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 Godwin News |
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Thursday, June 18
Gragnani Selected to ABCA All Region Team. Blankinship and Gragnani Both Selected to the All Metro Team
Senior SS and UVa. bound Reed Gragnani has been selected to the All Region Team by the American Baseball Coaches Association for 2009. Reed is a District 2 selection that encompasses the states of NC, VA, WVa, PA,DC, DEL, NJ and Maryland. Congratulations to Reed for receiving this National Award from the ABCA. In addition Reed and rising senior Adam Blankinship have been selected by the Times Dispatch Newspaper to the 2009 All Metro Team. Reed is a 2 time All Metro Shortstop while Adam is making the All Metro team for the first time as an outfielder. Both Reed and Adam have been All District, All Region, All State and now All Metro selections for the 2009. Congratulations to these young men on their baseball acheivements during the 2009 season.
Wednesday, June 10
Gragnani and Blankinship Named to AAA All State Team
2 Godwin Eagles were selected to the AAA All State team for 2009. Senior SS Reed Gragnani was selected as a second team All State player at the shortstop position. Making first team shortstop was Chris Taylor from Cox High School in Va. Beach who was also selected as the State AAA Player of the Year. Taylor will also be a teammate of Reed's next year at the University of Virginia. Making Honorable Mention All State was Junior Outfielder Adam Blankinship. Adam hit over .435 this season. Both Reed and Adam were named to the All District and All Region first teams. Congratulations to Reed and Adam on outstanding seasons.
Friday, August 19
Godwin Players Drafted by Major League Teams
2009 Graham Stoneburner Round 14 New York Yankees Signed Reed Gragnani Round 27 Boston Red Sox Did not Sign 2008
Justin Bristow Round 5 Chicago Cubs Signed
Eric Fornataro Round 7 St. Louis Cardinals Signed
2007
Kris Rochelle Round 22 Detriot Tigers C Signed
Davis Stoneburner Round 9 Texas Rangers SS Signed
2006
Charlie Yarbrough Round 7 Philadelphia Phillies 1B Signed
2005
Justin Bristow Round 22 K C Royals SS/P Did not sign 2003
Matt Moses Round 1 Minnesota Twins 3B Signed
Kris Rochelle Round 50 Chicago Cubs C Did not sign
Wednesday, May 13
Godwin Baseball Program Reaches Milestone---500 Wins!
On Tuesday the Godwin Eagles defeated Patrick Henry High School by a score of 11-1. The game report will be posted later but with the win the Eagles have secured no worse than a tie for the Colonial District Championship. Godwin must win one of our last 2 games to secure the Championship. We play Maggie Walker on Wednesday at 6pm and Douglas Freeman, Senior Night on Thursday at 7PM This win marks the 500th win in Godwin Baseball history. 28 years ago, current Godwin Head Basketball coach Hunter Thomas was the winning pitcher in the first game played at Godwin High School. Last night Senior Kevin Buran picked up the win striking out 7 in 5 innings of play. Overall the Godwin Baseball program has a record of 505-157 and a winning percentage of .762. That is an average of 18 wins per season. When you are only allowed to schedule 20 games per year winning 18 per year means you have made it to the post season on a regular basis. The 500 wins is a tribute to all the young men who have played in the Mills Godwin uniform. It is a tribute to all the dad's who took the time to teach their sons the game at an early age. It's a tribute to the Tuckahoe Little League program where our players got their early baseball education and developed. Its a tribute to the hours and hours our players have spent hitting in cages in their own backyards and with private coaches. It's a tribute to the coaches at Byrd and Pocahontas Middle School who coached our players before they got to Godwin. It's a tribute to the young men who have played travel ball with local AAU teams. In general its a tribute not only to the skill level our players bring to the program but also to the parents and coaches who have given of their time to make the Godwin Baseball program a special moment in many of our players lives. Congratulations to the 2009 Godwin Baseball team for picking up the 500th win in school history and to the 100's of players who helped build the program to be what is it today.
