Podcast: Bridgton Academy coach Aaron Izaryk on prep fall ball

Bridgton Academy coach Aaron Izaryk has been at the Maine prep school since 2010. (Bridgton Athletics)

The latest guest on The Base Path Podcast is one of the few prep school coaches in the Northeast to lead his team through an official fall baseball season.

Aaron Izaryk has set up a fall season at Bridgton Academy since becoming the head coach in 2010. The Wolverines’ fall schedule runs approximately eight weeks, including practices and games. A majority of their contests are played within the Showcase League at various college venues throughout New England, along with assorted contests against independent travel teams.

“Having the fall season in addition to a traditional spring season certainly elongates our ability to develop players,” Izaryk said. “It gets guys in front of college coaches if they are uncommitted in the fall and when roster spots are still available. It’s an advantage to the student-athletes, for sure. For us as a coaching staff and as a school, the more time we can have with the guys, the better we can prepare them for college.

Because Bridgton is a post-graduate school, Izaryk has free rein when it comes to scheduling a full fall season. Because the majority of his players attend Bridgton for just one year, Izaryk understands how vital those extra weeks in the fall are in getting his players prepared, as most will use the single year as a platform to play in college.

“We’re committed to player development with the folks on college placement,” Izaryk said. “If a young man who played high school baseball wants to come in and experience that and maybe play college baseball, there’s a great place for him. This isn’t a place to try baseball for the first time, or if it’s a hobby for you. It may be above that a little bit, but we’re looking for the right guys. You can’t place guys who don’t have high character, who don’t necessarily want to do the right things off in college. College coaches are putting their livelihoods on the line for 18- to 22-year-old young men each day and each weekend at school. So, you’ve got to make sure that you get the right guys who can go and get the right grades, get the right hits, strike out the right guys, and do the right things off the field.”

Listen to the entire podcast with Aaron Izaryk.

The New England Baseball Journal podcast is brought to you by the University of Nebraska High School.

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