The 2008 high school baseball season, like most seasons before it, provided area baseball enthusiasts an opportunity to see many compelling games and follow outstanding players spread out on different teams.

At Hammond Stadium Wednesday night, several of the top seniors in Southwest Florida came together on one field for the 2008 Bartley’s Senior All-Star Game.

“It’s a great sendoff for them,” said Bishop Verot coach Tom LoSauro. “These are all the guys they’ve known and known about and now they get to play on the same team.”

The players were divided into a Red Team, which consisted of Lee County schools and a Blue Team, which was a mixture of schools outside Lee County.

The Blue Team won 12-3 in a 10-inning game, which was more about everyone playing and the seniors playing one final high school game on the same field that the Minnesota Twins and Fort Myers Miracle call home.

“It’s an honor to be out here with all these guys,” Mariner senior Jake Weber said. “I really appreciate being voted to this game.”

Weber, who also played in all-star games in football and basketball, represented the Tritons, along with A.J. Reyes. Both seniors were instrumental in leading the Tritons to the District 5A-15 championship.

Weber (1-for-2) singled and scored a run Wednesday night and Reyes pitched two scoreless innings.

Miguel Rodriguez, Brock Rasmussen and Collin Metz represented Cape Coral High.

Metz, a 6-foot-2 right-hander, had his best season on the mound as a senior and will continue his career at Division III Emory and Henry College in Virginia.

“This season I just had a lot more confidence on the mound,” said Metz, who plans to study dentistry. “I really started working and running and getting my velocity where it needs to be. I just have to keep working.”

Rodriguez, who has signed to play at Broward Community College, provided much of the offense for the Red team with a two-run double to deep left field in the third inning.

Andy King of Riverdale followed with an RBI single to give the Red team a 3-2 lead, but the Blue team did the rest of the scoring.

Other participating players were Shaun Delozier, Alex Lakes and Cody Coffman (Ida Baker), Matt Perkowski (North Fort Myers), and Josh Hinkle, Austin Flores, Ryan York and Anthony Vlahovic (Bishop Verot).

The three Baker seniors contributed to the best season in school history. They finished 16-10 after winning nine of their last 11 games.

Bishop Verot (17-14) also got a huge lift from its seniors this season. The Vikings slumped to 2-7 early, but held together and made a run to the Class 3A regional semifinals.

“One of the biggest reasons we were able to turn it around is because we had such a veteran group,” LoSauro said. “Sometimes you get off to that kind of start and the team packs it in. These (seniors) were able to get us going in a positive direction again.”



Blue 200 035 200 0 — 12 14 2

Red 003 000 000 0 — 3 13 2

W — Cody Lewis (P.Ridge). L — Ricky Ingram (SFM).

2B — Bryant Tinsley (Fort Myers), Justin Richardson (Riverdale), Miguel Rodriguez (Cape Coral), Austin Flores (Bishop Verot), Jordan Zech (Naples).