In Little League or high school, Rayne Supple usually provided the winning stuff.

He hopes to keep that going at the next level.

The Champlain Valley Union junior baseball player gave a verbal commitment to Wake Forest University, a Division I school that plays in the powerful Atlantic Coast Conference. Supple, who visited the school last week, made his decision Monday night.

Supple led Shelburne’s 11- and 12-year-old Little League All-Star team to the state title in 2010 and was the winning relief pitcher in CVU’s epic, extra-inning victory in the Division I championship game in June.

Competing for an ACC school is part of Supple’s long-term baseball plans.

“I just want to keep getting better and keep chasing my dream,” said Supple, who turned 16 in August. “It’s a good opportunity to excel at the next level and see good competition going forward.”

CVU baseball coach Tim Albertson said he was happy for Supple.

“(Supple) and I actually spoke when he got back from Wake Forest on Sunday,” Albertson said. “I asked him what the biggest positives and biggest negatives were and he had a tough time coming up with a negative.”

North Carolina, Clemson, Boston College and Virginia were also on Supple’s list of choices. But Wake Forest was the best fit, he said.

“I really fell in love with it,” said Supple of his campus visit. “They don’t over-recruit and are not going to cut you last minute.”

Supple said he will primarily be a pitcher at Wake Forest, but might develop into a field-position player, too. The Demon Deacons went 28-27 overall and 9-20 in league play last year under coach Tom Walter, who donated one of his kidneys to a player in 2011, according to the school’s website.

With a variety of pitches, including a fastball that has reached at least 90 miles per hour, Supple struck out six in six no-hit innings of relief as the Redhawks outlasted Essex 4-3 in 11 innings in the longest D-I final in Vermont Principals’ Association history.

But it was his focus in overcoming five walks that impressed Alberston.

“His composure during that time was amazing. That stands out more in my mind,” Albertson said. “That really states a lot about his character, that he can stay in the moment.”

With two more years at CVU, Supple will head to Wake Forest in the fall of 2015.

Source: Alex Abrami, Burlington Free Press

Two Vermont collegiate programs will have new head coaches with Matt Rodovick rejoining Saint Michael's College as its head baseball coach and Tom White was named the new mentor at Lyndon State. 

Named to the post on August 9, Rodovick was a member of the Saint Michael's coaching staff during parts of the three previous years, and last season was on the staff at Plattsburgh State. He served as the Purple Knights interim head coach in the spring of 2012 guiding the team to 11 victories that year, the program's first back in the Northeast-10 Conference since 1998. The 11 wins included an upset of nationally-ranked Franklin Pierce, 5-3. A native of Stamford, Vermont who is a graduate of Springfield College, he also has been the pitching coach for the Colchester Cannons American Legion program the last three seasons.

Click HERE for the press release on Rodovick from the SMC Athletics website: 

White, who was named the Hornets head coach on August 16, comes to Lyndon State after serving as a three-year assistant at D-III Plymouth State College primarily as the team's recruiter and hitting coach. His contributions played a significant role in Plymouth's most recent 20-win season and runner-up finish in the powerful Little East Conference. Prior to that he was a high school coach in Reading, Mass. A native of Lisbon, N.H., White is a graduate of  Colby-Sawyer College where he was a baseball and soccer standout. In addition to his coaching duties at Lyndon, White will also serve as a counselor and recruiter with the Lyndon Admissions Department.

Click HERE for the full release on White from the Lyndon State athletics website.

Source: VBCA

CASTLETON, Vt. -- The Colchester Cannons thought they had this one in the bag. 

On Tuesday, the Cannons led Bennington Post 13 8-1 in the seventh inning of a game that would have clinched them the American Legion championship.  Then the skies opened up, forcing the game to be suspended until Wednesday.

A new day turned into a new opportunity for Bennington, as Post 13 rallied all the way back and with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, Will Cole hit a grand slam to give Bennington a shocking 10-9 win.

That victory did not secure the Legion crown for Bennington as it was Colchester's first loss of the tournament, but it did force one more, winner-take-all game between the teams to determine the American Legion champion.

That game took place that same afternoon and it was another wild affair as Colchester would jump out to leads only to see Bennington come back to tie.  Eventually, it was a 7-7 game in the seventh when Anthony Campbell homered for the Cannons and put Colchester ahead to stay.

Colchester would go on to outlast Bennington 13-9, winning their second Legion title in three years.  The Cannons now advance to the Northeast Region Tournemtent, which begins Wednesday in Old Orchard Beach, Maine


Source: WCAX Sports