Ryan Ripken, a senior at Gilman and the son of Orioles Hall of Fame shortstop Cal Ripken, has committed to South Carolina to play baseball.

Ripken, 6 feet 6, is one of four Greyhounds who will sign letters of intent Monday at a special ceremony at the Gilman Athletic Center.

“He’s been terrific for us and it’s a wonderful opportunity for him and I’m sure he’ll make the most of it,” said Gilman coach Larry Sheets. “He had a few choice, quality schools who pursued him. Who wouldn’t want to go to school of the caliber of South Carolina?”

Ripken plays first base and pitches. He is a three-year starter who batted .353 as a junior. According to South Carolina fan site The Big Spur, Ripken chose the Gamecocks over Coastal Carolina, Maryland and Wake Forest.

“It’s great news for Ryan,” said Gilman athletic director Tim Holley, who coached Ripken his freshman year before hiring Sheets. “He’s a solid Division I baseball player, who may go beyond that. South Carolina is a great place for him. They’ll benefit from his presence and he’s a hard worker who is going to get bigger and stronger. His physical maturity is still developing and I think his best years are ahead of him.

“I think he’s going to be a much more imposing athlete at 21 and 22.”

Also signing Monday from Gilman's baseball team are Brandon Casas (Maryland), Thomas O’Neill (Yale) and Seve Llanio (Delaware).

Click here for photos of Ryan Ripken through the years.

Photo of Ryan and Cal Ripken courtesy of 2011 Under Armour All-American Game staff.

Posted by Sandra McKee at 7:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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Coach Bryan Harman has seen a lot of baseball during his time at Westminster (10 years), and Liberty (12 years) before that. So there were no surprises for him when he saw the seedings for the top four 4A Regional seeds -- undefeated Sherwood (16-0) in the west, Eleanor Roosevelt in the south, Chesapeake-AA in the east and his own undefeated Owls (18-0) in the north.

But that's not to say he hasn't been somewhat startled by his own team. He thought the Owls would be good. "I thought maybe 14-4 or 15-3 at the start of the year, because you know there is always going to a slip-up somewhere along the line," he said.

But there haven't been missteps so far this season. Harman said the reason is that his team has been strong in all three aspects of the game.

Led by three seniors -- pitcher Brandon Taylor (6-0, 0.40 ERA), shortstop Brandon Nelson (.500) and catcher Cody Harman (.478) -- the Owls have made only 21 errors in 18 games, produced a team ERA of 1.40 and a team batting average of .394.

"We've had a really good frame of mind," Harman said. "We've come ready to play every day. But now it gets much harder. Now, it only takes one game and it is all over."

The Owls play their first postseason game Monday at home against the winner of Friday's first-round game between Woodlawn and Southwestern at 4 p.m.

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The No. 3 Severna Park baseball team will continue its game against host Glen Burnie on Tuesday at 4 p.m.

The Falcons and Gophers were tied at 8 on Friday when their game was suspended because of darkness.

Glen Burnie had a 6-0 lead after the first five innings, but Severna Park rallied with eight runs in the sixth and seventh innings.

The game will be started in the top of the ninth inning.

Posted by Baltimore Sun sports at 4:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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Loyola outfielder A.J. Lardo visited Maryland nine months ago and then watched about 10 of his friends sign with the Terps while he went off to look at Harvard, Dartmouth and Columbia.

But Sunday night, Lardo a near-6-foot left fielder who bats and pitches right-handed and led the state in stolen bases last season with 34, gave his word to Maryland coach Eric Bakich that he will be a Terp after he graduates from Loyola next Spring.

"Maryland was the first school I visited, and Coach Bakich was so enthusiastic," Lardo said. "He was hired to take Maryland's baseball program from the middle of the pack to the top of the ACC. It stuck in my mind. Maryland is an hour from home; it plays in the ACC, the best baseball conference in the country; and his philosophy is to recruit hard in Maryland.

"After visiting the Ivy League schools, at the end of the day, it just seemed like Maryland was the best fit for me."

It wasn't just baseball that drew Lardo. The Loyola senior has worked hard to maintain a 3.9 or 4.0 grade-point average each semester because he wants to pursue his education in business, engineering or a science, like biology.

