Keystone Oaks’ Baseball Team Ready For Challenges In 2011

The Keystone Oaks Golden Eagles opened their season at home with a 15-5 victory over Brashear on Monday and followed up with a 20-9 win over Steel Valley on Tuesday.

Coach Scott Crimone is undoubtedly hoping it's a good sign.

The Golden Eagles will compete in a newly aligned section this season. WPIAL Class AAA Section 3 has added four schools: Thomas Jefferson, West Mifflin, South Park, and Trinity. The section will still include Keystone Oaks, Chartiers Valley, Montour and McGuffey.

Crimone is expecting a competitive section filled with talented teams.

“Chartiers Valley will be very strong this year, and Montour will also be good like last season,” he said.  “They’re always well-coached and will be returning a good pitching staff as well.”

Keystone Oaks returns four starters from last season, including seniors Alex Carr and Mark Fratangelo, who are expected to have strong seasons on the mound. John Conway and Corey Reis will also be major contributors on both sides of the ball.

“We have a number of seniors who are expected to provide leadership both on and off the field,” Crimone said.  “They have proven for the past two seasons that they can produce and I expect this to be each of their best seasons.”

The Golden Eagles are also looking forward to the continued progression of sophomore Jared Skolnicki, who led the team in wins on the mound and batting average (.445) a season ago.

Skolnicki’s athletic and academic excellence has been recognized as he was named student of the month in November.

“He’s a rising star for us,” Crimone said of Skolnicki. “I expect him to really blossom this season into a complete ballplayer.”

Other returning starters for the Golden Eagles include junior Zach Hepner at second base and Sophomore Ryan Rosato at shortstop.

The starting lineup will also feature new faces to help fill the vacancies left from last year’s graduating seniors. 

Freshman standout John Beveridge leads the group of newcomers and is proving his talent and potential at the plate and on the mound. 

While the void left from last season is substantial, Keystone Oaks has a number of underclassmen who are ready to take the next step in their baseball maturity to help the team compete at a high level.

Crimone expects the players to learn from each and improve as the season progresses this spring.

“We love the youth that mixes in with the senior leadership we have on this team,” he said.

They will begin section play Monday when they host Montour.