Sprague Park in Narragansett holds a special place in my baseball life. I played both JV and Varsity baseball games for North Kingstown High School versus Narragansett High School teams at Sprague Park for 4 years in the late 1980s. Then, played my summer baseball home games with American Legion Post 39 at Sprague Park. Now, I cheer on my slugging nephews (Jackson, Finley, Harvey) on the Narragansett Little League field, which is just a Finley Hohl home run away from the big field. In fact, I was in the stands for the Saturday game featuring the 12U District All Stars from Narragansett and Westerly National.

With rainouts and cancellations and postponements part of the summer baseball story of 2021, any time I get an alert or update from teams about games I take notice. Because I follow both the Providence Sports and Leadership (PSL 18U) and Ocean State Makos (17U) baseball clubs on GameChanger, I receive updates on games and as well as schedule updates on times. I got a notification about a game to be played Wednesday morning at Sprague Park and decided to take the drive down to check out the game.

The phrase “timing is everything” can be used for life, relationships, and of course, baseball. In my case, my timing was just right for Wednesday’s game. As I walked up to the field and sat in the bleachers behind the backstop and said hello to a few fans, The Ocean State Makos Cameron Harthan slammed a pitch over the right field scoreboard, into the tennis courts, for a solo home run. I didn’t get the photo or video of his hit but was able to watch it fly high and out of Sprague Park. ‘Wow, perfect timing’ I muttered to myself and then sat down to watch a few innings of the game. Here are the lineups for both teams, which I was able to grab post game from each team’s GameChanger page:

PSL’s Carlos Santos was on the mound for the first few innings of the game. I remembered the name because Santos had thrown a 1 hitter, 14K game for his Times 2 Academy baseball team this past Spring High School Baseball Season. Great pitcher and I was psyched to watch him throw in person. Santos pitched well, he worked quick, and had a great command of the strike zone.

The Makos had several pitching changes while I was there. Braeden Perry to Adam Maher to Cameron Harthan to Chase Pariseau – I wasn’t 100% sure but it felt like a scrimmage or a warm-up game for an upcoming tournament. One of the Makos fans I was talking to mentioned an upcoming tournament in Connecticut. Regardless, the play on the field was top notch and the talent on both sides was very high level.

When PSL got up to bat, I got to watch Hope High School’s Ruben Ogando, who was one of the most feared hitters in the RIIL Division 3 State Title game I watched back in June. Ogando was intentionally walked twice in that game, a sign of respect for a big time hitter. In fact, several Hope High School state champs play for PSL including Ogando, Jose Corporan, and Jesus Lopez.

It was a cloudy, muggy morning in Narragansett for PSL vs Makos but the play on the field was shining bright. I got to watch a few innings of the game and see some of the best 18U and 17U baseball players in the state. Many of these players will be Rhode Island High School Seniors in the fall and will most definitely make an impact in the Spring of 2021. Two fantastic baseball organizations with top level talent on display at Sprague Park on Wednesday morning.

For more information on Providence Sports and Leadership, go to PSL 18U.

For more information on the Ocean State Makos, go to Makos 17U.

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