Guided by a pair of Annapolis city police officers, 13 high school players from eight schools aged baseball players have joined together to form the Gambrills 16-under select team.
Call it a case of getting the old gang back together again.
Most of the teens played together as members of the Athletic Performance Incorporated 13-under squad. Last summer, the boys all entered high school and the team broke up as they played with their respective school’s summer teams.
Prior to this summer, however, several of the boys approached their coach from that 13-under team, John Murphy, asking him to put the team back together — citing the fun they had before.
“It was a lot of fun having the kids all together for that 13-U team, but last summer most of them were starting high school or would be playing varsity, so it was best for them to play with their high school summer teams,” said Murphy, who is an officer with the Annapolis City Police Department and has coached or played baseball in some capacity for 40 years.
Of coaching the team one summer before, Murphy said: “It was a thrill for me. If I hadn’t gone into law enforcement. I probably would have become a baseball coach somewhere.”
Reuniting the team was more a case of the players recruiting the coaches than the other way around.
“A couple of the guys from two years ago approached me about getting the team back together and so we started contacting other players, and they were all interested in doing it. After that, I was all in,” Murphy said. “Every player we talked to about it, said ‘count me in,’ so we wound up getting the old gang back together.”
Murphy described his role with the team as more of a co-coach or general manager. Another Annapolis police officer, Corporal Dave Stokes, acts as the on-field game coach.
Former Old Mill head coach Mike Rose is also an assistant and Bob Hardesty is another member of the staff — putting his landscaping expertise to use as the groundskeeper.
Murphy, Stokes and Rose all have ties to Old Mill High School – Murphy and Stokes as players and Rose as a coach. Rose was Stokes’ high school coach at Old Mill. All find it difficult donning the Gambrills uniforms, which have the same colors as Arundel High.
“It’s very hard to swallow wearing green after wearing the red, white and blue for Old Mill all those years,” Murphy joked. “The unifying factor is that we all share a passion for baseball.
“While it is always a goal to win, the purpose of this team is to have fun while getting a chance to play top-notch competition. As coaches, we are also in it to make better men out of these kids and teach them values, good character and teamwork,” Murphy added.
Murphy and Stokes both explained their roles are more-or-less as co-coaches and they also include Rose and Hardesty in the decision-making process.
The 13 players making up the team are the coach’s sons Christian Murphy and Dominic Stokes, both from Old Mill; Kameron Branch, John Greenwalt, Daray Murdock and Thomas Courchaine from Arundel; Jake Martel and Calvin Padden from Chesapeake; Alex Seidleck from Indian Creek; Tristan Collins from Severn School, Brian Ferrrente from South River, Bobby Hardesty from North County and James Henson from Severna Park.
Branch, Courchane and Collins are the only players not on the team two years ago.
“It is basically the same group of kids from before, though we had to pick up a few new players to fill out the roster and take care of some positions we were short in,” Murphy said. “Of course, another unique aspect is that most of these kids play against each other in high school, but have become really good friends as teammates on this team.”
In addition to competing regularly in the MABA league the team has played in several tournaments. By the time the season ends, Murphy estimates the select squad will have logged at least 52 games.
Unlike two years ago when they represented API, this summer’s team is playing under the Gambrills flag. They are self-funded with sponsorship from several local businesses.
“As 13-year-olds they were pretty good and were competitive in every tournament we played. We always played against tougher competition and they held their own,” Murphy said, adding that this summer’s team is following the same game-plan.
The team has been successful so far in both league and tournament play. Competing as the Gambrills Athletics (thus the green uniforms) they have an 8-4 record in MABA Atlantic League play and a 15-6 mark in tournaments,
Earlier this summer, they won the Fruitland Schools Out Bash with a 5-0 record. They have also played in showcase tournaments at Towson, Mount St. Mary’s and in the Dynamic North University of Maryland Showcase, where they beat the nationally-ranked Molina Stars in an early-round game.
Murphy said he and the other coaches selected tournaments where the players might get some exposure on the field to college coaches. He said although coaches can’t actually make contact with the kids, the chance to see them play will be helpful later when they are looking for college players.
Future tournaments will find the team playing in an Elite Showcase tournament in mid-July and then closing their non-league schedule by playing in the Dynamic Series Showcase at Old Dominion University on Aug. 23-24.
“The competition can’t hurt the players’ development and the exposure is good for them as well,” Murphy said. “Plus, we make an effort to play everyone and to have them learn to play multiple positions. Learning other positions can only help them, especially when they play on their high school teams. They become more versatile.
“It makes them better ballplayers. And they are enjoying playing the game, as well,” he added.
