NEWS

By Don Leypoldt

It didn’t take Aaron Izaryk long to come full circle. Going into his fifth summer as the Sanford Mainers manager, Izaryk also played two summers under the auspices of Broose the Moose.

“I look at it as ‘If I knew then what I know now’ and I want to share that,” Izaryk offered. “Scott Friedholm, our pitching coach at Maine, invested in me every time we got together. He taught me so much about pitching. I wanted to share the knowledge I had.

“I learned from everyone I played with, even the freshmen, and I tell the Mainers, ‘Guys if I could do the things I know, I may still be playing.’ I can’t do them now but you can. So let’s get it right.”

Izaryk was hired as the Mainers’ skipper just four years removed from his own distinguished playing career at the University of Maine. His game savvy and ability to connect with players aside, two other things have helped re-enforce the young Canadian’s hiring as a shrewd move: his knowledge of Sanford and his dedication to teaching.

“I’m certainly driven by the idea of bringing a championship back to Sanford. I won a championship in 2004 here and the town is hungry for a championship,” Izaryk relayed when asked how his time as a Mainer player helped him be a Mainer manager. “I understand the host families since a lot of them are still the same. I understand the distractions that can creep up; I understand how to have fun there and make it the best experience possible.

“I always remind the guys that as a player, you aren’t going to remember what your average was or even how you finished. You’re going to remember what number a certain guy wore or who your rotation was. Those are relationships you keep forever. I still keep in touch with guys like Brian Marshall and Tip Fairchild- guys who I played with in Sanford. 10 years ago seems like yesterday. In the bigger picture at Sanford, it’s giving guys the opportunity to learn from each other. Certainly winning is important but some of my best teams have been average on the scoreboard yet they’ve won because they were so close.”

The concept of “learning from one another” is one Izaryk takes very seriously. He earned his Masters degree from Maine and he currently works as both the Head Baseball Coach and the Director of College Counseling at Bridgton Academy, a prestigious post-graduate school located in Western Maine.

“The reasons kids come to Bridgton are academic, athletic and social,” Izaryk explained. “Athletically, you get another year of exposure to develop yourself as a player. Academically, we have a great mix. We have borderline qualifiers trying to qualify SAT-wise and we have borderline Ivy kids who are trying to qualify for the highly selective academic schools. We’re going to give you the tools in your tool box to be successful in the college classroom.

“Socially, what is probably the most important part is that you’re living on campus with a roommate. There are certain things that they need to meet. There is obviously mandatory attendance and with 180 kids and 60 staff, it is highly monitored. We try not to over coach them. We try to allow them to make bad decisions. We address the bad decisions, re-enforce the good ones and try to make them understand that there is always an outcome for each one of their decisions.

“Our goal is to be the best prep baseball program in the nation,” Izaryk shifted. “We’re not there yet. There is some tremendous prep baseball in New England. Our goal is to not necessarily to get the best team out there but to turn out the best college ready players each year. We had 23 guys out of 25 last year go on to Fall Baseball. I’ll be real curious to see how they go through and as Bridgton’s Director of College Counseling, I’ll bridge it with baseball. Personally, my first report card is going to be two years down the road when my first class goes through and hopefully in four years walks across a college graduation stage.”

After getting in touch with Mike McRae, then the University of Maine’s recruiting coordinator Izaryk , like his Bridgton charges, also found himself in The Pine Tree State a year after high school graduation…but in Orono instead.

“He gave me a long look,” Izaryk remembered, “but I went to UMaine without a whole lot of promises and no money. The rest fell into place when I got a chance to compete.”

In the summer of 2003, catcher Izaryk led the Mainers with a .321 average. He made another 20 starts for them in 2004.

“Sanford cares so deeply for their team. They’re very loyal. Its minor league baseball in our town, really,” Izaryk noted. “There is local media coverage on the team. There are interviews. There is support. I always remind the guys that when people ask ‘What’s going wrong?’ it just means they care. You’d rather have a town that cares than a town that doesn’t care if you win or lose.”

Izaryk had the unique experience of catching two special talents. Andy Sonnanstine ’03 and Kevin Slowey ’04, Mainers both, were arguably the best pitchers in the NECBL during their summers. Both would go on to post a 13-win season in the Majors.

