'Twas old home week at SAL All-Star game



Michael Ohlman and J.R. Murphy, AAU teammates a decade ago ...



... and as SAL All-Stars on June 21

It must’ve been like old times for a couple of Bradenton kids on the first day of summer.

Boyhood pals J.R. Murphy and Michael Ohlman caught in the Class-A South Atlantic League All-Star game June 21 in Salisbury, Md.

J.R., who represented the Yankees’ Charleston RiverDogs, caught for the South.

Michael, with the Orioles’ Delmarva Shorebirds, caught for the North.

Both had baseball scholarships to Miami, but went pro after the 2009 draft in which J.R. was a second-round pick and Michael, an 11th-rounder.

The Yankees have since promoted J.R. to their FSL ballclub in Tampa.

Good to hear Brian Schultz’s voice, literally.

His vocal chords were affected by neck surgery and he couldn’t talk for months.

He's good now.

“He hasn’t shut up for three days,” wife Julia joked.

Singer and pianist Eli Mattson, the runnerup in season three’s America’s Got Talent, will be busy Saturday night at McKechnie Field. He’ll sing our national anthem pregame, “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” during the seventh-inning stretch and perform a post-game concert.

Good luck to father-and-son partners Patrick J. and Patrick S. George and their crew at the new Jersey Mike’s, 4020 14th St. W. They are Garret Barth, Anthony Catlett, Tiffany Curtiss, Aaron Gilbert, Don Johnson, Michele Lakey, Mark Mallioux, Chris Martin, Jenny Sutton, Jose Torres, Grey Tinkham, Colson Vautrinot, Daphne VonCannon and Shai Williams.

Read more in Friday's Vin's People on Bradenton.com.