Using persuasive powers Carney Pirates executives are (in)famous for, the upstart CGL team landed a big one, signing Billy Emerson as head coach of the 2009 Carney Pirates. Whereas, it’s not as rich as the A-Rod contract, let’s just say that Coach Emerson will easily be able to afford Carney Pirates’ season tickets for his entire family. Coach Emerson is the hugely successful head coach of one of the Washington DC metroplex’s premier high school baseball programs at Paul VI (the Carney Pirates home field). His teams are regular finishers in the Top Five rankings, several times finishing the season rated in the Top 25 in the country. Last year’s team won the state championship, the conference regular season, and the always competitive and highly prestigious Southeastern Baseball Classic and finished ranked in the Top 20 (as high as 12th) in several end of the season national polls.

Coach Emerson has advanced teams to the Clark Griffith League Championship game the past three seasons (the only one to accomplish that), is highly regarded among college coaches, and through his work as a crosschecker for the pros, works with professional baseball  scouts (which of course is beneficial to our Carney Pirate players). Last year alone, he was named the VISAA Virginia State Coach of the Year and the BCA/Baseball America District 2 (Va, Md, DC, NJ, Pa, De and WV) Coach of the Year and is currently nominated for Coach of the Year for the entire US of A! He had similar impressive awards in many of his previous 18 years of successful coaching, but I have a family and want to have dinner with them - so ask about those awards at the ballpark. On top of all of that, he even counts The Voice as a friend,  and his father is a legendary, Hall of Fame Bluegrass Musician Bill Emerson - The Bluegrass Connection (oh yeah, I’m thinking Seventh Inning stretches !).

The Pirates owe a debt of gratitude to inaugural head coach Scott Rowland who built a tremendous foundation, crafting a .600 winning team without the luxury of having first hand knowledge of many of the collection of players assembled, and with graduation ceremonies, beach weeks, pre-scheduled family vacations (not this year!) and college orientations. Due to all of that, we were unable to field the same team for several weeks of an eight week season. We are very glad Coach Rowland, who preferred to have his summers free, finally agreed to help us out. He and the Pirates performed as well as we could have hoped, especially given all of the obstacles they faced and overcame. Coach, swing by sometime this summer, and catch some of your teammates’ performances. Your money is no good at the snack bar (except of course during Surf and Turf night),  everyone will be glad to see and hear from you.

Happy Holidays to all Carney Pirates fans (depending on when you read this; Columbus, Thanksgiving, Christmas, or Memorial). See you at the ol’ ballpark (this year we’re serving ice cream - save up).

Season One Complete Year Statistics

Click here to view our year end statistics   Another website feature to use is in the bottom right corner of every page, the Site Search box. Type in a player’s name, click Search and every article where he is mentioned will be listed. Give it a try.

And Our Final Website Posting Until Our Next One

As we post the end of the season all-cumulative statistics, we bid farewell to Carney Pirates players and fans. Overall, a very successful and valuable learning curve season was accomplished. Hats off to Coaches Scott Rowland  and Brian Snyder who not only taught a lot of quality baseball and young man development, but also created a successful winning season, and a great, enjoyable environment, while scheduling everyone substantial playing time. If you review the statistics, you will see that no one attended every game.It was known going in that this would be a transitional season - graduations (different school systems), beach weeks (different school systems), college orientations, and the occasional family vacation, created challenges normal college summer teams don’t face. The lack of continuity did sometimes affect our defensive play, but the coaches fought through those challenges and fielded a winning team (18-12, .600) for the season. Another impressive accomplishment gained while still remaining competitive, was the number of workouts and outings each of our pitchers got. Note the number of innings compared to the number of outings and you will realize that Mssrs. Rowland and Snyder did a terrific job of protecting strong young arms, while still providing an excellent challenge with instruction. This is not to be observed too lightly in this age of ultra-competitiveness. Each pitcher now attends college fall ball with a lively arm and a collection of valuable pitching workouts, experiences, tests, and guidance.

But Wait, There’s More…

No thank you’s can begin without at first starting with, of course, Mr. Jack Carney. Mr. Carney’s generosity and thoughtfulness toward helping young men develop into solid citizens is greatly appreciated, as well as his enthusiastic support and empathy for the talented ballplayers. The Carney Pirates just might be around long enough to fulfill Jack’s wish for this year’s Original Pirates to one day legally celebrate their baseball successes with him, downing  ‘a cold one’.   Thanks, so much, Mr. Carney.

Next year when we go big time, no doubt we’ll have podcasts hooked up to everyone’s fifth generation iPhones and of course delivering that podcast will be our own, Tom McCormick, otherwise known all season long by Pirate fans as, The Voice. Great work Tom, thanks for your efforts on all things broadcast and please come back next year.

