July 15, 2009

Luray's Daniel Bowman (Coastal Carolina) of the Valley Baseball League kicked off the 2009 Mid-Atlantic Classic by launching 18 baseballs into orbit over Regency Furniture Stadium Wednesday afternoon.

Bowman blasted so many shots off the party-tent beyond the tall leftfield fence that Mid-Atlantic Classic organizers feared he'd knock it down.

Swinging from the right-hand batters box, Bowman connected for 10 home runs in the 10-out first-round, four more than the next closest competitors. Bowman then won the five-out championship round easily, as he blasted eight longballs to win by six over runner-up Steve McQuail (Canisius) of the Front Royal Cardinals in the Valley League.

Herndon's Corey Taylor (Binghamton), the league leader for home runs in the Cal Ripken, Sr. League heading into the All-Star Break, joined Bowman and McQuail in the championship round after he and McQuail tied for second-place in the preliminary round with six apiece.

Overall, the ten contestants in the Home Run Derby connected for a whopping 56 home runs -- the vast majority of which to leftfield.

Final Results:

Champion - Daniel Bowman (Luray/Coastal Carolina) - 10/8 - 18 home runs
Runner-Up - Steve McQuail (Front Royal/Canisius) - 6/2 - 8 home runs
Third-Place - Corey Taylor (Herndon/Binghamton) - 6/1 - 7 home runs

Todd Brazeal - (Staunton/South Florida) - 5 home runs
Cody Freeman - (Bethesda/Mississippi State) - 5 home runs
Ryan Durrence - (Covington/Bethune-Cookman) - 5 home runs
Jared Simon - (Front Royal/Tampa) - 4 home runs
Curtis Wilson - (Silver Spring-Takoma/NW Shoals CC) - 3 home runs
Justin Leisenheimer - (Rockville/Maine) - 1 home run
Tommy Grandieri - (Alexandria/Penn) - 0 home runs