Connor Hayeck scores on a wild pitch in the fourth inning for the Cyclones.
By Rich Bevensee
Michael O’Connor spends most of his summer playing baseball for a high-profile national team, but when his schedule permits, the Bucks County Generals welcome him back with open arms.
Michael Colbert suffered a shoulder injury which wiped out his entire junior season of high school ball, but he has returned to the Generals lineup and is throwing like he never left the mound.
On Wednesday, the performances of O’Connor and Colbert helped to make veteran coach J.R. Barder’s final week with the Generals a memorable one.
O’Connor homered and doubled, Colbert hurled three no-hit innings, and Bucks County Generals 2027 Black grabbed a 4-3 victory over the Out Of The Park Cyclones 17U Prospects in the 18U Blue Chip Prospects Powered by Victus at Diamond Nation in Flemington.
The Blue Chip event is the final tournament of the summer for this Generals team and Barder, who has coached in the Generals program for 14 years. He is stepping down to accept a similar role with the Keystone State Bombers next season. Barder will be joined by longtime Generals coach Pat Devlin, coordinator of Generals teams, in taking a position with the Bombers.
“It’s been emotional, no question,” said Barder, the Generals’ College Placement Coordinator. “A lot of times during summer ball it’s like a bunch of individuals trying to do their own process and sometimes the team doesn’t blend well enough to be a good team. This particular team has done everything they can to win and as a coach I can respect that.
“But my personal philosophy is that they’re playing their best when they’re playing to win and not to get recruited. I got that with this group and I cannot be more proud of them.”
The Generals (16-6-2), aiming to give Barder a sendoff worthy of a dedicated, veteran coach, improved to 2-0 in the Blue Chip event with games remaining against the Zoned RedHawks and Diamond Jacks Gold.
The Cyclones (10-10-2) are 1-1 in the event with games remaining against Wow Factor Northeast National White and Zoned.
There are no playoffs for this event, but the top five teams will receive a bid to the Super Top 25 Showcase Series Aug. 11-12 at ‘The Nation.’
Colbert, a 5-10 right-hander, was making his fourth start for the Generals and looked as if he had not missed a single inning of baseball. Using only his low- to mid-80s fastball and slider, Colbert tossed three scoreless, no-hit innings with three walks and four strikeouts.
“I feel great,” said Colbert, a rising senior at Central Bucks East in Doylestown, Pa. “I’m always excited to get out on the mound and do my thing out there. Mentally I’m back and physically I’m definitely back, too. Being able to get back on the mound and into a groove has really helped me.”
Colbert missed all of his high school season and the first month of summer ball with a slap tear, which is a shoulder injury affecting the labrum, specifically the superior labrum, anterior to posterior.
One issue which slowed his comeback was the injury was not properly diagnosed when he first felt pain, which was at a baseball camp in September. He didn’t think anything of a twinge he felt that day, but a few days later while throwing at the Generals’ facility the pain was so severe that he could not throw at all.
“The first doctor I saw said it was a pec tear so I didn’t throw from September until late November, early December,” Colbert said. “As I was coming back I still felt a little something, so I saw another doctor and got a chest MRI and they said no chest tear. Then I got a shoulder MRI and it showed the slap tear.”
Colbert, already a mainstay on the Central Bucks East varsity pitching staff as a sophomore, was looking forward to a big year as a junior but those hopes were dashed.
“I was pretty sad,” Colbert said. “There were times when I wanted to give up, but I kept pushing. I kept telling myself I want to get back out on the field. I would definitely say my parents (Barb and Terry Colbert) were important in cheering me up and not letting me quit.”
When Colbert was cleared to play, the Generals sent him out to pitch against Complete Performance Baseball Academy in Week 2 of the Super 17 Invitational, June 24 at ‘The Nation.’
“I was definitely nervous – I wasn’t all the way back,” Colbert said. “I pitched one inning, struck out one, walked one, and felt pretty great.”
Michael O’Connor is greeted at home by Jake Blum after hitting a solo HR in the first for the Generals.
Leading the Generals offense against the Cyclones was O’Connor, a 5-11, 200-pound rising junior at LaSalle College, a prep school in Wyndmoor, Pa. Batting second in the top of the first inning, O’Connor blasted a 1-0 pitch over the center field fence for a solo homer.
In his second at bat in the second inning he ripped a double into the gap in right center to drive home Sean Kivlin, and he soon scored on a Bud Murphy single.
“I use both contact hitting and power,” O’Connor said. “All I do is I stick with my approach which is right-center gap, and get as many barrels as possible.”
O’Connor said he plays with the Wow Factor national team during tournaments where college recruiting is heaviest, and his off-weeks belong to the Generals. His out-of-state events with Wow Factor have included trips to Hoover, Alabama, and Marietta, Georgia.
“This year with Wow Factor I was given the schedule and I’m at the recruiting events. That was primary,” O’Connor said. “Any time I can pick up with the Generals, I do that.”
O’Connor said he feels no extra pressure to be recruited to help a national team perform on the highest stages of summer ball.
“There’s no pressure,” he said. “I love this game of baseball. I love competing.”
The O’Connor homer was just the opening salvo for the Generals as they built a 4-0 lead through the first two innings. Also in the first inning, Logan Waynick singled home Murphy for a 2-0 Generals lead.
In the second, O’Connor doubled home Kivlin and later scored on a two-out, Murphy RBI single for a 4-0 Generals lead.
The score stayed that way through three innings. In the fourth, the Cyclones made their comeback against Generals reliever Eugene Kwon.
With the bases loaded and no outs, Aden Yarnall raced home on a wild pitch. With Landon Pudlak batting, Connor Hayeck was courtesy-running for relief pitcher Anthony Mustacciuolo and scored on another wild pitch. Then Pudlak drove a sacrifice fly to left as the Cyclones crept within 4-3.
Jake Blum relieved Kwon and got the final out on an infield pop up with the potential tying run on second base. Blum faced the minimum in the fifth to clinch the win.
For the Cyclones, Hayeck threw three innings and allowed four runs on six hits and three walks with three strikeouts. Mustacciuolo pitched two scoreless innings while giving up two hits and one walk with two strikeouts.
Barder, who also serves as the varsity pitching coach at LaSalle College Prep during the spring, said this particular Generals team may be the closest team he’s had in terms of chemistry in his 26 years of coaching baseball.
“With these guys I think I’ll miss the camaraderie the most,” Barder said. “I enjoyed having the closeness with the players and parents and families. When you finish the summer season it’s always emotional and that’s gonna be tomorrow. The last day of the season is always the hardest but this is a special group that lives in Bucks County.”