No one should blame Brad Comport if he took a couple of minutes to enjoy opening day of the 2022 high school baseball season all by himself.
It’s been a long road to add the title head coach before his name.
Comport, who has been part of the University High School program for five years, takes over as the Hawks manager in 2022 and he has plenty of youth and excitement around a UHS program that went 13-10 last year before losing to Bridgeport in the Class AAA sectional title round.
“I saw great potential in this program,” said Comport, who played college baseball at Seton Hill University. “We have a great group of kids coming back and a really solid young core of players.”
The past five seasons, Comport has been a volunteer assistant for the Hawks under former coach Donovan Riggleman. But Comport, a special education teacher at UHS, has been handed the lineup card this year and is looking to replace 13 seniors from 2021, five starters and almost an entire pitching staff.
However, there is good news for the Hawks, as they return four key offensive contributors from a season ago, and two of them hit over .400. Senior third baseman Aaron Forbes, who is a two-time all-state selection, hit .414 last year and started in 2019 and 2021.
“The atmosphere and all the energy that all the players are bringing is different this year,” Forbes said. “I think we all want to be here, and we all want to win, and we all have one goal at the end — to win a state championship.”
Fellow bash brother, Noah Braham, also returns for the Hawks, as he hit a robust .476 last season with a team-high five home runs and 41 RBIs. Also returning for UHS is sophomore outfielder Wenkai Campbell, junior infielder/pitcher Chase Edwards and junior catcher Park Croyle.
“I think offensively, our lineup has the potential to be very dangerous,” Comport said. “We expect to put up runs.”
That offense might have to put up more runs than normal this year until the pitching staff comes of age. The Hawks have just three pitchers that saw significant time on the mound. Junior Zach Harman should contribute after throwing a team-high 30.2 innings last year, while Edwards and fellow junior Gabe Jansen also picked up victories on the mound in 2021.
“I told the guys, if you can throw, expect to pitch for us at some point this year,” Comport said. “We need as many guys that are capable of filling up the strike zone as possible. It’s going to be by committee, we need to fill up the strike zone, work hard and let the defense make plays.”
Cody Thomas, a junior who saw action late in the season last year, saw plenty of playing time last summer as the starting shortstop for American Legion Post 2, and he figures to help anchor a defense that includes Braham at first, Forbes at second and Croyle behind the plate.
The outfield lost three starters but does return Campbell and should see help from junior Gabriel Templeton, along with senior Elkins transfer Kyle Wyatt. Comport did say that early on some positions will be fluid until he can find a solid starting nine.
Despite the youth movement at UHS, both Braham and Forbes said they are optimistic about this season.
“Coach Comport really runs an upbeat practice and I think we are going to win a lot of baseball games this year,” Braham said. “We are going to surprise some people.”
by Eric Herter
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