LH baseball team rebuilding behind one letterman
When Laurel Highlands started baseball workouts a few days ago, Tommy Landman must have felt that he had walked onto the wrong field. He recognized only one returning letterman.
Actually, that’s all the veteran Mustang coach has returning this year – one letterman from last year’s lineup that finished 16-6 overall, went to the WPIAL playoffs, and beat Chartiers Valley, 6-1 before losing 4-1 to Upper St. Clair.
Landman, now in his 24th year with the Mustangs and the “Dean” of Fayette County scholastic baseball coaches, will be looking to build this year’s edition around his only letterman, infielder-pitcher Paul Briczinski.
His first task is replacing 12 graduated players, nine of whom went on to college. Ryan Gondek (RF), Dan Fuller (LF), Steve Strange (LF) and catcher Brian Hudock are all at Penn State-Fayette; Santino Sloboda (1B), Potomac State, W. Va.; Brad Yohman (P), Penn State’s main campus; Aaron Lowden (C) and Kevin Martin (CF), Garrett County CC, Md., and David Landman (SS), Redford, Va. Also gone are Mike Allison (P), Eric Darr (3B) and Andy Koposko (2B).
Joining Briczinski on the Mustang roster are:
Seniors – Brennen Dayton (C-P), Dan Eddy (P-IF), Frank Faust (IF), Justin Luckey (OF-P), Evan McCann (IF), Mike Ostrosky (OF), Andre Rolaf (IF-OF-P), Scott Russell (IF-P), and D.J. Yonash (IF-P).
Juniors – Tim Dye (IF), Josh Guittap (OF-P), Brian Lipchinsky (IF), Bob Madison (IF), Bob McLaughlin (OF-P), Paul Metz (IF), Greg Palladino (OF-P), Ken Riddell (OF), and Nick Softcheck (IF-P).
Sophomores – Matt Chiplasky (C), Ben Eddy (OF), Colby Lecky (IF-P), Nick Midlik (IF-P), and Phil Wrona (IF).
Ron Popovich is assisting Landman with the varsity. John (Bull) Warrick, long-time Fay-West player for Mill Run, coaches the jayvees, assisted by Scott DeBerry, who played for Hopwood in the FCBL, and Ross Girard, another long-time local coaching figure, works with the freshman team.
One bright spot for Landman and his staff has been “their hustle and work in practice. They have a good outlook on the season. Our strong point right at the moment could be pitching, based on what we have seen so far, and hopefully things will get better as they go along.
“Our defense can be good if our pitching is good. If the pitching isn’t good then you can never be sure the defense can compensate for it, no matter what the level of baseball. Pitching keeps you in the game. Connie Mack said that pitching is 90-percent of baseball? Right now we are still putting our staff together, and with six or seven working, we hope to get three or four solid starters. You can never have enough pitching.”
On the other side of the coin, the Mustangs “have to replace almost our whole team from last year. Most of those who graduated were three-year players, and we lost a very high total of experience. But I also see some improvement among those we have coming back.
“Experience and depth are two problems for us, but I feel our players can improve as they go along, for they are hard workers and they want to get on the field in game circumstances.”
In the Section 2-AAAA race, Landman sees “good competition, with Connellsville, Uniontown, Albert Gallatin and Ringgold in the running. However, the WPIAL has cut our section schedule to just eight games, and that is not enough to determine the playoff positions. The section schedule is too small.
“Bob Renzi does a fine coaching job at Connellsville and always has strong teams. Mark Edenfield has Uniontown improving each season and they should be really good this year, and Ringgold could be especially tough with the players they have returning. I’m going to miss coaching against Shawn Chory at Albert Gallatin. He did an outstanding job there over the years and they were especially tough on us at their field.”
The key to the Mustang season is going to be “improving as our younger players get experience, the development of our pitchers, playing some good defense, and staying healthy. Hopefully, we can manufacture some runs.”
A highlight of the schedule will be on Saturday, April 19, with a doubleheader at Hutchinson against New Oxford, Pa., with the visitors playing Uniontown at 11 a.m., and Laurel Highlands at 2 p.m. New Oxford is coached by Laurel Highlands graduate Scott Anderson, son of Mr. And Mrs. Jack Anderson of Hopwood.
The exhibition schedule (4 p.m. unless noted):
March 21, Carmichaels; March 28, Brownsville; March 29, Woodland Hills (12 noon, JV 2:30); April 2, Latrobe; March 3, Hempfield; April 9, at Carmichaels; April 17, at Yough; April 24, at Mount Pleasant; May 2, at Latrobe; May 3, Brownsville; May 8, at Geibel; and May 12, Frazier.
Section Two games (4 p.m.) include:
April 5, Ringgold (12 noon); April 10, at Connellsville; April 12, Albert Gallatin (12 noon, JV 2:30); April 15, at Uniontown (4:30); April 22, at Ringgold; April 26, Connellsville (12 noon, JV 2:30); April 29, at Albert Gallatin; and May 1, Uniontown.
Additional JV games (4 p.m.) include April 4, at Hempfield; April 5, Ringgold (2:30); April 11, at Connellsville (4:30); April 4, at Uniontown; April 21, at Frazier (DH, 11 a.m.); and May 6, Uniontown (DH, 12 noon).