Baseball hits the airwaves to preview upcoming season
By: Peter MacLeod, WFMD Sports Radio
The Frederick Community College baseball team is starting another 56 game schedule with 30 players who can't wait to get going! This Sunday, on Frederick County Sports Weekend on WFMD Radio and WFMD.COM, we take a close look at Coach Rodney Bennett's 2017 squad. This is a program that has won at least 32 games for 11 seasons in a row!!!!
"It is a more veteran group this year," is what Coach Rod Bennett has to say about the 2017 FCC squad. Another difference is the weather! Coach Bennett says the team has actually been able to work outside for more than a dozen days this mild, relatively snowless winter in Frederick. And the players love that because day after day in the confines of a gym is not fun for baseball players. Coach Bennett came to the WFMD studios with two of his veteran stars, left-handed pitcher Doug Pearl out of Brunswick High School and 2016's starting shortstop CJ Mackinson out of Century High School in nearby Carroll County.
More than 20 sophomores dominate the team this season, but there are a number of promising freshmen also. He points to infielder Alex Melcher, a slugger from Glenelg HS, a Howard County power. Coach Bennett says Melcher reminds him of the record-breaking Devin Bell of the 2015 FCC season who launched 21 home runs that year. And he has another alumnus of state champion Brunswick: Ryan Capstick, a first baseman/right handed pitcher. There are so many things to talk about: the excellent turf field at FCC that allows the team to quickly get outside and practice, the upcoming two week southern trip, and FCC hosts the Region XX tournament this May!
People tend to forget FCC's accomplishments under Coach Bennett, who enters this season with a 533-215 won-lost record: 14 straight trips to the Region 20 tournament, 3 trips to the Junior College World Series, 4 Region titles, 3 District championships, 3 Maryland JUCO Championships, 2 Maryland JUCO "Coach of the Year" honors, and 4 Region Coach of the Year plaques! But the FCC baseball program itself has to be most proud of a team that has been nationally-ranked for 15 straight seasons! The Cougars are scheduled to open the 2017 season this weekend at Bryant and Stratton College in southern Virginia and then back home this Thursday at 3:00 pm to face the Hood College JV and then on Saturday, 2/18 at Noon to play Mercyhurst North East! It's enough to make you want get that glove out and play some ball! FCC Baseball on Frederick County Sports Weekend, this Sunday at 12:05 pm on 930 WFMD Radio and the streaming audio of wfmd.com