Dando's Raiders plundering competition

Though it's cooled after a hot start, young Silver Creek is a presence.

By Keith Groller
Of The Morning Call

 

In his first six weeks as manager of the Silver Creek Raiders -- the new entry in the Tri-County baseball league -- Dylan Dando experienced the high of a 12-1 start, which included routs of 11-1, 23-0, 20-2 and 10-4 in the team's first four games.

But on Friday night, Dando found a definite low.

His team, which entered the night in first place, was embarrassed, 17-1, by Gabelsville in an early-season showdown.

The score was 15-0 after two innings and the rout qualified for the league's new mercy rule, which could stop games if one team is ahead of the other by 15 runs after five innings.

Dando and Gabelsville manager Mike "Doc" Moyer chose to play past the top of the fifth.

Why? Maybe Dando hoped it would get better. It didn't.

But standing in the Gabelsville A.A. parking lot moments after the demolition had been completed, Dando tried to analyze what was going on with his team.

"You don't come out and play against a good team like Gabelsville and you're going to get stomped," Dando said. "That was good for us. Hopefully, we'll respond in the right way. Gabelsville is good. They're the best team we've played."

Through the first half of the season, Silver Creek had been the Tri-Co's best team, backing up Dando's assessment of the team printed on the league's Web site.

Dando wrote, "The Silver and Black return to Silver Creek after a seven-year hiatus, and this group of Raiders are going to be better than their predecessors, who amassed a 130-54 mark from 1991 through 1996 and a 154-90 overall record from 1990 through 1997. MUCH better."

For effect, the team included a classic segment from an old NFL Films feature on the Oakland Raiders, which included foreboding music and a voiceover by the late John Facenda.

Through 13 games, the Raiders dominated, backing up the bravado of the Web site. But May's swagger has turned into a June swoon.

"We're just not playing well and doing basic things," Dando said. "Part of the problem is that we were winning most of our games by 10 runs, and these guys got used to playing two or three innings and putting it on cruise control. I could tell them until I'm blue in the face that this is not the way it's going to be all year, but they had to see it for themselves.

"A lot of these guys are young and haven't played in this league and they don't know how teams are going to come at them every night. We haven't proven anything yet, except that we can get off to a fast start."

Getting his team to understand what it takes to compete throughout an amateur baseball season is the kind of challenge that invigorates the 31-year-old Dando, who has been involved with both the Tri-County and Blue Mountain leagues since he was a teenager.

This is his first managing job and even on a night like Friday, Dando enjoys himself.

A high school standout at both Palisades and Northwestern high schools, Dando went on to pitch for Northampton Community College.

He's still an assistant at NCC, but really likes running his own team. That's why he left after winning two Tri-Co titles as a player- coach at Lehigh Township.

He built his club around young players he has been with before like Jeremy Bartha, Pat Higgins and Eric Schmitt and unheralded players like Jeff Brennan and Nathan Hritz.

"I'd be out here every day if I could," he said. "I love to manage a team. I did what I could to help [Lehigh Township manager] Shawn [Andrews] out, but it wasn't the same as running your own team. It's time-consuming, but when it comes to baseball, I'm willing to make the time."

And, he felt it was time that baseball return to Springtown, a rural community located near the Bucks/Northampton county border on Route 412.

"I haven't had anything but positive feedback from the people down there," Dando said. "I started my career there with the first Raiders teams and we had great teams, but couldn't finish it. I'd really like to get one [title] down there."

But the road to the title is filled with obstacles. Friday's lost knocked Silver Creek into third place, a game behind both Gabelsville and Tri-City and put the Raiders a mere game in front of the ICC Pirates.



keith.groller@mcall.com

610-820-6740

From The Morning Call -- June 26, 2005

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