Julie Carmony, our Royal Imperial Potentate of all of our business challenges, is to be lauded for her persistent, competent, and effective efforts in getting The Carney Pirates organization off the ground and viable in three separate organizations (not all of them organized). A lesser person would be waiting trial for homicide, but Julie hung in there amongst the alligators and armpits (family website) and worked administrative miracles.

Special thanks to our webmeister grandmaster, Eddie Sutton of JustPixels.com. We have received numerous compliments from players, fans, and sophisticated baseball followers, scouts, and coaches about the timely, informative and easy to navigate Carney Pirates website. Don’t forget to keep Eddie in mind when it comes to referring website business of all kinds - he certainly deserves it and will not let you down.

A big thank you goes out to our young upstart of a sports executive, Ryan Fischer, who if nothing else, between having his chops busted by two of the best, Snyder and Carneal, will be prepared to handle anything USC throws at him. Ryan is a quick learn, who is a pleasure to work with and has a terrific attitude toward being a team player.

And last, but certainly not least, a warm, heartfelt thank you to Sherri McMenamin. Sherri, does the scorebook, does the stats, does the concession purchases, cash management and set up, is involved in virtually all of the ‘grunt work’ required in running a CGL/ODL/Tournament team and holds up remarkably well. Way to go Sherri, now go spread the tarps on the field, so we’ll be ready for Carney Pirates, season two - The SEQUEL.

We will post any significant news about The Carney Pirates or its players during the fall and winter months, while we actively build the full season team for next year - take a glance at the site every month or so and keep us updated of newsworthy activities. Springtime will have us out to the campus ballparks and the reporting pace will gain speed. Best wishes to all. Players, may your performance produce results worthy of your talent, dedication, and commitment.

Bill McMenamin and Doug Carneal

What, no marching band? The Carney Pirates closed out their inaugural season with all the fanfare of a new movie premiere. Free ice cream was served to all spectators and chicken sandwiches were provided for players and coaches of both teams. The Voice was at the top of his game as he MC’ed the every half-inning prize winning contests (we had over twenty five winners). Prizes ranged from multi-lingual Washington DC photo books, free Blockbuster rentals and back to school supplies to top of the line Ping sportswear. Many winners were seen shopping for upcoming birthdays and wedding anniversary gifts. Matt Crouse was heartbroken to learn that “Billy Mac” was not the

Mustard Jar dancer and the rest of the bullpen was openly envious of prize winner Kyle Harsanyi, who very thoughtfully, with college life and the need for good care packages just around the corner, picked out a lovely shirt for his mother, who also won and picked out a portfolio for her husband, who also won and picked out a cool shirt for his son Kyle - oh boy, gag me with a spoon, the Nelson family (wikipedia it , players) is back!  click here to take a look at the Final Game and Ice Cream Social photos See if you can spot the circus elephant anywhere.

Amidst all the fanfare of a last game, the Carney Pirates put together an excellent performance in every aspect of the game. Five Pirate pitchers, Evan Scott, Mike Mitchell, Matt Crouse, Chris Yates and George Piccirilli combined to throw a very impressive four hit shutout. The Pirates offense was just as effective, lead by
Matt Murakami’s  perfect offensive day, 3 for 3 including a double and a triple, a BB, four runs scored and two RBIs, going off to Maryland with some real mojo flowing. Ian MacGeorge had another excellent offensive day as well, with three hits and two RBIs, finishing out a superb All Star season. Mike Snyder and Reed Bromley might have regretted working the paddle boat the entire day before, as they had to use their legs to run out extra base gappers, with Reed pulling up with a triple, sprinting all the way. Brett Bowers and Foster Dunigan each had multi-hit games with RBIs and Mike McMenamin had a meaningful RBI single to give the Pirates a commanding lead. The offensive output enabled the coaches to allow pitchers, who all were good hitters in their day (how’s it feel to be called old, fellows?), to take cuts and several demonstrated they still knew how to handle a bat. The entire defensive unit played up to their potential, as they got excellent jumps on the ball, providing the pitching the putouts it deserved. This lead to more on the target pitching, highlighting how impressive this team can be once it gathers it focus and rhythm.The final two games of the season have proven to be very valuable in showing the Pirates the full range of their potential. They head off now to college for fall ball with worthy goals and weapons in place. Best wishes. Photos of the closing ceremonies where the Harsanyi and McCormick family’s photos will be sent to the IRS for Prize Claiming purposes, will be posted later this afternoon - check back and relive the activities.  Congratulations everyone on a terrific inaugural season.

