'In the Dugout' is a monthly column written by a local youth, travel, high school or collegiate coach about a specific aspect of the game. This month's guest columnist is Battlefield High School head coach Jay Burkhart, who writes about the emergence of baseball in western Prince William County due to the rapid housing development, including a ready-made rivalry between his Bobcats and Patriot High School.
The emergence of baseball in western Prince William County has been exciting to see. The growth of housing communities in Haymarket, Gainesville and Bristow has led to lateral growth of travel baseball organizations in the area.
As a former head coach on the eastern side of Prince William at Gar-Field High School, my team worked out at Colangelo baseball when C.D. Hylton graduate Mike Colangelo first came back from playing in the Major Leagues.
Now, as the coach at Battlefield almost 15 years later, my team continues to benefit from him, and Colangelo has been a catalyst in the growth and development of the travel organizations, including the Virginia Stars, which many of the Prince William County players are a part of.
Another big reason, I think, for the emergence of baseball in our side of the county, is kids really choosing to play baseball year-round. They are committing to one sport. This is not like the older days, when you could play multiple sports. Now, a lot of time is designated in the winter, baseball’s off-season, for instruction, conditioning and strength-building, maintenance care for pitchers and developing explosive movements.
When Patriot High School opened in 2011, some of the ball players from Battlefield were zoned to attend school over there. This created an instant rivalry, as many of these kids have grown up together, know each other well and play on the same travel teams together in the summer and fall. I think this increased the intensity of competitive ball around here, especially between the two schools that have become very competitive in our conference and region.
As ball players in our community continue to get collegiate scholarship offers, it’s only going to generate more exposure, bring more college coaches to recruit in this part of the county, and more investment of time and money in young talent.
For example, when our pitcher Nick Wells got drafted as the 83rd overall pick last year by the Toronto Blue Jays, the presence of scouts in the stands for every game put an additional spotlight on our area players and schools. This can lead to other players who might not otherwise have gotten that exposure being seen by college and professional scouts.
It’s great to be a coach in the Battlefield community. I have a lot of support from the school, administration and parents And in looking at the middle school kids that have been participating on local youth and travel teams and summer and winter camps, it looks like the future is bright at both schools, and I am excited to be a part of that.
Editor’s Note: Burkhart is in his fifth season as the head coach at Battlefield, where has led the Bobcats to the past two league championships, a regional championship in 2011, and last year guided the team to a 19-5 record and an appearance in the Virginia 6A North Region semifinals. He has a 77-31 overall record at the school, and also served as the head coach at Gar-Field from 2002-05. Battlefield enters the week 9-3 and ranked No. 2 in our Top 10 Poll, No. 2 in The Washington Post’s metro poll, and No. 19 in Prep Baseball Report’s Virginia/D.C. Top 25. After hosting Osbourn Park tomorrow night, the Bobcats will host Patriot in their first matchup of the season on Friday.
Photo Courtesy/Battlefield Baseball
