Fellows rises for Kernels' Elite

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa – The rising class of young talent represented on the Elite Baseball Training rosters, for both the 2016 and 2017 teams assembled in Northeast Iowa to compete in this year's WWBA Kernels Foundaiton Championship has been known about for a long time. The recently graduated 2015 class and this year's group of rising seniors boasts several players that are (or were) considered among the best in the nation.

Of the 27 players on Elite Baseball's 2016 roster and you'll find 21 that have committed to college and a few more that have yet to make their decisions. You'll also find a pair of Perfect Game All-Americans in righthanded pitcher Drake Fellows and shortstop Tyler Fitzgerald.

So it wasn't a surprise that Elite turned to Fellows on Sunday to help them secure their pool in a must-win matchup against the Illinois Indians.

Fellows didn't disappoint, going the distance in a tight contest that was tied 1-1 going into the bottom of the sixth inning. His usual heavy sinker, which peaked at 92 mph on this day, was working very well for him, as was his entire three-pitch mix, recording eight groundball outs and 10 punchouts.

“It feels really good,” Fellows said after the game. “It's been a long summer. A couple starts I haven't been so hot so it feels good to come back and be the player that I am.

“Warming up in the bullpen felt pretty good. Coach Rich (Ruffolo) was looking at me and I told him I was feeling really good today. The changeup was feeling really good today, all of my pitches were going for strikes.”

With the win the Elite Baseball Training 2016s team move to 3-0 and has advanced to play in the playoffs. They await the results of their seed since the young Elite players, the 2017 squad, have their own game with playoff implications on Sunday afternoon.

The win was especially sweet for Fellows, who also pitched a dominant game a year ago at this same event but were shutout by the Rawlings Hitters National Baseball Club 2016's, a game the Hitters won 2-0 that allowed them to advance to the quarterfinals.

“You have to have a short memory in this game,” Fellows said of the game a year ago. “You can't look back on the past, you just got to move forward and do what you can do now.”

“Last year was definitely a huge disappointment,” Ruffolo added. “Fall baseball can be tricky at times because we have so many multi-sport athletes. So keeping these guys prepared, especially the arms if they're playing other sports, and making sure you have the right families that are going to stay on board with you through the fall, is extremely important.”

Ruffolo, the program's Professional and Collegiate Scout Liason, knows about talent. He's been coaching several of the players on this team, including his son Michael, since they were five years old. He also knows that Fellows' talent is especially unique.

“We talked a lot last night about what's going to happen in the future,” Rufolo said. “No one can predict the future, but there's few guys that have opportunities like Drake has. We just want to make sure that he continues to give himself those opportunities, however the situation plays out, not to cheat yourself out of a life-changing (moment). Keep competing, keep getting better every day and that's what Drake does. He's one of the hardest working kids I've known.”

Elite Baseball Training, like Perfect Game, is all about furthering the careers of young baseball players. Justin Stone, the program's founder, opened his own baseball training academy in the Chicago area, instituing state-of-the-art technologies, such as digital motion analysis, to break down players' mechanics, knowing that practice doesn't make perfect, but perfect practice does.

“Our objective at Elite Baseball Training is to help kids move on to the next level, whether that's Division I, Division II, Division III, NAIA or pro ball,” Ruffolo said. “Our job is to move them along to the next level, wherever their talent takes them.”

So far at the Kernels Foundation Championship that talent is taking them pretty far after locking up a spot in the playoffs.

But the path didn't come easy, as opposing Elite on the mound on Sunday was Sam Ferri, another talented player in the 2016 class and an Arizona State recruit. Ferri, despite playing with the Indians at this event, is a long-time member of Ruffalo's Elite Baseball Training squad and someone Ruffolo has a deep personal connection to.

“This was an emotional game today and I'm proud of my guys and the way they stepped up to the task,” Ruffolo said after the game. “Sam Ferri is absolutely legit and I knew it was going to be a battle. We would have to wait it out, but we stuck together as a unit and as a family.

“I've coached Sam since he was five as well, he and my son grew up together. There's nothing tougher than coaching against another son, and that's what Sam is to me. On the field this is our family and off the field this is our second family. That is how we operate at Elite.”

PG All-American Tyler Fitzgerald plays shortstop for Elite Baseball Training 2016s