in 2009.

A team that once had teenagers Mike Brashears, Terry Brown, Doug Higgins, Gary Fahrney, Harry Powell, Tim McNamee, Dick Troncatti. Eddie Hose and Mike Cline has evolved only slightly and now shows hitters like Justin Lewis, Ryan Talbert, Corey Walters, Jarrett Biesecker and Chanse Phillips and pitchers Ryan Clark, Mikey Hawbaker and Wyatt Freeman, who are in their early 20s and still active on college teams.

Dixon

Even today they still could be called “Reno’s Boys,” because everything concerning the Hagerstown Braves began with and was nurtured by Reno Powell.

Schwartz

Mason