"I study a lot," he said. "Academics are important to me. One of my friends signed, K.J. Hockaday from John Carroll. I grew up playing my whole life with him. He committed a year ago to Maryland, but I wanted to make sure it was right for me. ... After visiting the Ivys, I wasn't sure I was ready for the Ivy League. They're further from home, and they don't have the same vibe. I don't think I'm that type of person. Maryland is more laid-back."

Lardo said he will spend this year working on his arm strength and batting eye. While he hit about .430 last season, he said a lot of his hits came on his ability to beat out throws for infield hits.

"I've been striking out a lot, and I need to stop chasing bad pitches," he said. "But my speed is really important both in getting on base and stealing bases."

Besides Hockaday, Lardo will be joining Bobby Ruse of C. Milton Wright, Shane Campbell of Kenwood, Will Bouey of Sherwood, and Corey Britton of Atholton at Maryland.

The actual signing of commitment papers will be in November. Lardo could change his mind, but he says it is very unlikely.

"You're locked in unless you want a bad reputation," he said. "I gave my word, and I'm really excited. It's been a really stressful year, looking at the schools, making sure I chose the one that would be right for me academically and athletically.

"I can get a good education at Maryland, and I'm eager to help Coach Bakich build the program. I'm ready to go now; Ready to earn a starting position."

Posted by Sandra McKee at 7:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
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Here's a look at coaches picks for the All-Monocacy Valley Athletic League, Chesapeake Conference baseball team. The eight-team league consists entirely of teams from Carroll County.

Continue reading "All-Chesapeake Conference baseball team " »

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Havre de Grace seniors David Jacobs and Zack Tabor, team captains on the baseball team and three-sport athletes, will share the honor of class valedictorian after each finished their academic careers with identical 4.31 grade-point averages.

Jacobs entered the final quarter with a 4.25 GPA, while Tabor was just behind with a 4.23. Jacobs is set to attend Arcadia with hopes of playing soccer and baseball, while Tabor moves on to play football at Penn. Graduation at Havre de Grace is set for today.

"It almost seems fitting that they tied. It's really the perfect way to honor and conclude the high school careers of two student-athletes I'm privileged to have simply met, let alone coached," Havre de Grace baseball coach Sean Welsh said.

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Gatorade on Wednesday named Hammond senior Travis Clark its 2010 Maryland Baseball Player of the Year.

The third baseman had a monster year for the No. 3 Bears (21-3), batting .456 with eight home runs, 35 RBIs and an .897 slugging percentage. He reached base via a hit or walk in every game this season.

Clark, who will continue his career at the University of South Carolina-Aiken, also was a top pitcher, posting a 5-0 record with one save, and a 1.98 ERA. He struck out 32 in 28.1 innings.
He maintains a weighted 3.07 GPA and volunteers locally as a summer youth baseball coach.

The award recognizes not only athletic achievement, but also academics and character on and off the field. Clark is now a finalist for the Gatorade National Baseball Player of the Year award, to be announced later this month.

-- Rich Scherr

Posted by Baltimore Sun sports at 9:14 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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Game time for Sunday's MIAA A Conference baseball final between No. 4 Gilman and No. 7 Calvert Hall has been moved to 4 p.m. at Ripken Stadium in Aberdeen, the conference announced Friday. The game originally had been scheduled for 1:30.

While Gilman would clinch the title with a victory, a Calvert Hall win in the double-elimination tournament would force a decisive elimination game Monday at 6:30.

In the B Conference, Annapolis Area Christian now will face Park on Monday at 4. Again, Park can clinch with a victory. If not, the decisive game would take place Tuesday at 6:30.

-- Rich Scherr

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Georgia Tech junior pitcher Kevin Jacob has been named to the 2010 Baseball America Preseason All-America Team.

Jacob, who earned first-team All-Metro honors at Parkville as a senior in 2007, went 5-3 with a 4.69 ERA for Georgia Tech in 22 appearances last season, mostly in relief.

The 6-foot-6 right hander finished with 54 strikeouts in 55.2 innings.

Posted by Baltimore Sun sports at 9:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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The Wesley College baseball team has named senior third baseman Grant Morlock (Fallston) its captain for the 2010 season.

Morlock, a three-year starter, had a standout season as a junior, finishing in the Capital Athletic Conference’s top 10 in seven offensive categories, including second in walks (33) and third in on-base percentage (.492). He led the Wolverines in both of those categories and tied for the team lead in home runs (six) and extra-base hits (20).

