Wells Having Fun Coaching At St. Andrews

Feb 23, 2017 – Fort Pierce, FL - St. Andrews Lions new Head Baseball Coach Andy Wells is picking up right where he left off last year – winning! Wells, who took his John Carroll Golden Rams Baseball Team to the State Final Four last season is off to a 2-0 record at the cross-town rival, including a 12-2 victory of Masters Academy of Vero Beach tonight at the Lawnwood Baseball complex.

Lee Kubitschek pitched for 4.2 innings and recorded nine strikeouts, including 12 first pitch strikes and Brendan O’Shea closed it out for the Lions recording one strike out. Nate Fowler started the game for Masters going three innings with three strike outs before being replaced by Rollie Brown who threw two innings with a strikeout.

Both Fowler and Kubitschek, along with St. Andrews’ Steven Stagg belted two hits each, with Stagg accounting for five RBI’s.

St. Andrews cranked out nine hits and had no errors while Masters Academy had five hits and multiple errors, mostly on infield pop-ups where communication broke down between players, which is not unexpected this early in the season and is correctable through effective coaching – something that Masters Academy has.

As for Wells, he was relaxed and at ease and really seemed to be enjoying himself. He was doing what he told his players to do throughout the game – “just have fun”.

Sometimes we all forget that it is just a game and the players are still just kids. And Wells coaches’ the game the way it should be coached - with lots of fun!

Look for this year’s St. Andrews squad to make a run at the post season.

Golden Rams Off To Strong Start

John Carroll Senior Austin Nirenburg
packs a big punch in a small package.

The John Carroll Golden Rams Baseball Team finished the pre-season looking strong enough to make another deep run into the playoffs, and perhaps a return trip to the Final Four in Fort Myers where their season ended last year. Although the Golden Rams graduated six, including Chase Solosky, the area’s top pitching prospect, and lost their coach to cross town rival St. Andrews, they return a seasoned crew ready to pick things up where they left off last year.

New Coach Dan Taylor, who relocated to the area from North Carolina after being recruited by first year Athletic Director Dave Raym, is sure to bring out the hidden talent in Austin Nirenburg, Joey LeClaire, Michael Pederson and Joshua Harrell, four of the teams Seniors who were on last year’s Regional Championship Squad. Add in Juniors Justin O’Leary and Andrew Borque along with Sophomores Drew Hicks and Michael LaRocca and the team has eight players who were an instrumental part of last year’s championship run.

At the plate Nirenberg has been perfect this preseason going four for four with four RBI’s and stealing one half of the teams total stolen bases, while O’Leary and LaRocca account for the other half. Pederson has also gone four for four this preseason, scoring three runs an RBI and a stand-up triple, while LaClaire has gone three for three at the plate with two runs and an RBI.  The 6’1 LaRocca has also been strong at the plate going three for four, scoring two runs, and two RBI’s with a single, double and a stand-up triple.

Although pitching isn’t the luxury it was last year, the Golden Rams have a rich history of developing strong pitchers, including first round MLB draft pick Colton Willims a few years back. This seasons flame throwers have already recorded a combined 15 strike outs, while allowing only two walks, three hits and two runs. A core of five seasoned pitchers should rotate starts, while four additional pitchers will be available for relief work and to step in in case of injury.

Nirenberg has the most “big game” experience as he closed out the Regional Championship Game last spring. Junior Brian Jacobus, who leads the team in strike outs thus far and has not allowed a hit in the preseason along with Senior Josh Harrell, who has five of the teams 15 strike outs and has allowed only one hit, along with fellow Senior Hiram Garland will get plenty of innings once the season starts. Senior LeClaire and Sophomore LaRocca, the team’s sole southpaw pitcher) will surely add some spice on the mound as well.

John Carroll opened their season with a decisive 9-2 district victory over Jupiter Christian on Monday 2-20.