New Baseball Coach Adds Five to His Pitching Staff

Although newly appointed baseball coach, Mike Stawski, just joined the Spalding Athletic Department a month ago he has hit the ground running on the recruiting trail. When he showed up on campus in early June he inherited a team with only 16 players and 5 of them were pitchers. “I was not too concerned with our numbers when I got here,” Stawski comments, “yes they were low, but I knew I had the whole summer to improve that. Fortunately, I was able to bring in some great recruits over this past month and now our numbers are probably higher than anyone could have expected, including myself.”

Coach has reiterated over and over that he is going to do a bulk of his recruiting outside of the city of Louisville. This rang true when he announced five incoming pitchers that he will add to his pitching staff, none of which are from Louisville. “As I have stated before, my recruiting bases are in Chicago, St. Louis, and Indianapolis. Those are the places I know and am familiar with. Right now I am still trying to learn the city of Louisville, I want the best players from this area, and I will do my best to get them to come to Spalding,” Stawski states.

Two freshmen lead off this recruiting class, both are from Lexington, KY. Frank Carter, who won a state title this year with Lexington Catholic HS and was the tournament MVP, has quickly climbed up Coach Stawski’s board. “I like winners,” Coach states, “I say it all the time that winning is contagious, so I am very excited about having Frank this year because he brings a sense of leadership and the ability to win. Not to mention, he knows how to pitch in the big game, I can see Frank being a special player here.” Another right-handed pitcher from the Lexington area is Jordy Coffey who joins Spalding from Tates Creek HS where he enjoyed an illustrious career. “Jordy’s talent level and ability matches his teammates around him and he will have opportunities early in his career to make a splash on this team.”

Another freshman joins the mix, this time from Shelby County HS. Benjamin Glassner is a right-handed pitcher who has the potential to be a top pitcher on the staff. “Everything I have heard about Ben was that he can really pitch and has a very live arm,” Stawski comments. “What that means to me is that we can get his velocity up quickly and get him polished for college baseball.”

Rounding out the pitching recruits are two transfers, one from Chicago State University, a division I school located in Chicago, IL and the other is Barrett Dugger who joins the team from Coach Stawski’s former school, Webster University in St. Louis, MO. “We expect both of these guys to be difference makers. Kenton is a big right hander who is also a two way guy. He has the ability to make an impact both at the plate and on the mound. “Barrett played for me at my former school,” Stawski continues, “I have high expectations for him. He is also a proven winner and I hope he is able to bring his work ethic and leadership to this team. He knows exactly what it is going to take to win this conference and that is why we are fortunate to have him.”

The baseball team finished up last year with a disappointing record of 12-28 but all that seems to be behind the new coach. “I wasn’t here last year; I did not get a chance to see them play. All we can do is move forward and work for this upcoming year and that is exactly what my staff and I are doing by bringing in these talented guys.”