“Grant has been a big part of Wesley baseball these last three years, and I am proud to have him” as captain, coach Tripp Keister said. “He has been a leader both on and off the field since he arrived at Wesley, and he will play an integral role in our upcoming season.”

Morlock has batted .334 over his college career, with a .494 slugging percentage and a .448 on-base percentage.

Posted by Steve Gould at 6:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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C. Milton Wright junior pitcher Bobby Ruse has orally committed to play baseball for Maryland, Mustangs coach Tony Blackburn said Thursday.

Ruse went 4-2 for C.M. Wright as a sophomore and this past fall pitched for the Oriolelanders fall showcase team, coached by former Orioles minor leaguer Tim Norris.

Maryland, which ushered in a new coaching staff this season, was “very aggressive” in its recruitment of Ruse, who is the third local player in his class to commit to the Terps, Blackburn said.

“They want to keep the local kids from leaving Maryland,” Blackburn said.

Ruse “has a very smooth delivery,” said Blackburn, who said he was echoing the sentiments of new Terps pitching coach Sean Kenny. “Every time he goes out there, he’s smoothing out. ... His mechanics are becoming sounder. You can tell he’s been putting in the work in the offseason.”

Ruse has worked out in the offseason with close friend and fellow Mustangs pitcher Bradley Markey, a senior who signed a national letter of intent in November to play for Georgia Tech.

Posted by Steve Gould at 3:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
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The only question to be asked is why wasn't the wonderful Carlo Crispino Stadium at Calvert Hall chosen the National Baseball Field of the Year last year?

The answer, chuckles Calvert Hall baseball coach Lou Eckerl, is that "No one knew about it two years ago. We weren't nominated."

An egregious error at that.

Designed by Ripken Design in conjunction with Whiting-Turner and Ballard Sports and finished two years ago for $1.8 million, it is a pro stadium in miniature. It comes complete with covered grandstands, a beautiful turf playing field and a perfect pitcher's mound.

"The only dirt on that entire field is on the mound," Eckerl said. "If it stops raining we can play. If it's a downpour and it stops, 15 or 20 minutes later we can play. In the two years we've had it we've only been rained out once -- when it never stopped raining."

It's one thing to win an award when a panel of judges picks from a limited number of entries, but this field was chosen from the best of every field around the country. Each district has a chairman who is supposed to poll every single high school team in each of his states to gather information in order to determine a District Field of the Year.

I say "supposed to poll" because if that was done the first year the Calvert Hall stadium was played in, wouldn't someone have nominated it?

"We wouldn't nominate ourselves," said Eckerl, whose team is 53-11 on the field, and has continued an unmatched success story on the surface, claiming five straight MIAA titles and the No. 1 ranking in The Sun's poll four of the past five years, including three straight heading into the coming season. "That would be a little conceited. And others, maybe there was a little jealousy at first. This year, we're part of District 2. It so happened our district chairman was the head baseball coach at Paul VI in Virginia. We played them here last year and he saw how wonderful our field was and nominated us. "

After being nominated, all aspects of the field are judged and the school is asked to send photos from various defined angles (behind home plate, out in center field, etc.), as well as other pictures that best show off the facility. Coaches then vote to determine the district winner.

From there the eight District winners are presented at the NHSBC National meeting, the photos are laid out and voted upon by the district commissioners and the field with the highest point total is declared the winner.

"I feel really fortunate to have this field for our team to play on," Eckerl said. "And I express that to our players, reminding them how fortunate we are to have the support, to have people come forward to put up the money so that we can have something like this field get accomplished. We're really blessed.

"I think our players will really see that when they move on to college and start playing on other baseball fields."

There aren't a lot of fields like Carlo Crispino Stadium, that's for sure. And if some other field wins next year, Calvert Hall should demand an investigation.

"I will say there hasn't been any problems with this field," Eckerl said. "We really put a lot of thought into it, really took our time. No one comes off this field saying, it should have this or that.

"I really think we got it perfect. The sightlines are good and it is a phenomenal place to play."

Posted by Sandra McKee at 6:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
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The Hammond baseball team has placed four players on the Maryland State Association of Baseball Coaches preseason team, a rare number thought to be a possible state record.

“I can remember Calvert Hall having three,” said Mount St. Joseph coach Dave Norton, who has been coaching the game for 35 years. “But I can’t recall four. It’s very, very unusual for schools to have multiple players.”

Hammond’s team members are all seniors: pitcher-third baseman Travis Clark, first baseman Tyler Clark, pitcher Danny Wissmann and shortstop Jared Christensen.