Sunday, March 9
Former Coach Chris Marinak to Work in the Baseball Comissioners Office
Former Godwin Baseball Varsity pitching coach, Chris Marinak is currently finishing up his MBA at Harvard University. He has already received a job offer and in June will be working in New York City. Chris will be working in the Commissioners Office of Major League Baseball. He will be dealing with such areas as labor relations and player contracts. Chris graduated from the University of Virginia in 2002 where he pitched on the UVa. baseball team for four years and was a team captain. After graduation he got a job working for Capital One and also came to Godwin High School to inquire about a coaching position. Chris handled our pitching staff from 2003 thru 2005 and did an excellent job. He later moved to DC where he continued to work for Capital One but also continued to coach at James Madison High School again as a pitching coach. The Godwin Baseball program is very excited for Chris and wish him well in his new position working with Major League Baseball.
Tuesday, October 28
The Mills Godwin Baseball Coaching Staff
Head Coach--John Marano
John has been coaching since 1977 in Henrico County. He started as an assistant to Ray Garrett at Hermitage High School and later assisted Philip Mourtzakis. In 1988 he moved to Byrd Middle School where he was the head football and head track coach for 3 years. He was named the Middle School Coach of the Year in Henrico County in 1990. In 1991 Marano moved to Mills Godwin where he assisted Dan Lynch for the next 6 years. Since taking over the program in 1998 he has a record of 219-65 (.773) while winning 7 Colonial District Championships, 6 District Tournament Championships, 2 Central Region Championships and the 1999 Virginia State AAA Championship last season. He was selected as the Colonial District Coach of the Year in 2002,2005 and 2008, and Regional Coach of the Year in 2005 and the ABCA Region 2 Coach of the Year in 2003.
John graduated from Varina High School (1967-70) where he played for Howard Clabough. He attended Chowan College and graduated from Virginia Tech (HPE 75). John teaches driver education at Godwin. He is a active member in the Virginia High School Coaches Association, the National High School Baseball Coaches Association and the American Baseball Coaches Association. He is the District Two representative for NC,VA,DC,MD,WV,PA,DE,and NJ. He serves on the committee that picks the National High School All American team and the National Coach of the Year for high school baseball. That committee meets each June in Omaha, Neb. during the College World Series to select the All American team.
Varsity Assistant Coach Loren Phillips
Loren returns for his 3rd season as Godwin Varsity assistant coach where he works with our outfielders.. Currently he teaches Health and PE at Pocohatas Middle School were he also served as the assistant baseball coach and wrestling coach. Coach Phillips was also the head baseball coach at Byrd Middle School from the late 80's until the late 90's. Byrd is the main feeder school to Godwin and he developed many Godwin players on his County Championship teams at Byrd.
Varsity Assistant Nathan Arland
Nathan joined the staff in 2007. Currently he works in private business. Nathan attended Tabb High School and played for Radford University before transferring to Va. Tech where he earned his BS Degree. Nathan works with our infielders, runs our conditioning program and coaches first base.
Junior Varsity Coach Gregg Bennett
Gregg is returning to coach the JV team for a eighth year. He brings excellent coaching skills to our JV program. A former college assistant basketball coach and a NCAA college basketball official Gregg now works in private industry.
Junior Varsity Assistant Coach Les Branich returns to help coach on the JV after a years absence. Les is a substitute teacher at Mills Godwin. He was also a college quarterback on the James Madison University's first football team.
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America the Beautiful
Tuesday, August 26
Former Godwin Players now Coaching
Several former Godwin Baseball players have entered the coaching ranks.
Jon Hartness, Va. Tech, is the Athletic Director at Cave Springs High School after a long career as an assistant coach at Va. Tech under Hall of Fame coach Chuck Hartman.
Hunter Thomas, James Madison University, is the former Varsity Assistant coach for Mills Godwin. He is now Godwin's Head Basketball coach but is a valuable advisor to Coach Marano. Hunter was also the winning pitcher in the first game ever played by Godwin High School in 1981.
Billy Berry, Tennessee Weslayan head coach, was an assistant at Godwin High School for the 1999 and 2000 seasons. He moved to Tucker High School as an assistant for the 2001 and 2002 seasons. Billy was the head coach at Bluefield College during the 2004 and 2005 seasons.
Cris Bell, Cris is the Athletic Director and head football coach at Strong Rock Christian School in McDonough, Ga. just outside of Atlantic. He was the defensive cooridnator at Hampden Sydney College for 3 season before moving to Georgia. Previously Coach Bell worked at Appomattox High School, James River High School, Greenville College, and as a football and baseball coach at Godwin. Coach Bell was an assistant baseball coach in 1998 and guided the Eagles to a 21-3 record on a team that was ranked as high as 3rd nationally by USA Today.