On a beautiful sunny day where the lake shined like a mirror (see photos), the Carney Pirates demonstrated excellent fishing skills as all competitors caught impressive size and quantity of bass. Evan Scott jumped out to an early lead catching the first two fish and never surrendered the overall quantity title. Matt Crouse and George Piccirilli caught a handful as the Prince William boys edged out the Fairfax County anglers by a razor thin margin. Matt Snyder claimed to have caught the largest fish and his boatmate Piccirilli backed up his story, but no contest official was around to verify, after three buckets of KFC and some frozen custard, it was decided to go along with the fish story and believe Snyder. Reed Bromley and Mike Snyder disappeared around the bend in a paddleboat in what seemed like to other participants, Gilligan’s three hour tour, returning with smiles and all types of fish tales. Ian MacGeorge, hampered by his fishing experience of casting on Seven Seas lagoon where Disney underwater associates put fish on the vacationers hooks to keep them happy, got off to a slow start, being shutout and fishing trashtalk

ridiculed for the first hour, came on strong with the use of “The big wiggler” a rubber worm, looking like a sea snake that tricked several fish onto his hook. Ian’s father, Steve, (shown in above photo) made the entire family proud with his catch that fought him hard, but lost his freedom (but not his life - no fish were harmed in the tournament, unless they were allergic to KFC biscuits). In a show of poor sportsmanship, Scott, after being crowned the quantity champion, was sent out in a canoe only to be stoned by his angry runners up (photo documentation provided). A good time was had by all in spite of the good natured (?) locker room name calling. Click here and take a glance at the photos and enjoy the scenery.

 

Ok, ok, for all of you Carney Pirates web site fans who just have to have several postings each day, watch the following video. Practice the bat swinging technique. The first viewer who can accomplish (verified by Carney Pirate corporate counsel) what occurs in the video (the balancing bat) before the end of our inaugural Carney Pirate season, wins a free dinner for two at Glory Days Grill (alcohol, taxes, and gratuity not included, not available where prohibited by law, void in Utah, must be breathing to accept prize, citizens of North Korea ineligible).

YouTube - This only happens once in 100 years

The purpose this year of the Carney Pirates, as stated from the very first orientation meeting, was to prepare excellent athletes for the higher level competition you would face this fall. All players got the benefit of being coached by two excellent, highly successful coaches, for an entire season, learning advanced hitting approaches and sophisticated game strategy from perennial winner Coach Rowland and professional level pitching techniques from one of the region’s finest, Coach Snyder, with both coaches overlapping in each area. Emphasis has been placed on the athlete’s development as a ‘complete’ player as well with resources regarding the enormously important mental part of the game being stressed and provided. These resources should be an ongoing consideration for players even after travelling down to your college - jump on the Carney Pirate website and review some of the articles in the Baseball Tips and Techniques link. Players consistently were challenged by the high level of competition, be it ODL where only the better teams swinging aluminum were scheduled, and who always threw their aces against the wood swinging Pirates; the Wood Bat National Championship where some of the most highly regarded players in America were opponents, and of course the Clark Griffith League where you competed effectively against players two and three years your seniors. Pitchers were able to keep their arms lively, throwing against top notch hitters, often against teams, unlike high school, where there were no ‘easy’ outs. Hats off to the coaches for providing pitchers numerous throwing opportunities without overusing them (check IP vs. games). All Carney Pirates pitchers are going to fall camp with fresh arms and a wealth of game tested experience. Carney Pirates hitters by swinging wood predominantly this summer, accrued all of the benefits that wood bat swinging provides. The growth of our hitters could be seen on the rare occasion when they twice swung aluminum and pounded the ball all over the diamond. Listed below are some of the numerous benefits of training with wood from articles as diverse as The New York Times to college coaches training seminars. Take a look and feel good about your accomplishments this summer;

“Here’s the bottom line. I recommend that every player use a wood bat for practice and drills. When it comes game time, break out the aluminum “magic stick”. When you use a wood bat for practice, you actually see your strengths and weaknesses. Doing this will help every hitter be more accurate with the sweet spot.”

Wood Bats Correctly Teach The Strike Zone. When you hit an outside pitch with an aluminum bat, you can very well hit it beyond an infielder even though you swung at a bad pitch. On an inside pitch, you can manage a flare-single over the 2nd baseman’s head. With wood you learn the strike zone and which pitches you should lay-off.

A wood bat will train you to hit with good mechanics and will tell you right away when you are dragging it through the zone with incorrect mechanics. The sweet spot is smaller and the barrel diameters tend to be smaller as well, so to be successful you start the hands early, select good pitches to hit and accelerate right through the ball with a flat, level swing. It just won’t let the bad swings turn into cheap hits.

Swinging wood for a period of time will build bat speed in the swing. Using a wood bat requires hitting the ball correctly for the ball to jump off the bat. The only way the ball jumps off the bat is if the bat is swung quickly, and the ball is hit on the “sweet” part of the bat. Most wood bats are top heavy and with repeated swinging, you will build bat speed.

