Published: June 02, 2007 05:46 pm      

Play Ball!

It’s that time of year again. The 11th Annual Junior Sunbelt Classic baseball tournament is scheduled to begin in McAlester and Wilburton this week. The Sunbelt banquet is planned for Thursday night at the Southeast Expo Center and games are set to begin Friday morning and run through June 13.

Players who are entering their senior year of high school will be featured on teams from Arizona, California, Missouri, Texas, Georgia, Mississippi, Tennessee, Oklahoma and Ontario, Canada. Their will be two Oklahoma teams as always, with a pair of McAlester High School players representing our state on the Blue and Gold teams.

Justin Klusak, an outfielder and pitcher, will be on Oklahoma Blue, while Anthony Trevino, also a pitcher and outfielder, will be on Oklahoma’s Gold team.

The featured guests at this year’s banquet will be former major league baseball players P.D. and Jackie Brown. The Brown brothers are both graduates of Moss High School and originally signed with the Philadelphia Phillies.

P.D. Brown pitched four seasons for the Phillies from 1961-63 and also 1968. P.D. appeared in 36 games for Philadelphia with 23 of those games coming in his second year in the big leagues.

Jackie Brown played in seven big league seasons starting in 1970 with the Washington Senators. Jackie wore four different uniforms at the major league level. He played for the Senators, the Texas Rangers, the Cleveland Indians and the Montreal Expos.

Jackie’s best statistical season came in 1974 while pitching for the Rangers. He appeared in 35 games, compiled a record of 13-12, pitched nine complete games with a pair of shutouts. In the 1974 season he had an ERA of 3.57 during 216 innings of work and struck out 134 batters.

Jackie ended his career with an ERA of 4.18 after pitching in 214 games.

Thursday’s banquet is scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m. with dinner and speaker P.D. Brown to follow.

The Sunbelt has been played in McAlester for a decade and is always dependent on help from the community to ensure its success. This year, Sunbelt organizers are still seeking host families, volunteers and corporate sponsors.

For information on how to become a host family call 820-0261.