This past March during the All-American Amateur Baseball Association's annual meeting in Kissimmee, Fla., an exceptionally significant change to the rules was agreed upon.
It was proposed that the age limit be raised from 21 to 22 in every AAABA league across the country, and the AAABA national committee voted 19-2 in favor.
Currently, the rule is that a player cannot be older than 21 years of age after May 1, while the new rule, which will not take place until the 2013 campaign, allows for the extra year, with players not permitted to be 22 or older after May 1.
Long-time Altoona AAABA president John Austin was not in favor of the change, but voted for it because of his willingness to see how the rule change plays out.
"After lengthy discussions, I figured to give it a shot and try it," Austin said. "If it isn't successful, we can vote it out in 2014. But the fact that just two people voted against it makes it seem unlikely that it would be voted out in 2014."
Austin admitted that there are pros and cons to both sides of the argument for change. One con is that there has never been any drinking of alcohol at the regional and national tournaments and, with more players being over the legal drinking age, it makes Austin believe that may cause some problems.
One positive, Austin believes, is that players might stay on instead of moving to other college leagues because they will be able to play until at least their junior year of college.
Hot hitters
nBrent Davison, Lilly's number five hitter, went 3-for-5 at the plate with a triple, two runs and drove in three in two games this week.
nBrent Matish, Davison's teammate, went 3-for-6, with two doubles, scored a pair of runs and knocked in one.
nThere was a lot of hitting going on by Nittany Oil/Minit-Mart this week. Ryan Hill went 4-for-9, hit a double and scored two runs, while teammates Brandon Myers and Von Walker both had strong weeks.
Myers went 4-for-9, hit a double, jacked a homer, scored six runs and had five RBIs. Walker went 4-for-9, scored a run and had four RBIs.
nJohn Harshberger 5-for-10 this week, with a double, one run scored and three RBIs for Sheetz of the City League.
Pitchers that excelled
nDave McKloskey pitched a five-inning perfect game Thursday for Lilly against the Railbirds in Lilly. He struck out seven batters.
nMike Finlan started the week off by pitching Nittany Oil/Minit-Mart to a 6-0 win over JnD Guns on Monday. Finland pitched a complete-game, struck out two and allowed just three hits and dealt JnD Guns its first loss of the season.
nOn Friday evening at Vets Field, Sean Delozier tossed a complete-game, allowed just five hits and two runs and pitched ProActive Sports to a 3-2 victory over Sheetz of the AAABA League.
nShane Suter, of JnD Guns, threw a complete-game five-hitter, striking out seven and not walking a batter in a 2-1 win over Johnstown Realty Friday night at Vet's Field.
Hot team
nLilly won both of its games this week, improving to 5-4.
Cold teams
nThrough Friday, Sheetz of AAABA League went 1-4 this week falling to 2-9 overall.
nJohnston Realty was ice cold this week, dropping all three games it played this week through Friday.
nThe Railbirds went 0-2 this week through Friday's games.
Game of the week
nJnD Guns vs. Nittany Oil/Minit-Mart at Juniata Wednesday.