“This is crazy,” Tyler Clark said. “Me and my brother made it last year, and it’s rare to make it as juniors. Now, to make it a second year is pretty rare, and then to have four of us on the same team — crazy.”

The team consists of the 30 players Maryland high school coaches think will the best performers in the coming season. The team members will be honored Feb. 20 at a banquet at Camden Yards.

“There are probably 2,200 starters in the state, and about 1 percent of them make the team,” Eastern Tech coach Ty Whittaker said. “Just having one kid from a team make it is a major, major honor. To have two is saying something. To have four is unbelievable. It’s a testament that that coach is grooming his players the right way.”

Doing the grooming at Hammond is Mike Lerner, who has been coaching the Golden Bears for nine years. He has had the Clark twins and Christensen on his team four years, while Wissmann transferred in last season.

“It’s nice to have so many,” Lerner said. “But it’s a testament to their hard work and dedication to get to this level. It’s all about them and their accomplishments.”

The Clarks and Christensen will be four-year starters. A year ago, the Bears finished 15-3, getting upset in regionals. But Tyler Clark says Hammond is expecting much more this time around.

“We only lost two starters from last season,” he said. “And the seven of us who are back all have three years of starting experience, we’re expecting do a whole lot more, absolutely.”

-- Sandra McKee

Posted by Steve Gould at 6:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)
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C. Milton Wright senior pitcher Bradley Markey will sign a national letter of intent today to play baseball at Georgia Tech, Mustangs coach Tony Blackburn said.

Posted by Kevin Eck at 1:45 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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K.J. Hockaday, a junior at John Carroll, has orally committed to play college baseball at the University of Maryland. But, Hockaday's new coach, Joe Stetka, said his shortstop-third baseman may never make it to Maryland.

"He seems very excited about committing to Maryland," Stetka said. "But he's a tremendous athlete. Down the road, we'll see if he goes to Maryland, because I think he has a strong shot of getting drafted at the end of his senior season."

But for now, the prospect of John Carroll having a player of a caliber that interests Maryland is good for John Carroll.

"The MIAA [Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association) A Conference is a tough, tough league," said Stetka, who was an assistant coach at C. Milton Wright last season. "Last year John Carroll was below .500. We have a great facility and I'm trying to get kids to come here to play. To do that, we have to build respect for our program. Having a player like K.J. committed to Maryland certainly helps that. That kid just wants to get better every day."

Stetka said his goal for the program is to make the playoffs this season, something it hasn't done in more than a decade.

"I'm not tiptoeing in to this," Stetka said. "I'm jumping in. Having K.J., who is a tremendous high school shortstop and very outgoing, says good things about John Carroll. Having him will help me to get kids to believe in the program."

- Sandra McKee

Posted by baltimoresun.com at 2:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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John Carroll named Joe Stetka, The Baltimore Sun’s 2008 All-Metro Coach of the Year, the school’s varsity baseball coach.

Stetka coached at C. Milton Wright the past six years.

As the Mustangs’ interim head coach in 2008, he took the varsity team to the Class 4A North regional title and the 4A state championship game, in which they lost to Sherwood, 7-6, in extra innings.

Stetka is also an associate scout for the Orioles and an instructor for Ripken Baseball.

Posted by Steve Gould at 6:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
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The "first ever" Maryland Futures baseball team sponsored by the Maryland State Association of Baseball Coaches, the state high school baseball coaches association, rallied from a four-run deficit in the bottom of the seventh inning of its final game to beat Illinois, 9-8, on Aug. 1, in the team's final game of the Midwest Classic Baseball Tournament in Plainfield, Ill.

The win allowed the Maryland team to finish undefeated with a 5-0 record.

Earlier in the day, Maryland knocked off previously unbeaten Indiana, 9-3. The Maryland Futures is made up of 18 of the top rising high school seniors in the state, as selected by the MSABC.

Among area players on the team are: Zach Andrews (Arundel), Michael Marsh (Chesapeake), Kyle Convissar (Severna Park), Travis Clark (Hammond), Dominic Fratantuono (Cardinal Gibbons), Travis Steele (Reservoir), Andrew Jenkins (Arundel), Zach Fitzpatrick (McDonogh), Zach Nadolny (Bel Air) and Jason Seitler (Chesapeake).

Posted by Sandra McKee at 5:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
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