Upper Marlboro Products Hitting Well in College

Carl Travers, a graduate of Riverdale Baptist School, has had a strong season for the baseball team at Division I Radford in Virginia. In his first 94 at bats, he hit .309 with one homer and 15 RBIs.

He played in 30 of the first 50 games, with 24 starts. But perhaps his most impressive statistic came on defense, as the junior catcher had not made an error in games through Sunday. He had 101 putouts and 14 assists.

Travers was the designated hitter on Sunday and was hitless in four at bats in a 5-4 win over High Point. Radford improved to 28-22 and 12-12 in the Big South Conference.

In a 9-7 win on May 10 against Marshall, Travers had one hit in two official at bats with a run, walk and two RBIs while batting in the two spot in the order as a catcher. Travers had two hits in four at bats in a 7-0 loss to High Point over the weekend. He played at Riverdale Baptist under head coach Terry Terrill, who said on Monday that Travers splits time with another catcher at Radford.

Riverdale Baptist grad in title game

Tennessee Wesleyan beat Cumberland, 9-2, on Sunday in the NAIA Championship Opening Round in Kentucky. The shortstop for Cumberland was Tommy Winegardner, a product of Riverdale Baptist.

Tennessee Wesleyan advances to the NAIA World Series in Idaho. Cumberland won the NAIA title last year, but Winegardner was not on the team then.

Winegardner was hitless in four at bats in the title game on Sunday. This season he hit .341 with eight homers and 42 RBIs and he was one of only two players on the team to start the first 62 games.

He was also a closer for Cumberland and was 1-0 with an ERA of 4.50 in 10 games, with four saves. Winegardner, who began his college career at Coastal Carolina, told Patch earlier this season that he hopes to get drafted by a Major League team next month.

New coach with Virginia hoops

Ataira Franklin, a former Riverdale Baptist basketball standout, was a sophomore guard last season for the University of Virginia under head coach Deb Ryan.

After the retirement of Ryan, the new coach for the Cavs next season will be Joanne Boyle. Franklin is from Bowie. Both of her parents played college basketball at the University of Illinois at Chicago.

Crusaders prepare for state private school event

The Riverdale Baptist baseball team is slated to host McNamara on Tuesday, May 24 at 5 p.m. at the school in Upper Marlboro in the state private school tournament.

Good Counsel and St. Vincent Pallotti will play in the second game at 8 p.m. the same day. Winners advance to the semifinals on May 26 in College Park. DeMatha and Spalding are the top two seeds in the tourney.

"We have a young group," Riverdale Baptist head coach Terrill told Patch on Monday. "We just have to get more consistent fielding the ball and putting the ball in play." Terrill said this is one of the youngest teams he has had as a long-time coach at the school.

"The future looks real bright," he said. The Crusaders are slated to be in Pennsylvania this weekend for games at The Hill School. Riverdale Baptist entered this week 21-13 overall.