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VA/DC Scout Blog: Forest Park at Woodbridge

May 19, 2023
John Nolan
NOVA Scouting Director

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Wednesday night, rivals Forest Park and Woodbridge met in a Cardinal District semifinal. Both teams tabbed top arms in the game, senior righthander Harrison Ludington (Hood College) getting the start for Forest Park and junior righty Aiden Ellerts getting the ball for Woodbridge.

The two of them engaged in a classic pitcher's duel as the game went on. Ludington was dominant, carrying a no-hitter into the fifth inning. Ellerts matched zeroes, but had to work around runners and traffic to do it. He did allow one run in the second when AJ Williams (PGCC) mashed a ball to deep left that the outfielder broke the wrong way on, letting it get behind him for an RBI double. 

Ellerts was helped by his defense, sophomore catcher Kory Barbier gunned down two runners attempting to steal bases. Sophomore shortstop Caelan Goodwin-Slater bounced back from a first-inning error to be outstanding throughout the game. Ellerts went six strong and exited with the score 1-0, headed to the seventh.

In the top of the seventh, with Goodwin-Slater on in relief, Forest Park was able to build a rally and add insurance runs, with the big blow coming on a 2-RBI double from AJ Orlando. Woodbridge did finally break through against Ludington in the bottom half, scoring a run and getting the tying run to the plate, but it was not enough and Forest Park finished off a 4-1 win.

The Bruins advance to take on Colgan Friday night in the Cardinal District Championship game. Both teams will advance to next week's Region 6B Tournament. Forest Park slots into the District 2-seed and will host Battlefield in the Quarterfinals. Woodbridge will be the third seed and travel to Patriot. Both games tentatively scheduled for Thursday, May 25.

 

 

Forest Park

 

 

 

Chase Hubred OF / Forest Park, VA / 2023

 

 

Harrison Ludington SS / RHP / Forest Park, VA / 2023

 

 

Wesley Strychowski OF / 2B / Forest Park, VA / 2023

 

 

 

 

 

Woodbridge  

Kory Barbier C / 3B / Woodbridge , VA / 2025

  

Aiden Ellerts RHP / 3B / Woodbridge, VA / 2024

Ellerts is 6-1 with a lankier frame, some strength in the lower half but still a lot of projection and room to add strength to his frame. Taller delivery, lands closed with a pretty hard fall off finish. Throws from a high three-quarters arm slot, breaks hands longer and has a very loose quick arm action. Throws with some late intent in his delivery. Fastball was 84-85, topping at 86 early, he gets downward angle and a bit of late armside run, plays up up in the zone. Showed two breaking balls with different shapes. A slider/slurve was 73-75 with sharp hard 11/5 break, pitched flashed true swing and miss a few times when thrown down, has a chance to be special. Also showed a true overhand curveball that was 69-71 with bigger sharp 12/6 break, more of a for strikes or get ground balls type of pitch. He held his velocity through six innings, still working 83-85 with plenty of 85 in the sixth with his pitch count up. Control not command, was up in the early innings before settling into a breaking ball heavy mix as the game progressed. Really started landing the curve in the middle innings creating groundouts. Like his older brother, there is a ton in the tank still and he is a late bloomer, it will be interesting to see where things go for him in the next year.

 

 

 

Caelan Goodwin-Slater RHP / SS / Woodbridge, VA / 2025

Goodwin-Slater has an athletic frame with projection left, really stood out in this game at shortstop. Good feet and base fielding, soft quick hands, works through ball into his transfer. Shows a good sense of how much time he has and moves quicker when he needs to without sacrificing his mechanics. Did make an error in the first inning, but did a good job of immediately recovering, picking up the ball, and still nearly getting the out. Many high schoolers give up on the play after a botching the pickup, he did not. He also did not let it effect him on what ended up being a very busy day for him at short. Arm strength shows average now, but there is some more in there and he can let it go a bit when needed. Pitched in the last inning and was 80-83, but the play at short stood out to me. His bat needs some work and is where he stands to improve the most, when that starts to come around, he is going to jump onto a lot of people's radars.

 

 

Ethan Jackson SS / RHP / Woodbridge, VA / 2025