By SPENCER BATES
SYRACUSE — For the Olean Oilers’ Owen Smith and Luis Arreola and the Salamanca Lizards’ Dylan Kinney and Connor Smith, their selection to the 2025 New York Collegiate Baseball League (NYCBL) All-Star Game represented more than just a strong summer campaign.
Good innings on the mound and good at-bats are one thing, but what is truly symbolized in their All-Star nods is their continued development as players.
In a game in which there was an average of one pitcher per inning, Oilers ace Owen Smith got the start for the NYCBL West Division All-Stars. Boasting a 1.13 ERA through 24 innings this season, the St. Bonaventure sophomore has been a foundational piece for Olean as, late in the season, it has been scrambling for reliable arms on the bump.
“The atmosphere at home, especially, is really good,” Owen Smith noted of his experience with the Oilers. “The guys are good, the coaching is really good, it’s just a really good learning experience as it is my first year of college summer ball.”
But just as important to Owen Smith as helping his Oilers in their pursuit of postseason baseball, is regaining his confidence in the wake of his recent UCL surgery. The All-Star selection has only helped in that regard.
“(The All-Star selection) was really important to me, because I went through a UCL surgery a couple years ago, and it was my first time really being back on the mound,” Owen Smith said. “So it just felt good to know I still have it.”
Olean Oilers All-Star Owen Smith (31) shakes hands with his West Division All-Star teammates as he is introduced as the team’s starting pitcher. (Hunter O. Lyle)
Sitting down each of the first three batters he faced, Owen Smith put that confidence on display as he got the ball rolling for the West’s pitching corp. Showing their might, the West diced through the East Division lineup, blanking them through six innings of play. One of those arms that, like Olean’s Owen Smith, had a 1-2-3 inning, was Salamanca’s Dylan Kinney.
A junior at Texas A&M International, Kinney has led a pitching rotation for the Lizards that has been nothing short of effective. He currently ranks fourth in the NYCBL in ERA, posting a 3.71 mark. He is also tied for the seventh-most strikeouts (30), sits fifth in strikeouts per game (7.94) and has the seventh-lowest WHIP (1.26) of all pitchers in the league.
This season marks Kinney’s second with the Lizards and with the end of the season on the horizon, he acknowledged how much he has gained in his two years with the franchise.
“I feel like I developed a lot as a player and a person in my time in Salamanca,” Kinney said. “I definitely look at it with fond memories.”
Salamanca Lizards All-Star Dylan Kinney (6) delivers a pitch for the West Division All-Stars. Kinney sat the East Division All-Stars down in order in the sixth inning. (Hunter O. Lyle)
One of the biggest aspects of the league that he noted has helped him develop his game even further is the wealth of knowledge all gathering in one place. With numerous baseball experiences and backgrounds coming together for a summer, a transfer of knowledge is a given, and pivotal for players.
“You get to be around guys from all over the country, from schools all over D1 to NAIA to JUCO, and you get to see the differences and the similarities in the game,” Kinney said. “It all just chalks up to throwing strikes and hitting the ball and just having fun with your team.”
But Kinney was not alone in representing Salamanca in the All-Star game. Connor Smith, the Lizards’ most consistent and effective bat this season also earned himself a spot, recording a triple in one of his two at-bats of the game.
“It’s just nice to see a lot of the work that I put in come to fruition,” Connor Smith said of the All-Star nod. “It’s a good league, so the guys I’m in the dugout with, it’s just great to have that opportunity to play with those guys at this event.”
The junior from Gannon University currently has the 12th-best batting average in the NYCBL (.355). He also has the fourth-most extra-base hits in the league this season (13), the 12th-best slugging average (.527) and fifth-best on-base percentage (.496).
He chalks up those numbers to the opportunities players have in the league.
“With the college season, you play a couple games on the weekend, you might play one in the midweek, you got a lot of time in between games,” Connor Smith said. “Here, you’re playing every day. … So that, and just getting experience in the field, getting experience against various guys hitting with wood, it’s just nice to get that time out there.”
And those summer repetitions are exactly what the Oilers’ second all-star, Luis Arreola, said he was grateful for.
A sophomore at John Carroll University, Arreola has a 2.66 ERA on the season. He also averages 11.51 strikeouts per game, has sat down 26 batters on strikes in 11 appearances and boasts a 1.67 WHIP.
“I really picked up pitching this last year, I started taking it real seriously,” Arreola said. “I always had the stuff, my coaches would tell me … but I really lost command of the zone. Being down here, I’ve been able to find that confidence and be able to be back in tune with all my pitches, ensuring that when I get back to school that I’ll be able to produce a lot down there.”
Olean Oilers All-Star Luis Arreola (16) delivers a pitch for the NYCBL West Division All-Stars in their defeat to the East Division All-Stars. (Hunter O. Lyle)
Arreola also echoed Kinney’s sentiment in preaching the importance of obtaining as much information as possible with teammates from a variety of backgrounds.
“Being able to be a sponge and absorb as much as you can, obviously, is great,” Arreola said. “No one likes a know-it-all. Being open to new experiences really just helps you open up your horizons and makes you more of a moldable player and just easier to work with.”
Unfortunately for Owen Smith, Kinney, Connor Smith and Arreola, the West Division ended up falling to the East Division, officially 6-1, but after playing the bottom of the ninth in order to get all players involved, they lost 7-1.
But while their team may have suffered defeat, the scoreline of the All-Star game is not a complete representation of the wealth of knowledge and experience the Oilers’ and Lizards’ All-Stars have taken away from this season. Which, as they pointed out, is the reason they are in the league in the first place.
