(FIle Photo: Source for Photo: In this April 4, 2020, photo, a youth baseball field sits empty at Monroeville Park in Monroeville, Pa. The Monroeville Baseball Association is among thousands of youth baseball leagues across the country that are in danger of having their seasons cancelled as part of the COVID-19 pandemic. (AP Photo/Will Graves)

Noah Haswell, Beaver County Radio News

(Baltimore, MD) A Hopewell High School graduate made his Major League Baseball debut with the Tampa Bay Rays on Saturday. Left-handed pitcher Joe Rock contributed to the 11-3 win for the Rays that day against the Baltimore Orioles. Rock was called up previously in the day ahead of the afternoon matinee for the Rays against the Orioles. He got a ranking of the number 21 prospect in the system for the Rays. Rock appeared in the bottom of the eighth inning and lasted two innings. Rock had four strikeouts and allowed four hits. A two-run home run for the Orioles in the bottom of the ninth inning was the reason for the only two runs that Rock gave up. Rock got a 3-5 record this season at Triple-A Durham, getting 14 starts and getting 63 strikeouts through throwing 73 innings with a 4.81 ERA. Rock was a junior at Hopewell when he earned all-section honors there as a junior with an 8-3 record and a 1.30 ERA with 108 strikeouts. The left-handed pitcher was ranked the No. 9 pitcher in the state ahead of his high-school graduation. He then pitched for Ohio University concluding his collegiate career with the Bobcats with a 3.47 ERA, 158 strikeouts and held opponents with a batting average of just .239. He has pitched in the system for the Rays for the past two years after being with the Colorado Rockies for the first years of his professional career. The Rockies picked Rock in the 2021 MLB Draft as the 68th overall pick.