Baseball Coach

Et cetera Salisbury's Fleetwood is Coach of the Year Salisbury baseball coach Doug Fleetwood has been named the Maryland State Association of Baseball Coaches College Coach of the Year. Fleetwood guided the Sea Gulls to the third NCAA Division III College World Series in school history and a 34-14 record. Fleetwood also earned College Coach of the Year honors from the MSABC after the 2001 season. Frostburg State pitcher Greg Ross will receive the organization's honor for Amateur Player of the Year.

Bryan Harman will have a quiet spring this year. But he's a busy man this winter. Last weekend, he was honored as the 2011 Maryland High School Coach of the Year by the Maryland Oldtimers Baseball Association at the Del Capri Restaurant, in Dundalk. And on Feb. 18, the former Westminster High baseball coach will be inducted into the Maryland State Association of Baseball Coaches Hall of Fame at a Camden Yards ceremony. At that same event, Harman will also receive the MSABC District One Coach of the Year award.

Severna Park baseball coach Jim McCandless, who guided the Falcons to three state championships in his 12 seasons coaching his alma mater, died Tuesday. He was 43. The state's medical examiner confirmed to The Baltimore Sun on Thursday that McCandless' death was ruled a suicide. "Jimmy meant everything to our program," said Wayne Mook, Severna Park's athletic director. "He ran a first-rate baseball program. He was always a first-class individual who made sure his players always did things the right way. " McCandless was also general manager of the Greater Severna Park Athletic Association, a youth sports organization that commonly goes by the name the Green Hornets.

Joseph Eugene Hamilton Sr., who coached baseball teams at the Community College of Baltimore and Essex Community College, died Nov. 17 of pancreatic cancer at Harbor Hospital. The lifelong Locust Point resident was 77. Born in Baltimore, Mr. Hamilton, who was known as "Pete," was raised on Fort Avenue in Locust Point. After graduating from Southern High School in 1954, he went to work as a building superintendent at Whitman Requardt Associates. During his 46-year career with the Baltimore engineering company, Mr. Hamilton, who retired in 2000, missed only four days of work, family members said.

In the 1980s, many were captivated by the Baltimore Orioles and their future Hall of Fame shortstop Cal Ripken. Growing up in Essex and playing shortstop for Calvert Hall, Rich Bielski was one of them. Now the coach at Archbishop McCarthy High School in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. - and this year's USA Today National Baseball Coach of the Year - Bielski remembers a meeting with Ripken that helped shape his aproach to the game. "I made the state all-star team, and our game was played in old Memorial Stadium after an Oriole game," said Bielski, now 44. "It was 1984 and the Orioles had won the World Series in 1983, and Cal was MVP. It was a great time to be an Orioles fan, and he came into our dugout and asked who the shortstop was. "He sat down with me and we talked.

Archbishop Curley High School will join the list of schools looking for a new baseball coach for next season after Jack Thomas resigned. Thomas, 60, led the Friars to a record of 104-88 in seven seasons. His most successful year was 2008, when the Friars finished 23-8, third in the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association and ranked No. 5 in the state. "I loved my years coaching at Curley and am grateful to have had the opportunity to coach in the MIAA A Conference," Thomas said.

After 14 years as Dunbar's baseball coach, Don Gilbert has decided to take a break. "I have decided to leave now and watch my son, who is a rising senior baseball college prospect player at Glen Burnie High School," Gilbert said. "I have not had the opportunity to see him play that much, so I need to leave coaching at Dunbar to do so. " The Poets went 17-1 this past season and ranked No. 15 in The Baltimore Sun's final baseball poll. Gilbert said it was his best "team" because it had "a little less talent, but great chemistry.

John Carroll baseball coach Joe Stetka, who led the Patriots to a 15-6 record and the No. 10 ranking, has resigned his position and accepted the head coaching job at C. Milton Wright. In two seasons at John Carroll, Stetka compiled a 27-17 record. This season he took the Patriots to the Maryland Interscholastic Athletic Association playoffs for the first time in 15 years. Stetka replaces C. Milton Wright coach Tony Blackburn, whose team finished with a No. 12 ranking and a 17-5 mark.

After 29 years coaching field hockey and teaching physical education at Roland Park Country School, Debbie Bloodsworth is saying goodbye. "I won't be returning to Roland Park," Bloodsworth said. "It's time for me to make a change. I've been coaching for a long time. I may move from the area. In fact, I'm thinking seriously about that. My mother is 80 and lives in Princes Anne, in Summerset County, about three hours from here. I'm thinking about moving there and reconnecting with some of my family.