by Tracy McCue, Sumner Newscow — Wellington Heat’s first home stand at Sellers Park was indeed historic, lengthy, and rather successful.

The Heat are currently 8-1 having beat the Owasso Angels 3-0 in a non Jayhawk League contest Monday night.

Ryan Jenkins

Ryan Jenkins, a 2012 Wellington High School graduate, made history by being the first player with a 67152 address to pitch in a Heat uniform.

He pitched for two innings. No specific stats on Monday’s performance were available.

“He did great,” said Adam Neisius, associate head coach. “He was nervous going in. We talked to him and told him to give us six outs. He threw strikes, he fielded ground balls and he pitched out of situations.

“We want to build confidence in him so he can be successful in this league. We will give him some non-league starts through the season to do just that.”

The road ahead —

With the Major League Draft behind them, the Heat are slowly carving out an identity for themselves.

“We are going to be a pitching team,” Neisius said. “We probably won’t churn out more than 8 or 9 runs a game. But with our pitching we won’t need any more than that.”

The Heat are embarking on one of the most essential stretch of games of the season which will go a long way to determining whether they can win the Jayhawk League. They travel to the Derby Twins tonight in what will be the Heat’s first road game of the season.

Wellington then travels to El Dorado on Wednesday.

The Heat then comes home to play the Hays Larks in a key three-game series. Wellington is currently tied with Hays for the lead at 4-1 (see standings below).

“We really need to win these next two games to set up that series with Hays,” Neisius said. “That has always been a tradition for the Heat – getting off to a great start and getting the lead. In the Jayhawk League everyone beats up on everyone else. We need to get a jump early.”

Wellington’s only loss came against El Dorado, which unfortunately was a league game. However, the Broncos were swept this past week and are sporting a 3-3 record.

Major League Draft —

The thing about NBC baseball is one never knows a roster until a couple of weeks into the season. That’s because of the Major League Baseball draft.

Four players on the Wellington Heat roster were drafted last week. But so far only one is guaranteed of going into the MLB system.

Matt Stalcup

That would be our own Matt Stalcup, a 2008 Wellington High School graduate, who was drafted by the Oakland As as a left-handed pitcher. He did suit up in a Heat uniform to start the season, but will never play. He will be signing in the Oakland As organization shortly.

“He needs to. He is a fifth-year senior so if he is going to play in the Major League system, he needs to start soon,” Neisius said.

Three other Heat players on the roster were drafted.

•Sebastian Keensey of Scottsdale Community College, a left-handed pitcher, was drafted in the 22nd round by the Houston Astros. Neisius said he isn’t sure if Keensey has signed or not with the Astros. He has yet to report to the Heat.

•Will Morris of the College of Southern Nevada, a right-handed pitcher, was drafted in the 24th round by the Philadelphia Phillies. He, like Keensey, has not made a decision on whether to sign with the Phillies or report to the Heat.

•Scotty Hoffman of South Mountain Community College in Arizona, a right-handed pitcher, was drafted in the 36th round by the Pittsburgh Pirates. He will not report to the Pirates, and is expected to report with the Heat shortly.

Neisius said there were a couple of other Major League prospects who went un-drafted.

He expects the Wellington Heat roster to be finalized this next couple of weeks but the roster will need to be trimmed from 32 to 28 players on July 1.

There are trades in the Jayhawk League until the first day of the NBC World Series.

The standings —

   Complete Standings Through 6-10-13