Youth Baseball

B.J. Brown, the catcher for the West Raleigh, N.C., team in the Cal Ripken World Series in Aberdeen, has played just one game but is keeping busy. Brown doubled in two runs in his team's 13-1, four-inning rout of the host Harford County team, Hickory Fountain Green, yesterday. In addition, Brown has taught many of the Republic of Korea players to do the "chicken dance." And in keeping up with what he refers to as his team's "social attitude," he has scores of new friends, and today he and his teammates get to meet Cal Ripken.

In a rather lackluster game that took three hours, 43 minutes to play in 100-degree heat, the West outlasted the East, 8-4 in the third AFLAC All-American High School Baseball Classic in Aberdeen yesterday. It was the second AFLAC game that advertises that it has the top 38 rising seniors in the nation, although there were no players from Maryland, to be played at Ripken Stadium. The West took advantage of three leadoff walks, three errors, a wild pitch and two singles to score five runs in the top of the eighth inning to take an 8-4 lead.

With strong parent support, the National Foundation of Hispanic Americans from the Bronx is making its inaugural appearance in the Cal Ripken 12-and-under World Series in Aberdeen. The Bronx contingent is one big happy family. The Bronx team, made up of all Hispanic players, coaches, parents and fans, opened with an impressive 3-0 victory over Jackson, Mo., yesterday at Memorial Field. "All of our kids take baseball seriously because their parents do," Bronx manager Rico Pena said. "We use baseball to encourage success in education.

DETROIT - The last time Major League Baseball brought its midsummer spectacle to Detroit, various urban pockets pulsated with excitement. Kids were armed with little more than their imaginations enjoying the nuances of a sport now branded as hopelessly out of touch with the modern youthful spirit. The 1971 All-Star Game was an opportunity to take an old white T-shirt, cut off the sleeves, apply a little Magic Marker, place it over a black T-shirt and create a vintage Pittsburgh Pirates' Roberto Clemente "jersey" that you proudly showed off to your masochistic American League friends.

First, the kids kneel and touch the grass, amazed at its lush texture and the tidy patterns cut across its expanses. Then, they congregate in right field and take turns practicing leaping catches against the soaring, padded wall with its foul pole lifted straight out of old Memorial Stadium. There are no clumps of crab grass to trip on, no pebbles in the infield to send balls skipping away at wild angles. Everything at Aberdeen's Ripken Youth Baseball Academy is big league. That's why 60 youth teams from seven states around the Mid-Atlantic paid $700 a pop to play in a tournament at the Ripken complex over Memorial Day weekend.

RELAX! RELAX! Relax!" The child's grip tightens around the aluminum bat with every word, his feet dig deeper into the dirt with every command. The irony of a parent tensely screaming at a batter to relax is lost on a boy who wishes he could disappear. "Just have fun! Just have fun!" The child steps off the mound and squeezes the ball and peers sadly into home plate as though it's a stack of homework. The irony of a parent angrily screaming at a pitcher to have fun is lost on a boy who just wants to play catch.

SIGN-UPS FOR youth baseball continue for many parents and kids to be as certain a sign as Groundhog Day that spring is nearing, regardless of any snow on the ground and chill in the air. With one exception, this February is no different for Howard County baseball and softball households than any in the past. That exception is the Columbia Youth Baseball Association. CYBA has entered into an agreement with the Department of Recreation and Parks that eases some of the administrative chores for its volunteer leaders, allowing them to focus more on coaching than bean-counting.

SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. - Owensboro, Ky., was one pitch away from advancing to the U.S. semifinals in the Little League World Series last night, but couldn't get it done, allowing Preston, Md., to move on. Owensboro's Cole Sturgeon pitched a complete game with 15 strikeouts as Owensboro posted a 3-2 victory over Redmond, Wash., but his 0-2 pitch to Colin Porter with two outs in the sixth inning was deposited into the stands for a bases-empty homer. To advance in the playoffs, Owensboro needed to hold Redmond to one run because of a tiebreaker formula based on runs allowed per inning.

Felipe Hernandez overslept yesterday, missed breakfast and ate a few burritos when he got to Ripken Stadium for the Cal Ripken World Series championship game. The Mexican center fielder hungered for more, and he and his team left most satisfied. Hernandez singled in the winning run in the top of the sixth inning, as Mexico City rallied to defeat West Raleigh, N.C., 4-3, and repeat as champion of the Babe Ruth League 12-and-Under division in Aberdeen. In front of a crowd estimated at just over 5,000, the final typified the entire series that featured 12 of 37 games decided by one run. "I didn't eat breakfast because I was asleep, was really tired," said Hernandez, who spoke through interpreter Laura Corona, the sister of Mexico City's pitching coach, Othon Corona.

SOUTH WILLIAMSPORT, Pa. - Brady Hare smiled and lifted his catcher's mask high into the air as he walked onto the field for the start of the fifth inning yesterday at Volunteer Stadium, acknowledging the hundreds of Preston, Md., fans who had chanted his name for the previous few minutes. Hare had just done what few people all year had done - record a hit against Owensboro, Ky., pitcher Cole Sturgeon. More important, he had all but sealed Preston's first Little League World Series win. Hare's two-run, fourth-inning home run was the highlight of his team's 7-2 win in its World Series debut.