Terrapin pitcher Brett Jones walked to the mound in a black and red jersey at Shipley Field on July 24, as he had done many times before. But this time, he was not pitching for the Terrapins.

This summer, the right-handed Jones, who appeared in 20 games for the Terps baseball team last season, was taking the field for the College Park Bombers, a team in the Cal Ripken Sr. Collegiate Baseball League.

Jones and fellow Terp Nathan Steelman are on the Bombers roster this summer; it is Jones’ third summer with the squad.

The Bombers have been bringing baseball to College Park for 20 years, and in 2005, the team played in the inaugural season of the Cal Ripken Sr. League. Players from colleges as far away as California come to the league when their NCAA season ends.

“They’re here to better themselves and go back to school the next year better, more experienced players,” Bombers owner, chairman, general manager and head coach Gene Bovello said. “We really want players to enjoy their time here. They love the program and tell other players, and we build the program up.”

Bovello has been wearing many hats with the Bombers since the team’s inception. With more than 50 years of coaching experience and 28 of his former players in coaching positions throughout the country, you can trust him when he says Jones has improved drastically in his time with the Bombers.

“Brett had Tommy John surgery, which usually makes guys struggle with control,” Bovello said, referring to the ligament replacement in the elbow of Jones’ throwing arm that caused him to redshirt his sophomore year. “But now he’s got his arm in as good shape as it’s been since the surgery.”

Terrapin baseball coach Terry Rupp attended the July 24 doubleheader to see the improvements Jones has made this summer as the righthander started his sixth game for the Bombers.

Jones started out strong but had trouble in the third inning, giving up a walk, two hits and a run. But he kept his composure, pitched all but the final inning and earned a 2-1 victory – his third of the summer.

“Brett is really coming on strong,” Bovello said. “Next year, he should be a weekend pitcher for the Terps.”

Jones and the Bombers are 26-18 as of July 30 after winning a pair of games in the round robin playoffs. They played the The team hopes to earn a spot in Friday’s championship game at 7:30 p.m. at Shirley Povich Field in Rockville.

The reason why this team is winning is because they like each other,” Bovello said. “They hang out together, play ball together. A lot of people think we’re going to win it all. Even a coach in front of us in the standings told me, ‘You’re the team to beat.'”

The Bombers are behind only Youse’s Maryland Orioles and the Bethesda Big Train, the first and second place teams, respectively.

The only other Terp in this summer league, pitching ace Scott Swinson, plays for the Orioles. The Terps leader in wins and strikeouts this past season continued his success this summer, with a 5-1 record, seven starts and a 1.03 ERA. He was named to the league’s East All-Star team.

The Cal Ripken Sr. League isn’t the only place you’ll find Terps taking the field this summer, as 17 players are in various summer leagues across the East Coast. Going straight from the college season into summer-league play might seem exhausting, but it’s a necessary practice for some players to prevent getting rusty.

“You don’t get much of a break, but with too much of a break, my arm would get tight and stiff,” Jones said. “It’s good to just keep playing.”

And if players put in the work during the summer, it can pay dividends. While the Bombers’ games do not attract the spectators Terp games do, players can attract the attention both of their college coaches and of major league scouts.

Players get experience, meld with players from across the country and, most important for the scouts, learn to hit with or pitch against wooden bats, which Major League Baseball uses and the NCAA does not.

But for Jones, the experience was not about trying to impress others but about proving to himself he could live up to his potential:

“The summer’s good for just getting in innings and getting my pitches how I want them, getting my work in so when we [the Terps] come back this fall, I’m ready to go and ready to throw.”

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