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PBR Spring Classics A Big Hit In Year One

May 21, 2021
Bruce Hefflinger
PBR Ohio Senior Writer

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PBR Spring Classics A Big Hit In Year One

The wait was worth it.

With plans to begin in 2020, the Prep Baseball Report Spring Classics went on hold for one year when the pandemic brought the cancellation of high school baseball last season. But when play resumed in 2021, the PBR events were ready to roll.

While there was some tweaking such as changing teams, and of course weather also had to get involved, the end results were what they hoped to be.

“I came up with the concept of the High School Classics last year with the goal of putting together top-tier matchups every Saturday with high-class talent all over the field,” explained Dylan Hefflinger, PBR Ohio Editor-In-Chief. “Putting this all together in one location would benefit many, including college coaches, scouts and the prospects, as well as the teams.

“College coaches would be able to recruit/scout multiple players in one spot,” continued Hefflinger, the northwest Ohio scout for PBR as well as a scout for the Texas Rangers. “Scouts would be able to see potential MLB draft players down to D3 commits competing against one another. The prospects would be able to be seen by more eyes. The teams would benefit from competing in a bigger atmosphere.”

The initial event of the 2021 season came on April 3 at Frank Robinson Field, with Roger Bacon the host of three games involving Centerville, LaSalle, Indian Hills, Badin and Dublin Jerome in addition to Bacon.

“I really enjoyed the social media presence,” explained Bacon head coach Tim McCoy.  “Our players were really excited about the event. It was an excellent day of baseball, with good teams competing. The fans seemed to really enjoy the presence as well. Any type of exposure like this is positive.”

Over the course of the season there were a dozen PBR hosted events, including two at Defiance High School.

“I liked everything about hosting and participating in the event,” pointed out Tom Held, long-time Defiance head coach. “It brought exposure to our program and the surrounding programs. There was also exposure to colleges for the players featured that day through video and reports from PBR.”

Clay High School was another that had the opportunity to show off their field while hosting top-notch programs.

“What a great opportunity to showcase our players and our field,” noted Clay coach James Phillips. “It really benefits our program by having PBR help our players get recruited and also showcase our program and facilities overall.”

One of the premier sites in the state is Mercy Field in Toledo, which hosted four games featuring teams that were all scheduled to participate a year prior.

“The PBR event was awesome to host,” related Jeff Mielcarek, head coach of Toledo Central Catholic. “We would welcome the opportunity to do it again. I had some administrators ask me prior to the event ‘why we were hosting this’ and I told them ‘because it is a great thing to be involved in’. Afterwards, I explained how our kids got PBR exposure from the game without any showcase.

“It is a benefit to our program with all of the social media exposure and the opportunity which it provides our players.” 

The Classics wrapped up the second Saturday in May at two sites, the Jesuit Classic at Walsh Jesuit featuring the hosts, St. Ignatius, St. John’s and St. Xavier and another event at Gilmour Academy with three games played including a trio of D-I squads (Solon, Brunswick and St. Ed’s), a Division II power (Chagrin Falls) and a pair of the best Division III teams in the state (Gilmour Academy and South Range).

“When PBR contacted us 3-4-5 months ago, obviously we thought it would be a little warmer,” pointed out Gilmour head coach John Murphy. “This field is one of the elite fields in the state of Ohio and we were able to play in spite of the rain. What a great game. We were happy that you guys put this together. It’s a great event for these kids and we thank you for allowing us to be a part of it. Obviously we have kids that can play, led by Ben DeMell.

“It was great that we could play a team not in our region like South Range,” added Murphy. “They’ve got a good program, they’re well coached and all their pitchers threw gas and located their fastball. They also played solid defense. It’s good, it gives us the ability to see teams in our division that we can play against. We always play good competition, generally it’s Division I and Division II teams. This really sets us up when we’re able to get a quality Division III opponent. It really makes us become a better ballclub.”

PBR was more than happy to be part of the experience.

“I personally would like to thank everyone who I communicated with in the months leading up to the season as well as those who I worked with in-season to get all the logistics in order,” Hefflinger said.

Jordan Chiero, PBR Ohio Scouting Director, saw it as a benefit for so many. 

“The Spring Classics this year were an awesome experience and I would assume will become a staple in our scouting coverage for years to come,” Chiero said. “It’s a win/win situation for all parties involved. We provide our unrivaled scouting coverage to teams that attend, and for us, we get to gather crucial scouting information on as many as 10 teams in one day. I can say personally that I got to see hundreds of players this spring I wouldn’t have without the Spring Classics.”

As for the future, those involved this year have expressed interest in being a part of it down the road.

“Absolutely!,” Held said when asked about hosting at Defiance again. “There is very little work and it’s a great event with great teams to watch play. I love the exposure PBR has brought to our area players. It’s a first-class organization.”

McCoy at Roger Bacon agreed.

“We absolutely would love to host again,” McCoy related. “We have a great venue to host an event like this.”

The same for Mielcarek.

“YES, we will host again.” the Toledo Central Catholic mentor said. “We would do so because I will do whatever I can to further publicize our program and high school baseball in general. Thanks for this opportunity to host and play in this great event!”

Phillips would like to see a few tweaks, but would be more than happy to be involved once more. 

“Our area is smaller obviously than Columbus, Cleveland, Cincinnati and Akron so that allows us to play almost everyone that is our size,” the Clay head coach explained. “With that being said, I think it would be cool to set up more regional match-ups. Cleveland vs Toledo. Cincinnati vs Columbus.

“But overall I thought it was a great first event. I hope Clay can be a part of it in the future.”

As for what lies ahead, plans are already being considered by the PBR staff.

“Our goal for the future of the High School Classics is to continue to build on the success that we had in 2021 and expand on that,” concluded Hefflinger. “We have had some great venues to work with and we hope to continue working with the same venues while expanding to a few more.”

2021 Spring High School Season Content

To view all things related to the 2021 Spring High School Baseball Season, click here.

To view the Weekly Team Rankings, click below:

To view the Preseason All-State Teams, click below:

To view the 2021 Ohio Spring Scout Blog, click below:

To view the 2021 PBR Ohio HS Teams of the Week, click below:

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