PHOTO PROVIDED Pine-Richland standout Keegan Deihl stands with Central Mountain coach Mike Kramer, center, and his father Luke, who played for Kramer at Bald Eagle-Nittany. Kramer was able to coach Deihl at the East/West Baseball All-Star game at Penn State’s Medlar Field.

Central Mountain baseball’s season-ending PIAA state playoff game versus Pittsburgh area Pine-Richland at LHU’s Foundation Field had a definite Bald Eagle Nittany flavor.

Central Mountain coach Mike Kramer was the last Bald Eagle Nittany baseball coach prior to the creation of Central Mountain in the fall of 1999, while Pine Richland’s ace pitcher Keegan Deihl is the son of Luke Deihl, who graduated from Bald Eagle Nittany and played for Kramer in the late 1990s. He is also the grandson of legendary Bald Eagle Nittany football coach, the late Walt Deihl.

Pine-Richland has a rich high school baseball history in that former popular Pittsburgh Pirate Neal Walker is a Pine-Richland baseball alum and Walker’s sister is married to current Pirate manager Don Kelly. Neal Walker’s father Tom pitched six seasons in the Major Leagues, primarily as a reliever with Montreal, Detroit, St. Louis and California.

On the ill-fated night of December 31, 1972, Tom Walker was slated to be on a DC-7 cargo jet with Pirate great Roberto Clemente, delivering relief aid supplies from San Juan, Puerto Rico, to earthquake-torn Nicaragua. At the last minute, Clemente advised Walker to stay behind in San Juan and enjoy the New Year’s festivities, rather than making the flight. Heavily overloaded with supplies, the jet crashed into the sea shortly after takeoff, killing Clemente and four crew members.

Keegan did not pitch in the Central Mountain game due to the heavy workload he had pitched during the WPIAL playoffs. However a glance at the 6-foot, 210-pound right-hander’s varsity career stats indicate he was an unstoppable force on the mound. Incredibly, in the hot bed of western Pennsylvania high school baseball, Keegan amassed a three-year high school career record of 20-1. His only career loss coming in this year’s PIAA second round.

Veteran Pine-Richland coach Kurt Wolfe attributes Keegan’s high school success to an incredible work ethic, saying, “Keegan pushes himself hard in the classroom, weight room, and baseball diamond, and is totally committed to the game of baseball.”

Keegan’s next stop will be down in Waco, Texas, where he has signed with the Baylor Bears of the Big 12 Conference. Baseball is special in the Big 12, so Keegan will certainly get exposure down in Texas.

With his size and his grandfather’s association with football, one might think Keegan would have been a football player at some point, but he never played the sport.

“I always wanted to play,” Keegan said, “but my parents were against it.”

Unquestionably he is a great fit for the pitcher’s mound. Interestingly, Kramer was on the West coaching staff of a recent East/West Baseball All-Star game played at PSU’s Medlar Field and had the opportunity to coach and associate with Keegan, one of the West pitchers.

Fired on Day Off

Former Pitt Panther and Philadelphia Eagle star running back LeSean McCoy was recently enjoying a well-deserved day off when he received notice from his employer Fox Sports that the program McCoy hosted, “The Facility,” was being cancelled and McCoy’s services were no longer needed by the network.

Taken the news in stride, McCoy, tweeted to friends, “Nuts, fired on my day off. Well, put me on the trading block, I’ve been there before.”

Prior to playing at Pitt, McCoy was an all-state running back at Harrisburg’s Bishop McDevitt High School. McDevitt visited Hollidaysburg during McCoy’s senior year and the late Bob Weller was the head referee for the contest. Early in the game, McDevitt started a series from its own 20 yard line and the first play was a jet sweep right past Weller. McCoy turned the corner in three steps and scampering down the sideline for an 80 yard TD, with no Hollidaysburg defender within 30 yards of him as he crossed the goal line.

Weller later said, “I couldn’t believe what I had just seen. I have been around high school and college running backs for over 40 years and have never seen a back explode the way McCoy did on that play, simply instant acceleration and speed.”

Weller’s assessment of McCoy that night was on the mark as McCoy went on to All-American, All-Pro and Super Bowl status after high school graduation.

Welcome to the SEC

The upcoming 2025 season will be the Texas Longhorns second year in the expanded SEC Conference.

At the recent SEC football media day in Atlanta, all the coaches were given the opportunity to speak to assembled reporters about the upcoming season, with the school’s fight song played as the coach walked to the podium.

As dapper Texas coach Steve Sarkasian entered the room, the fight song of Texas A&M — the Longhorns most bitter and despised rival — blared from the loudspeaker, Sarkasian wondering if he was in the wrong room.

Conference chair Greg Sankey quickly apologized to Sarkasian for the mixup in songs and got the Texas fight song on track. One veteran SEC reporter commented, “If Sarkasian thinks this is bad, wait until he walks into LSU’s Tiger Stadium down in Baton Rouge on a sultry October Saturday night, with 102,000 Tiger fans amped up on bayou alcohol and gumbo and a live tiger in a cage.”

Famed Alabama coach Bear Bryant once said “the definition of insanity is playing a football game on a Saturday night at LSU’s Death Valley. It’s like being inside a banging drum for three hours.”

NOTES

The following was listed on a sign at the entrance of a Chicago Youth Basketball Center:

“These are kids.

This is a game.

The coaches volunteer.

The referees are human.

This is not the NBA.

If you happen to disagree with any of these points,

Security will gladly assist you to the nearest exit.”