- By Ernie Rapiere

In Highland, California, is the home of the Inland Empire Elite (IE Elite) baseball organization.   This is located in the heart of that area in the country where you consistently find some of the best baseball in the USA. This Organization was started by Doug Baker along with co-founders, John Darby and Mike Carpentier during the 2008 baseball season.  

Initially, the IE Elite organization fielded only two teams.  But, in just two and a half years, they have grown dramatically.  They now field 14 youth baseball teams with over 150 players and over 600 families participating.  Still, this growth is showing no signs of tapering off – very impressive for such a short period of time.  This growth shows that people in this area love baseball, and also respect the work that the IE Elite organization is doing.  Why?  The IE Elite leadership team follows a strong principle of building their teams by developing local players fielded from areas within a 15 mile radius of the IE club facilities.  Even in big events, they compete with their core players - as opposed to loading their roster with “Big Guns” from remote areas.  And with this loyal principle, they have built an impressive string of championships that has now grown to a total 73 as they move into 2010.  This is also an impressive feat.

This year, the IE Elite is taking a big new step forward.  In addition to their line-up of fine baseball teams, they will field four girls’ softball teams.  These teams will complete in the age groups; 10’s, 12’s, 14’s, and 16’s.  In addition, the IE Elite will field eight baseball teams that will compete within each age group from 8 to 16 years old.   Following is a brief look at the 10U IE Elite baseball team as they prepare to resume play at Big League Dreams Park (West Covina, CA) on Saturday, Jan 2nd.

10U - The 10U IE Elite, coached by Chris Montanez and Rob Schubert, is already off to a very strong start in 2010. At the close of December’s play, they held a 24-2 record that included 4 Championships.    In keeping with their organizational philosophy of developing local athletes, they are returning 13 players from their 2009, 9U team that finished with a 60-9 record.  In addition, Doug Haugh has been added to this year’s roster.  While some may characterize this team as undersized, they are fast and scrappy on both offense and defense.  They hit well, and they run the bases well.  On offense, they are lead by a string of excellent hitters, who are hitting with averages above the .400 level.  These include Christian Kirtley, Michael Carpentier Jr. (a 9U playing up), Zuko Tillman, Keller Raborn, Jaelan Phillips, Robert Gonzalez, Justin Schubert, and Blake Coker.  The top four on this list have batting averages well above the .500 level.

This group is lead by Tyler Montanez (pictured left), their catcher (pictured below), and Christian Kirtley, who is hitting at .600 after 70 at bats.  Four of their players have already slammed homeruns; including Jaelan Phillips (with 4) and Zuko Tillman (with 2).

Their pitchers will include Austin Warner, Keller Raborn, Justin Schubert, Zuko Tillman, and Robert Gonzalez.

During 2010, this team expects to play more than 100 games this year. Thus far this season, they have already won Triple Crown’s “Parade of Lights” (Lake Havasu City, AZ).  This win qualified them for Triple Crown World Series events.  In addition, they will play a number of upcoming Triple Crown events starting with the Martin Luther King Classic during mid January, along with the Las Vegas Fall Nationals.

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