Barone Named Manager Of Year

The Jamestown Jammers went 31-14 this summer, including 22-1 at home during the regular season, en route to winning their first Perfect Game Collegiate Baseball League title.

Anthony Barone was the driving force behind their success.

On Tuesday, the 39-year-old skipper was named the PGCBL Manager of the Year for the second straight season.

“It’s icing on the top. I couldn’t have asked for a better year with these guys,” Barone said of being honored. “An award like that is because of the players and my staff. Those guys have meant a lot to me this year. An award like that comes from all the work we all put in.”

Offensively, the Jammers led the league in walks (261), sacrifice flies (29) and stolen bases (118); tied for second in triples (11); were third in on-base percentage (.397); and finished fourth in runs scored (300).

On the mound, led by pitching coach Hayden Carter, Jamestown’s staff allowed the second fewest home runs (15) and walks (177) while carrying the third lowest WHIP (1.47) and earned run average (4.31) thanks to allowing the third fewest earned runs (185).

“He keeps everything so simple. He reassures me all the time that everything is going to be alright. Me and him have a really good relationship,” Barone said of Carter. “I might get tense and he’ll try to relax me. We complement each other very well. He makes sure the pitchers compete. He just wants them to compete. I couldn’t ask for a better pitching coach.”

On defense, the Jammers had the third highest fielding percentage (.966) while committing the third fewest errors (55).

The Jamestown native has been the head coach of the Jammers since their inception into summer collegiate baseball, including the past three seasons in the PGCBL. Since 2016, the Jammers have won 94 games in the PGCBL and qualified for the playoffs every season, including the league championship series the past two.

“I’m very humbled to win the award two years in a row. There are a lot of very good coaches in this league,” Barone said. “I want to thank our ownership group, including Mike Zimmerman and Dan Kuenzi. They’ve put me in such a good position here to be successful.”

Barone’s honor came on the heels of Jamestown having just one player named to the PGCBL All-League teams Monday.

“I was surprised we only had one all-league player. It demonstrates what a team we had,” Barone said. “They go all out every game for each other. They really represented Jamestown and what our culture is about here. They put the team ahead of themselves.”

Relief pitcher Ryan Boyer was named to the First Team after going 4-0 with seven saves in 19 appearances. The University of Pittsburgh-Bradford right-hander struck out 37 batters in 25 innings while pitching to a 1.44 earned run average.

“That’s a blessing for him and his career. He deserves every bit of everything he gets,” Barone said of Boyer. “He’s one of the hardest working men I’ve ever been around. He showed scouts he can do it against bigger-school guys. There wasn’t a more dominant figure on the mound in the PGCBL this summer.”

Other West Division players named to the First Team on Monday included Newark outfielder Allen Murphy, Elmira pitcher Mason Hazelwood and Geneva pitcher Joey Haass. Geneva outfielder Jack Harris and Elmira pitcher Jake Dippold were named to the Second Team.

The league’s Pitcher of the Year will be announced today followed by the Player of the Year on Thursday.