By FRANCIS FEDOR
The Stingray season didn’t end in a district championship as it had in the previous season, but the squad graduated four players who are headed off to college to continue playing the game they love. All four had good senior seasons and provided the leadership that will serve the young players going forward for Coach Kennedy Duran.
Emanuel (Manny) Ramos and Isaac Martinez will be attending East Georgia State College (D1-JUCCO). Manny was second on the team in average for the 2023 season. He carried a .357 batting average over 24 games. He drove in 14 runs and scored 21 times. Manny stole 15 bases, leading all Sumner players. He only had five errors, down from 11 in his junior year, in 67 total chances. Manny has carried a .283 batting average over the course of his Stingray career and homered in his junior season.
Sumner senior catcher Isaac Martinez looks over the field during a break in the action.
Francis Fedor Photos
Stingray seniors Brenden Rodriguez (#2) and Manny Ramos head back to the dugout together after captains meeting with the umpires.
Isaac Martinez joined Sumner baseball as a junior. He was fourth on the team with a .348 batting average and had three doubles. He drove in 12 runs, scoring six times. It should be noted that the catcher position is usually swapped out for a pinch runner, so he was rarely on base, but still managed to come around to score six times. Isaac was a stabilizing force behind the plate and did a nice job of managing a young pitching staff. Isaac threw out 13 runners in his junior season and another seven in his senior campaign.
Stingray senior Elijah Serrano (#10) greets players after infield practice.
Brenden Rodriguez will be attending Clarke University (NAIA) in IOWA. Brenden was second on the team with 25 hits and 25 runs scored. He led the team in doubles with seven. He was tied for second with eight stolen bases. Brenden, like Isaac, joined the Stingrays as a junior and had a very strong senior season. He carried a .312 batting average for the season.
Elijah Serrano is in the works to be at WEBBER University, not a done deal yet. Coach Duran deserves credit for keeping the team up as the team hit a lull to end the season. The senior team leadership was very influential in getting the Stingrays off to a strong start as they hit March 21st with an 8-3 record, two of those losses on the road. The Stingrays ran into a stretch where they played a number of teams that made noise in state tournament action, and the young team will learn from those challenges for the 2024 season.