Adam Taylor is the head baseball coach at Franklin & Williams College in Lancaster, Pa. He graduated from Randolph Macon College and in 2005 became an assistant coach at The College of William and Mary under coach Frank Leoni. Adam coached previously at The University of Richmond, Guilford College in Greensboro, North Carolina and was an assistant at Greeensboro College for one season.
Braxton Bell, Class of 1990 is the head baseball coach at Strong Rock Christian School in Georgia. Before moving to Georgia Braxton was the head baseball coach at Tucker High School for 3 seasons and did a great job with the Tigers. Braxton played at Va. Tech for Chuck Hartman and later was assistant coach at The University of Richmond under Ronnie Atkins. He was Godwin's first base coach during the 1999 State Championship season.
Jason Sipe, Class of 1997 returns to coaching as an assistant baseball coach at Hermitage High School. Jason played baseball and graduated from VCU. He was a Godwin assistant in 2001 before moving into private business. Currently Jason teaches Math and will coach wrestling and baseball.
Kris Rochelle, Class of 2003 is now an assistant coach at Charlotte University. Kris played 4 years as a catcher and hit over .400 his senior year as well as receivning recognition as an outstanding catcher nationally on the D1 level. He was drafted by the Detriot Tigers and played one season of minor league ball. He later signed with Washington Wild Things of the Frontier League playing for one season. After the 2009 season Kris returned to Charlotte as an assistant coach.
Friday, August 19
Godwin Players Who Signed/Played College Baseball
2009
Reed Gragnani-The University of Virginia
Kevin Buran -Pitt CC
Jack Saladino-Old Dominion University
2008
Robbie Garrett-Lynchburg College
Nick Caporale-Hampden Sydney
2007
Tyler Biddix-The University of Virginia
Greg Mitro-Randolph Macon College
2006
Graham Stoneburner-Clemson University
Matt Blow-College of William and Mary
Adam Carpenter-Virginia Military Institute
Eric Fornataro-Pensacola Junior College
Rhys Steinhorst-Louisburg Junior College
Craig Stewart-University of Mary Washington
2005
Justin Bristow-Auburn University
Bruno Gora-Randolph Macon
Brian Snellings-Randolph Macon
Luke Swiney-Hampden-Sydney College
2004
Billy Capone-Bluefield College
Quinn McGuire-Bluefield College
Danny Yarbrough-Rappahannock Community College
Jack Reed-Harvard University JV
2003
Matt Moses-Clemson
Charlie Yarbrough-Longwood/Eastern Kentucky University (2005)
Kris Rochelle-UNC-C
Davis Stoneburner-JMU
Steven Cruey-BC
2002
Mitchell Moses-JMU
Matt Bristow-JMU
Casey McCray-Randolph Macon
2001
Teddy Reed-Harvard JV
Derek Mitchell-Concord College
Greg Drumheller-Randolph Macon
2000
Clint Abbate-Longwood
1999
Ryan Mathews-West Virginia University
Tommy Edelblut-VCU
Rob Gragnani-VCU
Doug McCray-Randolph Macon
Fletcher Lane-University of Virginia
1998
Brock Lawson-USC-Spartanburg
Matt Gouffon-USC-Spartanburg
Mike Fullan-William and Mary
1997
Brian Copeland-Va. Tech
Luckie DaCosta-Louisburg, VCU
1996
Blair Brantley-Randolph Macon
1995
Adam Taylor-Randolph Macon
Scott Paciocco-Randolph Macon
Rhett Rutman-Va. Tech
1993
Billy Berry-Bluefield College
1992
Jim Sander-Duke University
Rob Anderson-Randolph Macon College
1991
Turner Broughton-William and Mary
1990
Scott Spears-Hampden-Sydney
Braxton Bell-Va. Tech
1988
Rob Grimes-VCU
Les Jennette-Va. Tech
1987
Chris Herndon-U. of Richmond, Coastal Carolina
Miller Robinson-Anderson JC and USC-Spartansburg
Jon Hartness-Va. Tech
Donnie Just-Radford
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