Mapes was early mound ace for Lyndonville

Contributed Photo – Ron Mapes

Over the past seven decades the Lyndonville High baseball program has had a string of strong starting pitchers, the first of which was Ron Mapes who hurled for the Tigers for four years from 1952-55.

Mapes, who posted a career record of 30-3, helped Lyndonville capture Section V championships in both 1953 and 1955.

In 1953 Lyndonville nipped Naples 2-1 in the title contest as Mapes hurled a three hitter with five strikeouts.

He then capped off his sparkling career by striking out 17 and allowing only three hits in Lyndonville’s 3-0 win over Cuba in the 1955 championship game.

During his career, Mapes pitched 8 no hitters which is still the Section V record. In addition to several other shutout wins he also had nine one hitters and one perfect game. He also struck out 441 of the 822 batters he faced.

Mapes’ success on the mound understandably attracted plenty of attention from major league scouts beginning in his sophomore year.

Following his sectional title win over Cuba, Mapes attended tryouts for a number of major league teams and ended up signing with the New York Yankees. He played one season (1956) for the Yankees St. Petersburg team in the Florida League.

Interestingly, the Section V record book also has the names of several other Lyndonville pitchers among its career leaders.

Rob Riemer (1982-84) is second on the career shutout list with 10 while Chris Hayes (1986-89) is tied for fourth with 7 and Terry Stephens (1993-96) and Jeremy Dracup (1998-99) are both tied for fifth with 6. Riemer had 5 shutouts during the 1984 season which is tops on the Section V single season list while Hayes is second with 4 in 1988.