Baseball duo heads to rival schools

By Benjamin Byrnes
Nelson County Times
Published: July 2, 2008

In the great sports complex, duos are not given as much publicity as single players with superb sports abilities, but duos provide solid additions to any team. For Nelson County High School, at the end of the 2008 baseball season, one good duo hung up their jerseys for the last time.

The familiar green and white jerseys of pitcher Ben Ponton, number 2, and catcher Andy Gordon, number 5, will now be passed on to future players at Nelson.

Beginning in the fall, Gordon will attend University of Virginia and Ponton will attend Virginia Tech. In their own terms, the rivalry won’t be a big deal.

“I promise I won’t be a real Hokie. I know that. If I was Andy would probably get really mad,” Ponton said.

To this Gordon responded, “It’s not going be that big of a deal. We’re still going to be friends no matter what. He’s not going to be too bad or I’ll beat him down.”

The two have a good sense of humor and stories untold about everything they’ve done together since they were about five years of age. They’ve attended Calvary Baptist Church for those years, played junior varsity basketball as well as varsity basketball in 10th and 11th grades, were on the academic team together, and played baseball together since Little League. Ponton also played golf for three years at Nelson.

They both excelled beyond the sports field and acquired great academic records. Gordon was the Class of 2008 Valedictorian and Ponton graduated in the top 25 and both graduated with advanced diplomas.

Ponton and Gordon may try out for the baseball teams at their schools. Ponton will try out for golf if he’s not chosen for the baseball team.

Andy’s mother, Lee Gordon, said that some of the best time she’s ever had was watching games, cheering the team on, talking to fellow parents, and enjoying the baseball experience, whether the teams won or lost.

Likewise, Ben’s mother, Tammy Ponton, said what she remembers about seeing the two play together was “watching them improve and as they grow physically, and they mentally anticipate what each other will do and have their own way of doing things.”

As a former coach, Ben’s father, Ronald Ponton, who coached the 9-10, 11-12, and 13-14 age county all-star team said, “Neither one of them is a loud player. They both lead in a very quiet way. People recognize when they get out there that they mean business.”

He always made sure to teach humility above competition.

“I always told them, don’t think you’re the best. Always somebody’s going to be better. Keep working hard and you might beat them one day,” he said.

Andy’s father, Stephen Gordon, would coach during the regular season and helped Ponton coach the 13-14 age team.

The duo’s high school baseball coach, Scott McGarry, who has served as Nelson’s head coach for eight years, said the coaching staff would rarely make pitching calls, and leaving it up to Andy to call pitch selections, and put a lot of faith in the two players.

“There was a lot of unspoken awareness between the two of them. I had a lot of trust in them and I felt that trust and loyalty was given back to me which made it easy…win or lose.” McGarry reiterated what Ronald Ponton said. “They weren’t real vocal leaders, but they were certainly leaders in our program.”

“I’m the brains behind everything because I’m the catcher. Whatever success he gets is because of me,” Gordon said.

“I have to perform,” Ponton said.

“I pull the strings to make it happen. That’s why I’m going to UVa,” Gordon said.