Frederick, Devito and Kemp Sign

By: Keith Mills

The fall baseball season is over for most area high school programs and there are a handful of local players who have announced their college plans. Paul DeVito, Archbishop Spalding's ace left-handed pitcher, is headed to Radford University in Virginia while Ryan Kemp of Mount St. Joe is headed to Saint Joseph's in Philadelphia.

Alex Frederick of Dulaney will play next year at North Carolina-Greensboro. The Lions' senior shortstop hit .403 last year with 19 runs batted in and is one of the area's best defensive players. He played this summer for the Maryland Orioles Under-19 Metro League champions and is a starter on the Dulaney basketball team. He will join former Arundel standout Corey Overholtzer at Greensboro.

Calvert Hall junior shortstop Pat Blair is being recruited by a number of major Division I programs, including North Carolina and LSU, after an outstanding fall season that helped the Oriolelanders Scout Team finish third in the prestigious Perfect Game World Wood Bat Championships in Jupiter, Fla.

Two Oriolelanders teams play in the Scout Fall. One operates in Baltimore and is managed by Orioles scout Dean Albany. The other is in the Richmond-Norfolk area and is run by Lee Banks, who managed a team six years ago that featured B.J. and Justin Upton, David Wright and Ryan Zimmerman.

"We combined the teams because it was just too far for a lot of kids to travel," Albany said.

The Oriolelanders team that played in the World Wood Bat Championships featured several Maryland players, including Blair, Austin Poretz of St. Mary's in Annapolis, Hugh Adams of St. John's Prep and Kevin Brady of Gaithersburg High in Montgomery County.

Brady and Poretz were part of a pitching staff that finished with six shutouts in the seven-game tournament. The Atlanta Braves Scout team won the 80-team tournament. The Orlando Scorpions finished second while the Oriolelanders and East Cobb, Ga., tied for third.

Blair and Poretz were joined on Albany's regular Oriolelanders team by Calvert Hall's Kevin Lingerman, Severn's Sander Beck, Arundel's Tyler Hibbs and St. Vincent Pallotti's Keiran Flannery. Beck is committed to Maryland, Flannery to Indian River Junior College in Florida and Hibbs to Florida State. Lingerman's season ended early because he underwent back surgery.

Issue 2.45: November 8, 2007