“They were both really, really talented pitchers with the same skill set in terms of: they would throw four pitches any time they wanted,” Izaryk compared. “They’d throw sliders at 3-2 or change-ups at 2-0. They went a lot on feel. Both were fierce competitors but both had different makeups. I think Sonnanstine definitely was a guy who could turn on the switch. He was a bit of a goofball on the bus who kept it loose. Slowey was intense all of the time. He was a really intelligent guy from Winthrop who was always looking at the bigger picture. You can prepare in different ways and be successful as long as when you’re on the mound, you’re in the moment, ready to compete and make adjustments. Both of those guys were outstanding at that.

“Both of them were very humble for how talented they were. Either one of them was approachable. They took care of themselves, they led by example. Guys around them saw the success they had, the way they approached the game and even when on the bench, they were in on every pitch. (Sanford) definitely had a hand in getting them to where they are now.”

A strong senior season at UMO put Izaryk himself in the running for a professional baseball career, although his name ultimately went uncalled on Draft Day.

“I was too average on the pro scale and I knew I’d be a senior sign if anything,” said Izaryk candidly. “I started thinking about coaching but then I had a strong senior season. I talked to the Devil Rays during day two of the draft and let them know if the opportunity came, I’d be more than interested.

“I probably could have caught on with the Indy Ball route but I saw myself as what I am- a 5’10” 190 pound catcher who was an average hitter and I knew that somewhere down the road- two years, five years- a 6’2” guy with power would take my spot and I’d be back trying to coach anyway while getting my Masters. I talked to my girlfriend, now my wife, and we agreed to skip that step and get right to it.”

Izaryk has found his calling as a manager instead of a player. 2B Joe Wendle and LHP Michael Roth- both drafted in the first 10 rounds and both Academic All-Americans to boot- are two Mainers who Izaryk has helped to improve.

“Roth was a two-way player at South Carolina. He was an outstanding athlete. It wasn’t a question of if he would be successful there, it was when,” Izaryk recalled. “My assistant at Sanford and at Bridgton, Tim Atwood, always laugh about it because he was a kid who could have used a year at Bridgton- to grow up a bit and understand that if you fail, it’s not fatal. It’s okay. We’re going to make adjustments and get you back on track.

“Roth, during his first year at Sanford when things didn’t go right, didn’t know how to handle it yet. And then, looking forward to his junior year, he gets picked in the 31st round by the Indians and tells them, ‘I’m going to Spain for my international internship. I’ll talk to you in August.’ He took off and didn’t even think about signing until August. He came back and told them ‘I’m going back to school. I love my team. I want my degree and I want to win another national championship.” He had a great senior year, got drafted in the ninth round by the Angels and went through his first year of pro ball this year. Those are the success stories you can talk about. I think kids are becoming better educated and they understand that there are a lot of good baseball players out there. The guys who can bring the whole package are the ones who are successful.”

As a baseball coach, and as an educator, Izaryk sees his job as encouraging his charges to learn- from guys around them and from their own personal experiences. He personally learned how to bunt from a coach at the Citadel during his time at Sanford.

“You can bring back stuff to your team and the stuff you learn, the tidbits….it’s such an experience and you learn so much,” Izaryk observed about NECBL summers. “I always remind the guys that winning is a by-product. You can’t go out there and just focus on the wins. You’ll miss the point of the whole summer. Winning is extremely important to me. I’m super-competitive and I want to win but the nine innings are the easiest part of my job. I tell them that for those nine innings, it’s time to perform. I’m not going to go out and tell them what mechanics are wrong. My job is to prepare them to play.

“The best illustration I ever saw was at the University of Michigan. One sign pointed to the field and the other sign pointed to the cages. The one towards the cage said ‘Develop your swing.’ The one towards the field said ‘Trust your swing.’ I think that’s the key to coaching is don’t over-coach in-game. If you see adjustments needed in game than make a note of it, and let’s talk tomorrow and get it right. There is something to be said for letting the kids play, letting their athleticism come out and trusting what you taught them two hours earlier.

Skipper Izaryk is four-for-four: four summers, four playoff appearances for Sanford. Yet continuous improvement is on the forefront of his mind.

“There is the idea is that baseball is never over,” he observed. “You can continue to learn about the game, managing and motivation. Motivation is a big one; its 25 different guys and 25 different ways. If you can motivate the last guy, you will have a pretty strong team.”