Maryland Power 25 Countdown: #15 McDonogh

February 28, 2020
Kyle Campbell
Maryland Scouting Director

Follow @PBRMaryland
Facebook & Instagram

It's hard to believe but the start of the 2020 Maryland high school baseball season is just two weeks away. Every week throughout the season we will release our Power 25, ranking the top twenty-five teams from across the Old Line State. Today we continue our Preseason Power 25 countdown by taking a look at our #15 team, the McDonogh Eagles from the MIAA Conference. We will release one team in our countdown each weekday leading up to the release of our 2020 #1 Preseason Power 25 team on March 19th. Then, on March 20th our PBR Maryland staff will release it's final preseason predictions for the upcoming season as team get ready to square off on opening day later that afternoon.

McDonogh Eagles 2020 SEASON PREVIEW

Head Coach: Matt Tuneski (4th Season)
Mascot: Eagles
Conference: MIAA "A"
2019 Record: 16-14
2019 Conference Finish: 6th Place
2019 Playoff Finish: 5th Place
Twitter Handle: @_mcdbaseball
CLICK HERE to view the McDonogh Baseball Website
and Schedule

2020 PBR MD POWER 25 PRESEASON RANK: #15

Returning Starters: 4

Everett Cooper (So.) SS
Brian Nevin (Sr.) 2B
Joe Radek (Sr.) CF
Kyle Whitaker (Sr.) 3B/RHP

Returning Pitchers: 5

Jack Bussard (So.) LHP
Austin Gemmill (So.) RHP
Kris Jenner (Sr.) RHP
Evan Marcinko (Jr.) LHP
Kyle Whitaker (Sr.) RHP/3B

Returning Players with Post-Season / Pre-Season Honors

Jack Brussard - 2019 PBR Maryland Preseason All-State
Everett Cooper - 2020 MSABC Preseason All-State / 2019 PBR Maryland All-State Underclass
Evan Marcinko - 2019 PBR Maryland Preseason All-State
Joe Radek - 2020 MSABC Preseason All-State

Key Losses

Logan Lach OF
Matt Spind LHP

Top Newcomers

Blake Caplan (Sr.) C
Sam Kinney (Jr.) P/OF

2020 Key Players

Everett Cooper (So.) SS
Kris Jenner (Sr.) RHP
Brian Nevin (Sr.) 2B
Joe Radek (Sr.) CF
Kyle Whitaker (Sr.) 3B/RHP

Players Signed / Committed to College

Everett Cooper (2022) - The University of Alabama
Brian Nevin (2020) - St. Olaf College
Joe Radek (2020) Swarthmore College
Kyle Whitaker (2020) New Jersey Institute of Technology

Season Snapshot

McDonogh surprised a lot of people in last season by reaching the MIAA "A" Conference playoffs for the first time in quite a few years. The Eagles would win their opener over Loyola Blakefield on the road before falling to Gilman and Loyola thus finishing in 5th place. 2019 was a huge turnaround season for 4th year head coach Matt Tuneski and the Eagles who will look to build on that success in 2020.

While the departure of ace Matt Spind (Bates College) will be tough to overcome (5-1 with a 2.21 ERA), McDonogh does return five solid arms. Seniors Kris Jenner, Kyle Whitaker (NJIT), and junior Evan Marcinko will anchor the staff in 2020 with talented sophomores Jack Bussard, Austin Gemmill and top newcomer Sam Kinney figuring to add depth and become impact arms at some point.

Offensively the Eagles will be paced by star sophomore shortstop Everett Cooper (Alabama) and the power hitting presence of Joe Radek (Swarthmore), Brian Nevin (St. Olaf), and Whitaker in the middle of the order. Look for senior catcher Blake Caplan to also evolve into a key piece offensively this season.

McDonogh won't surprise anyone this year with the talent they have returning but they will need some younger players to step up as they navigate a tough MIAA Conference schedule. Expect the Eagles to make some noise again and to be in contention at the end of the season for another berth in the playoffs.