By David McElhinny

Each year, before the season begins, Peters Township’s baseball team hosts a youth clinic. The varsity and junior varsity players wear their uniforms and work the event, helping to teach the fundamentals of the game to eager, wide-eyed young ballplayers.

Head coach Joe Maize feels the clinic is an important facet of the program and serves a couple of different purposes.

“It helps the younger kids to learn the game and get excited about someday playing varsity baseball and it also helps our players to remember that they are role models to these younger guys and therefore need to conduct themselves like role models,” says Maize.

Win or lose, those are the kinds of qualities that Maize demands from his players, his school and himself.

Coming into the 2005 season, the prospect of duplicating the kind of success the program enjoyed just a year earlier were kind of bleak.

After all, the team had just two returning starters (Ryan Maize and Jason Conley) from a 2004 team that made it to the Class AAA state championship game. The fact that they lost several high profile players to graduation, six of whom went on to play collegiately, had few expecting big things from the Indians.

Few people that is except their coaches and players who were determined not to be judged as simply the team that followed a great 2004 season.

Maize, who has been at the helm for 19 seasons, took a look at the determination in the eyes of his team before the season and he knew they could be something special.

“I told them before our first game that they were probably tired of hearing about last year’s team. I reminded them they had a chance to develop their own identity. I told them that I knew how talented they were and just how capable I felt this team could be.”

And create their own identity they did, becoming the first team in school history to eclipse 20 wins in a season (21-6) as they made it to the state championship game for the second year in a row.

“A lot of people were saying that we weren’t going to do very well this year and that really served as motivation for us,” said senior Ben Cain, who had a pair of hits in the championship game.

“We might not have been the most talented team you’ll ever see, but we were a scrappy, hardworking group who would find a way to win. That was our attitude and playing here has shown me that no matter what somebody says, if you work hard you can achieve great things.”

Teammate Ryan Maize, who will play college ball at Shippensburg in the fall echoed those statements.

“It’s been a great couple of years here,” he said. “I just feel so fortunate to have had the opportunity to play with so many talented kids. Everybody on this team worked very hard for our success.”

In the title game against Lampeter-Strasburg, Peters Township showed the fighting spirit that epitomizes the program as they erased a 5-0 early deficit, taking a 6-5 lead late in the game. While the team ultimately lost 8-7 in a heartbreaker, the loss certainly doesn’t mar an unbelievable season.

“We began working way back in January, taking fly balls in the snow and hitting in the cages,” said senior Adam Toohey, who plans to attend Indiana University of Pennsylvania in the fall where he will study special education.

“All the way through our lineup, from one to nine, we were a tough out and I think that was because everybody on this team worked hard to put themselves in position to be successful.”
Being able to put state silver medals around a player’s necks is something special for a coach, but it had extra meaning for Maize as his sons, Ryan (center field), a senior, and Aaron (third base), a sophomore, are on the team.

“I get goose bumps just thinking about it,” Coach Maize said.

“Being able to share that experience with my sons is something that I’ll always cherish.”

Considering the fact that in Maize’s first 16 years as head coach the team made the playoffs just three times, the fact that he has guided the program to the WPIAL and state playoffs, with two PIAA finals appearances and a semifinal berth in the past three seasons, fans are now talking about this being a wildly successful program. But to Maize, success isn’t only measured in wins and losses and he feels they have always been successful.

“I’m proud of the high quality of kids that have come through here. We have a lot of former players that have experienced success on and off the field when they left Peters Township and that is very gratifying. Not only have we had many athletes play at the next level, but our program has also produced doctors, teachers and many very successful individuals.”

During his tenure, the program has produced four players who have gone on to sign professional contracts: Joe Kail (Rangers system and current Peters Township assistant coach), Chris Peters (Pirates), Brian Simmons (White Sox, Blue Jays) and Jason DiAngelo (Rockies system) “Not too many programs can boast four kids who played in the pros,” said Maize.

While Maize receives a lot of the focus for what he’s been able to accomplish, he is quick to point out that he gets a lot of help from a dedicated coaching staff who have stuck around year in and year out to give the program the consistency it now enjoys.

Assistant coach Rudy Pokorny has been with the program for years and Maize believes he deserves much of the credit.

“Rudy is the most knowledgeable baseball mind in this area. He is a big reason for our success. Rudy is our third base coach and when people ask me why I don’t coach third, I tell them it’s because nobody can do it better than Rudy can.”

Mark Eckels, who volunteers his time, is the team’s pitching coach and has a knack for developing the talented young hurlers who seem to sprout up every season.

Kail, who commands a lot of respect from the players due to the fact that he has played professionally, works with the infielders and plays first base.

And the junior varsity program, which is coached by Jack Kerekes, has been a great resource that helps the team reload each season. In fact, in 2004, the JV went 16-1 and was full of players who would have started varsity in most other schools.

“A revolving door of coaching has a negative impact on a program. These guys have stayed with us, committed their time and effort and that’s a pretty special thing,” said Coach Maize.

Another reason for the excitement surrounding the team could be the fact that baseball games at the school many times take on a Friday night football feel. With a first class facility that is one of the few in the area to host night games, upwards of 1,000 fans have been known to come out to cheer on the Indians.

“Playing at our field is unbelievable because of the number of people who come out to see the games,” said Cain, who plans to play baseball at Penn State-Behrend next year.

“At a lot of games last year, people actually had their grills out and tailgated before the games. I had such a great experience here and I don’t think it has truly hit me yet that my high school career is over.”

Next season, there will be no sneaking up on anybody as Peters Township is now firmly entrenched as one of the elite programs in the WPIAL. With the number of talented players they have returning, high expectations will most certainly be placed upon the team.

“People had better watch out for this team again next year because they have some studs coming back,” said Toohey.

“Players like Aaron Maize and Jordan Jankowski, who is a freshman phenom, they are going to be a team to contend with again.”