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2006 baseball season preview March 22, 2006
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 The
Good Counsel baseball team will be leaning left this year. No, the Falcons
aren’t swaying one way or another politically. Rather, their inclinations
center on two left-handed pitchers, Steve Ulaky and Christian Schulz, who
will form perhaps the most feared one-two punch in the Washington Catholic
Athletic Conference. Ulaky compiled a 4-1 record with a 3.06 earned-run
average last year. Schulz complemented Ulaky by going 3-1 on the mound
with three saves, a 1.70 ERA and 50 strikeouts in 33 innings. They are
surrounded by a lineup that includes senior center fielder Ryan Bottegal
(.484, 17 RBI, 10 stolen bases), junior left fielder Billy Hening (.478,
20 runs, 15 RBI), senior right fielder Kevin Jones (.415, 16 RBI) and shortstop
Colin Stevens (.311, 4 HRs, 14 RBI). Ulaky, who will split first-base duties
with Schulz, will bat cleanup, where he produced a .418 average and 23
RBI a year ago.
In the Montgomery County public-school ranks a handful of players appear ready to take control. Blake’s Matt Schrader, Magruder’s Matt Sweeney and Mitch Levine, Paint Branch’s Chris Carey, Springbrook’s Kevin Hessler and Harold Brantley, and Blair’s Tommy Dugan. Levine, Sweeney, Brantley and Hessler were already named to the Maryland State Association of Baseball Coaches Preseason All-State Team. Springbrook’s Hessler was one of the county’s best hurlers as a sophomore in 2005, producing a 5-1 record with a save, 96 strikeouts and a 1.51 ERA in 51 1-3 innings. He also batted .424 with seven doubles, three triples and 14 RBI. He’ll play first base when not pitching. Hessler will be joined in the pitching rotation by junior pitcher-infielder Danny Green, who produced a 4-5 record and a 3.80 ERA in 46 1-3 innings a year ago. The Blue Devils’ top offensive threat is Brantley, a speedy outfielder who hit .423 with 27 runs, 15 extra-base hits, 20 RBI and 14 stolen bases. He and Sweeney participated in last summer’s Mid-Atlantic High School Baseball Classic, a showcase for rising seniors. Schrader, a burly third baseman at Blake, broke onto the scene last year by setting 11 school records, including single-season marks in average (.581), slugging percentage (1.326), home runs (9) and RBI (30). In a single game last year, the senior belted three home runs and knocked in 10 runs. He is joined by Hartford-bound senior pitcher Zack Tarner (3-3, 3.88 ERA), sophomore left-handed pitcher-outfielder Ryan Rehman (2-1, 4.11 ERA, .304 batting average), senior catcher Jose Flores (.345) and senior center fielder T.J. Deane (.235), who hope to improve on the Bengals’ 8-9 mark a year ago. According to Blake coach Steve Murfin, the potential ‘‘to be better than last year is there with four players who batted over .300 on the season and four pitchers who saw action last year.” But the Bengals are young — four position players are underclassmen, and three underclassmen will serve as role players. Magruder’s Sweeney mashed the ball last year in what was his best high-school season to date. The senior corner infielder hit .463 and finished with six home runs, 28 RBI and 24 runs scored. Last summer, he added 14 home runs with 41 RBI (during the regular season) for Gaithersburg Post 104 and was named to the Louisville Slugger’s Pre-Season High School All-American Baseball Team. Sweeney is surrounded by a solid contingent that includes Levine, a senior who batted .385 with 34 runs, 13 RBI and 16 stolen bases; senior second baseman Ross Sweeney; and senior pitchers Sean Hagen and Jon Brandon. ‘‘If our pitching holds up, I think that we’re going to be very, very competitive,” said Colonels coach Bob Maxey, who will step down after this season to become a resource teacher at the new Clarksburg High. ‘‘We’re going to score some runs. We have a pretty potent offensive lineup. We’ll try to outslug as many people as we can.” At Paint Branch, Carey is coming off a surprising 2005 season. He was penciled in to play second fiddle to Riverdale Baptist transfer Jason Kitchen last year, but when Kitchen went down with an injury, Carey guided the Panthers to the regional semifinals with his bat and his right arm. At the plate, Carey batted .435 with 26 RBI and 14 runs while producing a 2-0 record with a save and a 2.33 ERA on the mound. He’ll share top pitching honors with sophomore right-hander Travis Hart, a JV call-up late last year. The team’s other key players will be senior right fielder Tony Ayigah (.412, 10 RBI), senior shortstop Drew Bergeris (.308, 15 RBI) and sophomore catcher Michael Brown, whom Paint Branch coach Drew Zachry believes will be a college prospect by his senior year. ‘‘It’s going to be all about how we gel as a team,” said Zachry, who lost several key players to graduation. ‘‘We’re don’t have many guys who are going to be [all-county] players, but top to bottom, they guys are pretty consistent and pretty good. Pitching is where we’re strongest.” Blair’s Dugan, a senior pitcher-center fielder, didn’t gain quite the recognition as those other players, but he did have a stellar 2005 campaign, hitting .424 with seven doubles, two triples, 15 RBI, 21 runs and nine stolen bases. On the mound, he went 3-0 with a save a year ago. He’ll be counted on doing all of those things again this year to help his squad to another winning record despite some key personnel losses. ‘‘We have to play to our potential to be above .500 this year,” Blazers coach John McDonald said. ‘‘If the right kids step up, we can be competitive, but it will take everyone playing well.” Senior catcher Lee Shields, senior left fielder Avi Wolfman, senior shortstop Sam Morris and junior pitcher-fielder Adam Kopp are the team’s other top players. They all struggled at the varsity level last year, but McDonald believes they will improve drastically this spring. Like Blair, Sherwood finished with 11 wins in 2005, a year after reaching the 4A state final for the first time. The team’s fortunes this year lie in the hands of three-year starting pitcher Brian Moran, a lefty who compiled a 4-2 record and a 2.80 ERA with 15 pickoffs, senior catcher-center fielder Dan Liscinsky (.350), senior infielder Cory Estrain (.300) and junior shortstop Carter Wilson (.345). ‘‘We seem to have depth in pitching — need to hit the ball and play error-free defense,” Sherwood coach Billy Goodman said. ‘‘We have a young, inexperienced squad.” Einstein and Wheaton combined for just seven wins a year ago but both return more experienced lineups. The Knights, who played six sophomores last spring, will rely on senior pitcher Scott Bergwall, junior catcher-pitcher Carlos Pedroza, junior second baseman-pitcher John Bergwall and junior shortstop-pitcher Elijah Davis. ‘‘We need to throw strikes and play good defense in order to keep ourselves in games,” said new Wheaton coach Eric Zolkiewicz, who coached softball at the school for seven years. Fast facts Blair Blazers
Blake Bengals
Einstein Titans
Good Counsel Falcons
Magruder Colonels
Paint Branch Panthers
Springbrook Blue Devils
Wheaton Knights
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