The Next "Niner in the Minors?"

The lights dimmed upon Campbell’s in Camden, NJ. Junior Bryan Hamilton and the Charlotte 49ers walk out of the dugout after being defeated by the St. Louis Billikens in the Atlantic-10 Championship Game and robbed of a chance to play in the NCAA Tournament. Despite the loss Hamilton pitched well in .2 innings only allowing one hit and striking out two batters. This success mirrored that of what Forty-Niner fans had seen throughout the season. He finished the year with 4-0 with an 2.01 ERA over 31.1 innings pitched as a reliever for Charlotte.

Three days after the defeat in the Atlantic-10 Championship, Bryan was yet again in a baseball uniform. This time for the Bethesda Big Train, a team in the Cal Ripken Collegiate Baseball League from Bethesda, MD. Bethesda is located about th

irty minutes north of Washington D.C. Like the prestigious Cape Cod League, the Cal Ripken Collegiate Baseball League is a place where collegiate players can get experience with wooden bats in preparation for a possible professional career in baseball. It is important that rising Junior and Seniors participate in such leagues to prepare themselves for the MLB Draft the upcoming year.

As he did for Charlotte in the spring, Hamilton continued to shine with Bethesda. Over twenty games and twenty-four innings pitched for the Big Train,

he finished with a 0.00 ERA. Bryan also recorded 36 strikeouts, only allowed 11 hits along with recieving the save ten times for Bethesda. Two of those saves came in route to the Bethesda Big Train’s play-off run to win the 2010 Cal Ripken Collegiate Baseball League Title.

We will be looking for Bryan Hamilton to continue his great pitching for Charlotte in the spring, and bring another Atlantic-10 title to the Forty-Niner’s Athletic Department. His performances are hopefully turning some heads in some Major League departments, as I look for Bryan Hamilton to join 2010 teammates: Ryan Rivers, Zane Williams and Patrick Lawson as “Niner in the Minors.”

(Photo: Alan Dobbins)