WIRE FILE PHOTO
Jim DiGuiseppe Jr. (left) and his father, Jim Sr., coach the Archbishop Wood baseball team.
By Mike Gibson
For the Wire
It’s pretty easy to be a fan of Archbishop Wood baseball these days.
Not only is the school continuing a winning tradition, its website (woodbaseball.com) is state of the art and provides real-time updates on how the team is doing.
Want to know how the Vikings fared yesterday in the game at Archbishop Carroll?
It’s on the website now, as are full updated stats (done after each game), a complete schedule, college choices of the players, a complete list of college players and anything else you’d want to know.
The only thing missing is a pitch-by-pitch game tracker or live streaming video and even that could be a few years down the road — all part of the job of a modern-day baseball coach, according to Jim DiGuiseppe Jr.
“The most enjoyment I get is the actual on-the-field stuff and it’s working with the kids,” he said. “Still, there’s a lot of work behind the scenes. We have people helping us with the stats and the site and I think putting all of this together helps the kids get into college afterward.
“It’s not just baseball. We’re all about helping the kids to get into college and play after they leave high school.”
If the proof isn’t in the pudding, the dessert comes in the form of seven seniors who already have received partial scholarships for baseball: pitcher Justin Babb (College of New Jersey), outfielder Dominic Zupito (College of Southern Maryland), pitcher Brian Wojtko (Mercer County College of New Jersey), infielder Colt Smith (Neumann University), pitcher Scott Boches (Marist) and brothers Joe (Mercer CC) and John Santospago (Kent State), an outfielder and catcher, respectively.
Santospago’s commitment to Kent State is particularly interesting in that the Golden Flashes not only made the College World Series, but also won a first-round game against perennial powerhouse Florida.
“I wasn’t going to go there, but I went to a catching camp there and they liked what they saw and offered,” he said.
Going into the last week of April, the Santospago brothers were certainly carrying the hitting load for the Vikings. Joe was hitting .500 with 17 RBIs and John .425 with 13 RBIs. Even though the two are seniors, they are not twins. Joe is 10 months older than John.
“It’s going to be crazy not playing with him for the first time next year,” John said. “We’ve played together from the beginning.”
Although Joe gets to roam the outfield, John likes to be in charge behind the plate.
“I would say the thing I take the most pride in is my defense,” John said. “I love catching. I love the control of the game that catching allows you to have.”
John calls the pitches for the staff, which includes two top starters in Boches and Babb.
Boches, a 6-foot-5, 175-pound righty, has gotten the ball clocked at 90 mph on the radar gun.
“Once the weather gets warmer, the velocity gets better,” Boches said. “When it’s warmer, I feel like pitchers can open up and add velocity.
“The thing is, with my frame and time in the weight room, I really feel I can get stronger and add velocity and that’s just going to make me a better pitcher.”
Overall, the program has experienced an uptick, thanks to the DiGuiseppes. Jim DiGuiseppe Jr. took over the reins as head coach in 2012 from his dad, Jim Sr. The elder DiGuiseppe has stayed on as his son’s top assistant, a flip-flop of their roles for the last 15 years.
Before this season started, Wood’s overall record since 2009 is 66–18 and 44–12 in the Catholic League Blue Division.
“My dad is my right-hand man and my top assistant,” Jim Jr. said. “I can’t really put into words how valuable it is to be able to tap into his knowledge. He’s been there in all of the situations before and we’ve been together for quite a while so there’s not much we come across that we haven’t seen before, and that’s reassuring.”
The program before wasn’t quite as high-tech, though, and both DiGuiseppes are showing themselves to be ahead of the tech curve.
“You really have to be,” Jim Jr. said. “There’s extensive work as a coach that involves dealing with the parent club and the school — who have been great — the practice schedule, the winter workouts, the website and it’s quite an extensive task. For the most part, we take a lot of pride in that we are still a neighborhood school. We have a tight bond with our community.”
It’s one that hasn’t gone unappreciated by the players.
“I don’t know if the college coaches go on the website and check things out, but all of the stats are there if anyone wants to check them out,” Boches said. “I do know that our coaches do a lot of work behind the scenes to help us get into college, and we appreciate that.”
