O'Connell Baseball Season Underway

By DAVID STEINBACHER
Special to the HERALD
(From the issue of 4/4/02)

The Bishop O’Connell Knights baseball program has been one of the best in the area in recent seasons. The Knights, coached by Gary Rucker (fifth season), are the defending W.C.A.C. Champions. Varsity assistants include Joe Kirchner, Mike Murray and Pat Tarr.

Last spring, O’Connell defeated Carroll, DeMatha and Gonzaga (in the quarterfinals, semifinals and finals) en route to the 2001 Washington Catholic Athletic Conference Championship. The Knights finished 27-4 overall in one of their most successful seasons ever.

This season, the Knights are quite young, and weigh in with a 1-2 record. The "Blue and Silver" has defeated Landon 5-3, but has dropped games to Georgetown Prep 8-7 and to St. Albans 4-3 (nine innings). (Regular season games are seven innings.)
"We are fairly inexperienced this season. We are trying to settle down and figure out which players to insert into certain positions," said Coach Rucker.
As of now, the Knights number one starting pitcher is junior lefthander Billy Tinsley (1-0 record).
Other pitchers of note include: junior right-hander J.J. Pannell (0-1); junior right-hander Ben Mulloy (0-1); senior right-hander Mike Binns; junior right-hander John Tato and junior lefthander Jon Hill. The catching position is currently split between junior Steve Fay and junior Matt Fitzgerald (both bat right-handed). Tinsley plays first base when not pitching (bats right-handed). When Tinsley pitches, junior Logan Wyllie plays first base (bats right-handed).

Sophomore Bush Hamdan plays second base (bats right-handed) in the spring and quarterbacks in the fall. Senior Mike Binns plays third base — has yet to pitch in the young season (bats right-handed).

Junior Eddie Chapman plays shortstop (bats right-handed). Senior Andy Puglisi plays right field (bats right-handed). During the 2001 season, Puglisi batted .428 and garnered first-team All-W.C.A.C. honors. Junior Joe Kirchner plays centerfield (bats right-handed).

"Our left field position has definitely been by committee thus far this season" said Rucker. Manning the position in the young season have been senior Ryan Fay (bats right-handed), junior Mike Sieve (bats right-handed) and J.J. Pannell (bats right-handed) — when not pitching.

During the 2001 season, Pannell garnered second-team All-W.C.A.C. honors; Tinsley, Steve Fay and Fitzgerald were honorable mention W.C.A.C.

"The W.C.A.C. is a very difficult league. Despite our success last year, we’re going to have to learn how to win all over again this season," said Rucker.

"Thus far this season, our defense has been very solid. However, we have walked too many batters, and our hitting must improve," said senior tri-captain Mike Binns.

A host of Knights are playing college ball — class of ’98: Gibran Hamdan - Indiana, Shane Griswold - Radford, Brian Laniak - Elon, Chris Amorosi - J.M.U.; class of ’99: Evan Howard - G.M.U.; class of ’00: Kevin Healy - William and Mary, Justin Brandt - Elizabethtown (Pa.), Bernie Davis - C.U.A.; class of ’01: Todd Schneider - final cut at Notre Dame – despite a stellar career at O’Connell. Schneider was the winning pitcher last spring, when the Knights defeated Gonzaga 1-0 for the W.C.A.C. Title.

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