Wood bats promote acute hitting vision – The barrel is smaller so a hitter has to see the ball better and follow it to the point of contact to achieve hitting success.

Carney Pirates, you are ready for the fall (just don’t go falling in love with the first gorgeous coed you meet, stay flexible, free, and focused - at least until you hit .300 or have a 2.50 ERA). Hup, hup, ballgame.

The Carney Pirates were formed this year for the purpose of providing talented baseball players the opportunity to prepare for the next level of competition. Mark down last night’s 12-1 defeat as a valuable lesson toward that goal. The game started off encouraging enough with Reed Bromley and Foster Dunigan making excellent defensive plays in the top of first. Momentum continued into the bottom of the first with Dunigan leading off with a single, advancing to third on a George Piccirilli single and scoring on Matt Snyder’s base hit. The Pirates put together another solid defensive inning in the second, turning a sharply executed double play to end the inning. The game was tied 1-1 at the end of three and then the dam burst.  The Senators demonstrated their  rankings as a top national college summer team were well deserved, playing heads up baseball, taking advantage of any Pirates’ lack of focus, combining it with excellent clutch hitting. Twice, the Pirates were caught off guard by delayed steals, one even on a first and third throw down, soon the game got out of hand. Even though the Senators went to station to station baseball, they still exhibited aggressive next base mentality, getting an excellent jump on a wild pitch with a 9-1 lead and scoring. This is the same play we have missed in several games, due to not looking for it. The run scored was not impressive because it was meaningful to the game, but because it is the way the game is supposed to be played. Pirates made excellent plays of their own, hitting the cutoff and nailing trail runners, going deep into the hole and executing a superb rundown, and making fine running catches, but just as many times, throws were made to the wrong base, balls were not properly tracked, and players did not effectively communicate with each other or cover their defensive responsibility. The next level, as shown tonight, dictates that focused baseball is reguired more than 50% of the time. This has been the message from the coaching staff since the first game. Hopefully, seeing the difference of both approaches is beneficial to the development of players who now realize that stuff they could get away with in high school just because they were superior athletes, vanishes immediately upon entering the college level of competition. The fact that several effective plays and some crisp closeout pitching occurred after being ten runs down is encouraging, and demonstrates the potential if the proper combination of effort and concentration is provided. As shown Thursday night, reaching that next level of play is a far more attractive outcome than the result occurring when focus is lost for even a few plays. The good news is that the Pirates have an opportunity in the season finale to apply their education and finish out with some excellent baseball.

This Saturday at 12:00 pm (high noon) at the cozy confines of our lovely PVI field, the Carney Pirates close out what has been a very productive inaugural season. Everything you enjoy about the team will be in full force as well as additional season ending surprises. If you have ever been to a Carney Pirate game, then be sure to catch this one; Invitations are hereby extended to all Carney Pirates fans including, but not limited to: Doc Al (bring the Mrs. - Lorraine) and his lovely daughter Patty, Mr. and Mrs. Webb, pro hockey prospect Jay C. and his folks, webmeister extraordinaire and family, Greg W., Jamie B., George, Helen, and Ryne, Shane - “Come back Shane”, Dirty Hat Dades, and all those pro scouts who keep calling me and asking if Pic has to be a second lieutenant in Iraq when he graduates from VMI.

You are guaranteed to see at least one of the following or your money back;

Join Us For Free Stuff

Come join in all of the festivities, due to our enormous success in ticket sales, especially the executive suites, parking will be free, bring two cars and tailgate.
See you there , Your friend and mine, Player Personnel Guy

Carney Pirates fans, the time is drawing nearer, our terrific team of athletes will be heading off to school soon. Moms tear up, Dads reclaim the remote, and grocery stores cut back on staffing. Here’s a list of our Carney Pirates and their school’s baseball websites - keep an eye on them throughout the year, we certainly will.

BLACKWELL
Charlotte 49ers

BOWERS
East Carolina Pirates

BROMLEY
Tennessee Wesleyan Bulldogs

CROUSE
Young Harris Mountain Lions

DADES
Brevard Titans

DUNIGAN
Temple University

HARSANYI
Christopher Newport University

HALLEY
University of Virginia Cavaliers

MacGEORGE
University of South Florida Bulls

McCORMICK
St. John’s University

McELHENNY
Christopher Newport University

McMENAMIN
hokiesports.com

MITCHELL

St. John’s University

MURAKAMI
The University of Maryland Terrapins

PICCIRILLI
Virginia Military Institute

REESE
Brevard College

SCOTT
James Madison University

SHAW
Temple University

SNYDER Matt
University of Mississippi

SNYDER Mike
University of Mississippi

SOMERS
East Carolina

THOMAS
George Washington

WIEGAND
UNIVERSITY OF DAYTON

YATES
William and Mary Tribe

FISCHER
University of South Carolina