When Coach Mike Kelly’s Webster Yankees take the field Thursday in their season- opener of the New York Collegiate Baseball League (NYCBL), he will rely on his team’s experience to pick up where they left off last year.
The Yankees return seven players from last season’s squad that won nineteen of its last twenty-three games and qualified for the league playoffs in their first year of existence. Kelly has also added three other players with NYCBL experience.
The second-year coach will look to Webster Schroeder grads, Shawn Bailey and Adam Curynski. “Those two were a big reason why we qualified for the Junior College World Series,” said the Tribune assistant coach of Bailey and Curynski’s contributions to this year’s Monroe Community College team.
The Webster tandem will be joined by Fairport native, Adam Perlo and Towson University’s, Jason Stifler. Perlo was also a part of the Tribune’s run to the JUCO World Series. Stifler, a catcher, was a big part of last year’s late-season turnaround. “His arm made base runners think twice about attempting to steal,” said Yankees’ assistant Dave Brust.
Fairport native, Bryan Gardner , infielder, Gary Hemlick, and Eugene Offerman round out the returning players for the Yankees.
The Yankees’ opponent in Thursday’s opener, the Brockport Riverbats, will see some familiar faces in the Yankee lineup: Ryan Sullivan and Blair Veenama. “Both Sullivan and Veenama played for the ‘Bats last season”, mentioned Kelly. “We’ll look to them for added experience”.
Bishop Kearney grad, Nelson Santos will help solidify the Yankee infield. The Rochester native was part of Dave Herbst’s Geneva Red Wings’ lineup last year.
The Yankees have added two other MCC stars: Brian Pullyblank and Mark Stuckless. Pittsford’s Chris Coleman will also join the team. The remaining players include Jacob Bernath and Josh Johnson of Toledo University, Kevin Carmody and Robert DiNuzzo from Iona College, Rob Lawler from Pitt, Joe McIntyre who plays for North Carolina A&T, Marcus Nidiffer from the University of Kentucky, and Brad Robbins from UVA.
The Yanks will look to build on last year’s success. “We lost in game three of the playoffs on a walk-off homer,” said Kelly. “That’s how close we were to advancing.” And the Webster resident knows plenty about advancing in the post-season. In 1996 he helped MCC win the Region III Division I Championship. Kelly went on to play at Brockport State where he was a part of an Eagles’ team that won a then-school record twenty-seven games. He has spent the past eight seasons as an assistant coach with MCC.
This team of college players looking to make the jump into professional baseball needs to look no further than their assistant coach for advice. Brust, a third team All-American for the Tribunes, also went on to star at Ball State where he earned a Mid-American All-Conference selection in 1989. Later Brust was drafted by the Atlanta Braves and played in their farm system for three years with the likes of current major leaguers Chipper Jones, Ryan Klesko, and Javy Lopez. While playing for the Durham Bulls, Brust was coached by current Los Angeles Dodger coach, Grady Little. “What you see of Grady on television is what he is in real life,” said Brust speaking fondly of his former skipper. “Grady is a genuine human being.”
The Yankees open with five games on the road before playing the Elmira Pioneers on June thirteenth at R-L Thomas. First pitch for the home opener is scheduled for 5p.m. Because of unforeseen difficulties in the construction of their new park, the Yankees will play their home games at three sites this season: Webster Thomas, Monroe Community College, and St. John Fisher.
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