Perfect seasons are fairly uncommon in high school baseball. Even more rare is a perfect career. Righthander Austin Chrismon was on his way to one until he encountered Newport News, Va.'s Woodside High. The senior at Menchville High, also of Newport News, was 18-0, 1.05 as a varsity starter coming into the season.

Chrismon, who is committed to East Carolina, won his first three 2010 decisions and also made some appearances out of the bullpen. Going into Friday his ERA was under 1.00. Against Woodside, everything seemed to be normal as Menchville was up 4-1 by the time Chrismon went through the order once. But the Wolverines strung together some extra base hits the second time through, went up 6-4 and knocked Chrismon out of the game. [...] Continue Reading »

Sumrall (Miss.) High's bid for a national record ended over the weekend as the Bobcats lost to Oak Grove High of Hattiesburg, Miss. in a tournament, putting a stop their winning streak at 67 games.

Oak Grove's starting pitcher, sophomore Tyler Odom, pitched a gem. After pitching just 6 2/3 innings this season, Odom went six innings and didn't give up a hit until the seventh—a solo home run to Connor Barron. Senior Hunter Curtis then entered the game and retired three out of the next four hitters to earn the save.

Sumrall was ranked No. 7 in the latest Top 25 and finished at No. 7 in 2009. The record for consecutive wins is 75, set by Homer (Mich.) High from 2004-2005.

Tall, lanky, loose and projectable, Ragira is one of the premier high school outfield prospects for the 2010 draft.

Ragira is an above-average runner, which helps him in the outfield and on the basepaths. He exhibits provocative hitting ability, showing patience at the plate and can whip and accelerate the bat head at contact to produce fine exit speed on his drives.

Ragira has projection remaining and still needs to refine some of his tools and skills, like his routes in the outfield, his running technique and his ability to drive the ball. So, he's going to be a tough pry from Stanford, as is usually the case.

Baseball America's Conor Glassey caught up with Ragira over the phone on April 15. Listen to the interview to learn about Ragira's parents coming over from Kenya, how playing for Team USA prepared him for his future as a baseball player and what four people he would have over for a dinner party. . . [...] Continue Reading »

Sam Bragg, a junior righthander for Wheeler High, Marietta, Ga., was untouchable in the first 4 2/3 innings of his latest start. Against Campbell High of Smyrna, Ga. on Wednesday night, Bragg retired the first 14 batters he faced via the strikeout.

"In my 29 years as a head coach at Wheeler, this was the most dominant performance I have witnessed," Dave McDonald said. "Location was perfect on all pitches, with a fastball at 89-90 mph, breaking pitches and a straight changeup kept hitters off balance the entire seven innings."

He finished the game with 17 strikeouts while allowing just four hits and one walk. On Monday he threw two innings of relief against Milton (Ga.) High, striking out five and allowing two hits, giving him 22 strikeouts in nine innings this week.

The record for consecutive strikeouts in a game is 22, set by Jim Peterson of Sonora, Calif. in 1973.

Emotions have been running high in Suffern, N.Y. the past couple of weeks. The Suffern High baseball team recently suffered a tragic loss when two players, Vincent Crotty and Christopher Konkowski, were killed in a car accident. They were honored before a recent game in a touching ceremony that included the players' fathers throwing out the first pitch and former Yankee Bernie Williams escorting the families onto the field. Righthander Robbie Aviles started that game and pitched well, leading his team to victory. Just a few days later, he rose to the occasion again and twirled a perfect game.

"I'm feeling pretty good," Aviles said. "My curveball was feeling pretty good tonight. This whole season is dedicated to those two kids. Every game we play is 100 percent for them. It's really brought our team together as a family."

Aviles is a big righthander with three pitches that he can command. He struck out 11 over the seven innings, looking as sharp as ever as he threw just 68 pitches, 47 for strikes. [...] Continue Reading »

Rich Hofman may be retired from high school baseball, but he's still very much involved in promoting competitive play. The former head coach of Westminster Christian High (Miami)—where he coached Alex Rodriguez and Doug Mientkiewicz)—and Westminster Academy (Fort Lauderdale) has helped run a few big tournaments this spring.

A couple weeks ago, Farragut High (Knoxville) defeated Flanagan High (Pembroke Pines, Fla.) in a classic championship game in the Hall of Fame National Classic. More recently, two Jacksonville schools, Mandarin High and Arlington Country Day, met in another instant classic in the Baseball Fever Classic championship game. [...] Continue Reading »

A few more powerful tournaments have wrapped up in the last week. Crespi High (Encino, Calif.) won its second National Classic title in three years in Southern California. Chaminade High (West Hills, Calif.) won the Anaheim Lions Tournament and the No. 1 Farragut Admirals flexed their muscles in Orlando's National Classic. Here's a few notes and links from around the country:

• The Diamond Sports National Classic had an exciting finish as Crespi needed a sacrifice fly in the ninth inning to seal the victory. Our friends at OC Varsity provided a wrap-up with video as well. [...] Continue Reading »

Tony Wolters is a shortstop from Rancho Buena Vista High in Vista, Calif. He's a little undersized at 5-foot-10 and 165 pounds, but Wolters is a polished hitter that plays the game hard.

He was the MVP of the Aflac All-American Game last summer at Petco Park and also played for Team USA's gold medal Junior National team, where he led the everyday players with a .371 batting average.

Baseball America's Conor Glassey caught up with Wolters recently over the phone for an interview. Check it out to hear about Wolters' approach in his at-bats, the prank he played on his friends for April Fools Day and what four people he would like to have over for dinner. . .

[...] Continue Reading »

With many schools on spring break this week and next, there are plenty of big tournaments going on around the country. Horizon High in Scottsdale, Ariz. hosted its annual National Tournament this week. Hamilton High (Chandler, Ariz.), ranked No. 12 in the country, faced No. 10 Rocky Mountain (Fort Collins, Colo.) in the finals and won 7-6.

The Huskies went 3-0 in pool play, beating Libertyville (Ill.) High (8-7), Taylorsville High (Salt Lake City) and Chaparral (Scottsdale, Ariz.) High. Then they took down Austin Wilson's Harvard-Westlake High (Los Angeles) to advance to the finals. [...] Continue Reading »