From Backyard Baseball to Bethany College
Bethany, W.Va. – From backyard baseball to Bethany College, seniors Ryan Anselmino and Noah Rady have been teammates and friends since the fifth grade. Living in adjacent neighborhoods, Ryan and Noah grew up playing backyard football, wiffle ball, basketball, and other neighborhood games together with a group of friends.
From close friends from North Huntingdon, Pa. to college roommates, both Anselmino and Rady had the same goal in mind, to play baseball at Bethany College. Both Anselmino and Rady were key components in Bethany's success last season.
"Playing with someone I've known my whole life has been a great experience because we always push each other off the field" said Anselmino. "We work out together every day when we are at home for summer and breaks and whenever we're struggling on the field we jab at each other for our performances and it helps fuel us to do better."
Anselmino and Rady pushing each other to be better earned them both All-PAC Second Team honors last season. Anselmino finished the season batting .324, with 20 runs batted in and 18 runs scored. He held a .424 on base percentage and .396 slugging percentage. Defensively, Anselmino threw out nine baserunners last season.
Rady tied the single season record for triples (7) last season and finished tied for 10th in NCAA DIII. He finished the year batting .321 with 23 runs batted in, 43 hits, and 30 runs scored. Rady was third on the team in slugging percentage of .485 and sixth on the team with an on base percentage of .376. Rady is currently tied for third on the Bethany all-time career list with nine career triples.
The 2020 season was looking to be another good year for the North Huntingdon, Pa natives before the pandemic Covid-19 suspended all spring sports. Anselmino and Rady were off to a great start and making contributions in their own way. Rady continued to get in scoring position with three doubles, two triples, and eight runs scored. He is currently second on the team with 10 runs batted in. Anselmino earned 11 walks and scored eight runs thus far this season.
"Having our senior season cut short was a bummer," stated Anselmino. "But we both immediately got excited about the potential of having another year of playing."
"The team's expectations going into the season was to win the PAC championship," expressed Rady. "We plan to take the next 10 months to continue to grow and learn for the 2021 season."
In 2019, the Bison finished their season PAC conference runners up with an overall record of 27-16 (14-10). The 27 wins tied the single season best with most wins in a season. The Green and White earned their first PAC tournament win since 2005 and advanced to the PAC Tournament Championship for the first time since 2001 where they fell to the Washington and Jefferson Presidents.
"For the returning players we look at the 2019 season and remember all the mistakes as we continue to grow and prepare for next season," stated Rady. "Losing in the championship game is not a good feeling and we use this as motivation every day. Going into this season our offseason training routines stayed the same. We continued to work hard every day and believed we were physically and mentally prepared to build from last year's success."
Both are looking forward to another year of making memories and getting one more chance to play ball. They look forward to continuing to get better in the offseason to help lead their team to the PAC Championships again.
